Summer Love✔️

Nothing Like Them

Chapter Thirty-Two: Nothing Like Them

sorry i didn't get this one out yesterday! i had a swim meet early this morning and wanted to get some good sleep haha. i do my best writing at midnight, but i couldn't stay up that late last night. anyway sorry for the wait, hope this makes up for it, i think y'all are gonna be happy ;)

I slowly woke up from my sleep with Mitchell's arms wrapped around my waist. He was still asleep. He looked like a peaceful angel while he slept, his face was relaxed, there was even a ghost of a smile on his lips. I stretched out my arms slightly, grabbing my phone on my nightstand and checking for texts.

There was one. It was from Connor.

'my mom is taking me to see a therapist today.' The hurricane had finally passed, so it was finally safe to leave our houses, the beaches however, weren't opening until tomorrow.

'i'm proud of you, C.' I responded. I knew how hard it had been for him to ask for help. We had been texting back and forth for the past four days. He knew he needed help, he was just too scared and proud to ask.

I had texted Connor the day after the surfing incident while I was in the shower to check up on him and see how he was doing. He told me he was fine. He said that his mom and his sister were overjoyed that he came home, as he had been gone for about two weeks. He told me his dad had patted him on the back but hadn't said much, but he didn't really care because he hadn't talked to his dad since that day.

The day after the incident, he started by telling Sophie with a little encouragement from me. I had gone up to my room while Mitchell and his dad took over the T.V., watching a re-run of some college football game. I was on the phone with him while he told her, and I listened to her cry so hard that her body was shaking with sobs while Connor comforted her and told her he was fine. I listened to his voice, filled with emotion, as he asked her to hold his hand while he told their mom, and when Sophie finally calmed down, she tearfully thanked me for not listening her, for saving her brother.

"Always," I told her, my own voice thick with emotion as I struggled to stop the tears that were threatening to escape and keep the waver out of my voice.

I had listened to the sobs that wracked Mrs. Wilson's body as she listened to Connor describe what had happened in the two weeks he had been away from home. "Did I miss anything, Hal?" he'd asked when he finished his recount of the past two weeks. He had.

I opened my mouth, choking on the words that came out, "When we were in the ocean-" I paused for a moment to keep myself from breaking down, to make sure my voice didn't waver too much as my throat tightened and I took in a sharp breath, "you said no one would care- if you, you know, were gone."

I heard a sharp inhale from the other line, and put myself on mute while my silent tears turned into a full body wracking sob. I had stuffed my fist in my mouth to try and quiet myself, taking deep slow breaths to quit the hyperventilation and hiccups that came with the pain of my heart and the tears in my eyes. When I had calmed down enough that I wasn't disruptively crying, I took my phone off of mute while Mrs. Wilson was asking Connor if he truly thought that no one would care if he died, if he truly thought that no one cared about him.

There was a pause on the other line, and I could imagine Connor's head shifting down, looking at the floor all too well before he responded, "Of course not, mom. I know that people care." I could hear the slight stutter in his voice, and I felt hot tears well up in my eyes as another tremble shook my body when I realized that he was lying and he didn't truly believe it.

"Oh, baby." His mom had sighed before pulling him into her arms, I had assumed. Then I'd heard Connor sniff quietly before I could hear him whimpering slightly as his own body shook with sobs.