Beautifully Broken

Life always Changes

Alana POV

I go inside, trying to hide the butterflies that showed up when I realized what I had just done. I run upstairs to my room and quickly closing the door behind me. I feel a smile come across my face, and a happiness I had not felt in a long time. I sit there, my back pressed against the door starring out the window, daydreaming for I don't know how long. I was interrupted from my daydreaming by a knock at the door. I get up and open the door; I see Carson standing outside my door. "Alana, can we talk?"
"Yeah, you finally ready to talk to me." He hangs his head a little bit. "Alana, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? You're going to have to be a little more specific." He rolls his eyes. "I'm sorry for everything." I start to close my door. He sticks his foot in the door and holds it open. "Alana, I'm sorry for being the worst brother ever, I'm sorry for ignoring you, I'm sorry for being self-absorbed, I'm sorry for trying to dictate who I think you should be around, especially when I don't know why you were hanging around them. I'm sorry for the snap judgments and the ignorance, and most of all, I'm sorry for not listening." There was a pause when I started to open the door again. "You tried to help so many times, and all I did was slam doors in your face and told you to leave me alone. You asked me to go for runs, to help unpack, just to go look up at the stars, and I couldn't even do that. I guess all I want to say is I'm sorry." I stare at him for a minute, not quite sure how to respond to everything. "Will you forgive me?" He asks, starring into my eyes. I open my mouth, but I can't find any words to say. "I understand if you don't, I was a really big jerk to everyone." I wrap my arms around him and lay my head into his chest as I start to cry. "I missed you." He gives me a questioning look. "All I wanted was you to talk to me again; I've been trying to figure out what I did for the past three weeks."
"Don't worry; you didn't do anything. I was just a jerk, and I'm sorry." I feel his grip tighten around me. "I promise I won't let this happen again."
"Carson, Don't make promises we both know you can't keep." I pull away and glare at him, "I will try my best never to let this happen again."
"Okay, that sounds better."

Carson spent the next two months fixing all the relationships he had damaged and finding new friendships. Carson, Chase, and I all made the cross country team, Caleb has asked me out several more times, but I keep making him work for it. We did end up going to homecoming together, though. Mom was super excited about it; Dad, Carson, and Chase not so much. Carson and Chase also both managed to get homecoming dates at the last minute. Violet came over to my house and decided that my brothers were "Not really the type she was looking for." I just smiled and laughed while also being quite relieved at the same time. We have finally settled into our new way of life. Life was normal; life was good.

I'm sitting on my front porch, waiting for Caleb. He said he had a surprise for me. I see his family's truck pull up into our driveway. I see Chase put his face up against the window, looking out on the porch, making me bust out laughing. Chase walks out on the porch and sits in the chairs on the other side of the front door. I give him a questioning look. "What, I'm still your big brother; I don't want any funny business out here." I roll my eyes at him. "Thank you, Chase, Thank you for protecting me and keeping me company while he takes fifteen years getting out of his truck," Chase says, mocking me while batting his eyelashes to give the extra bit of annoyance. "Yeah, Chase is a lot nicer than me," Carson says as he walks out and sits on the railing facing towards the house. Chase sat away from you; I'll sit right here, so he has to walk past me." He says as he shrugs his shoulders. "MOM! THEY'RE BEING ANNOYING AGAIN!" I yell
"BOYS, GIVE YOUR SISTER SOME SPACE!" Mom yells back. I stick my tongue out at them. Chase sticks his tongue out back at me. "We're not leaving you alone with him," Chase says; I huff. "Fine, I will meet him in the driveway, under the floodlight, if you will give us ten minutes of simi-alone time." Chase and Carson look at each other, then Carson glares at me. "fine, but no kissing him."
"No promises," I say with a smile as I jump off the front porch. I meet Caleb in the driveway. "Hey, Ali." He says, "Hey, handsome." I say, taking off his cowboy hat and putting it on my head. "Sorry it's so late; I was out at my family's ranch; they needed an extra set of hands tonight. My older brothers out with the flu, so I had to do his jobs for him."
"Awww, You're so sweet to help your family."
"Yeah, and you've never worked on a family ranch, have you?" I shake my head. "Yeah, I didn't really have a choice." He says with a laugh. "I did manage to find time to get this for you, though." He says as he hands me a small box. I open the box to see a thick bracelet made of tough material. It was dark purple with a black strand that would weave in and out from time to time. I put it on my wrist and showed it off to him. "It's so pretty; I love it, Caleb; thank you so much."
"Yeah, I think I outdid myself this time." He says with a laugh pulling his sweatshirt's sleeve up, revealing a black band with a dark purple strand interweaved. "How about we keep these our little secret." He says with a smile. I feel his arms come around my back and pull me in closer to him. "Can I ask you out yet?" He asks with his arms around my back and my arms up behind his neck. "Hmmm," I sit there and ponder for a minute. "Try again later," I say, pulling my arms away from his neck. He rolls his eyes at me. We stand there for a second when I hear footsteps walk up the driveway. "Caleb, I'm tired. I want to go home." I see the little six-year-old emerge from the darkness at the end of the driveway, still rubbing her eyes and trying to wake up from the nap she had in the car. I watched as she runs up to Calebs' leg. "Alright, well, I probably should get little miss Paisley home." He says as he tickles her stomach. "I'll see you tomorrow Ali."
"See you tomorrow Caleb." He carries Paisley back to the car and drives away. I walk back up to my front porch pulling my sleeve down over the bracelet. He gave me hoping to avoid as many questions as I can. "So, what happened?" Chase asked. "I want all the deets," Carson adds. I roll my eyes and walk inside. Mom is waiting by the front door. "It's 10:30; everyone bed, now."
"But mom."
"No and's, If's, or But's. Bed now." Mom says, pointing towards the stairs. Mom grabs my arm before I reach the stairs. "I'll be up to your room in a minute; I want the 411." She says with a smile. I roll my eyes and laugh as I walk up to my room.

Jen POV

I watch all three of my kids walk upstairs. I go to clean up the project I was working on when I hear the phone ring. "Hello?"
"Is this Jennifer or Clark Harris?"
"This is Jennifer."
"Hello, Mrs. Harris. My name is Justin Mazanek. I work for CPS, and I was wondering if you and your husband would be able to take a placement for a fifteen-year-old boy?"
"A fifteen-year-old boy? I already have three teenagers in the house... I don't know. Is it an emergency situation?"
"No, mam, this is not an emergency placement. The boy is currently in a group home, his parental rights were just severed a few weeks ago, and the group home he is currently in has asked for him to be removed."
"Why did they ask for him to be removed?"
"The boy has a certain knack for getting into fights. He is a really good boy, but he gets defensive very fast. He is not typically the one who starts the fight, but the other boys in the group home have found him to be a nice punching bag." There was a short pause as I try to process. "Mrs. Harris, I understand if you can't take him, I need to know so I can try to find him a good home. Nicole gave me your information because she thought he might be a good fit with your kids, but if you don't want to add a fourth teenager, I completely understand."
"Let me talk to my husband when He gets home tonight and call you back in the morning. Will that work?"
"Yes, mam," I quickly scribble down the phone number that He gives me and set the piece of paper on the countertop. I hang up the phone and start to head upstairs. I look into both the boys' rooms, and they are sound asleep. They look the same as they did when they were little kids; I walk to Alana's room and slowly open the door. The Christmas lights that hang across her ceiling illuminate her room just enough so you can easily see. I look at her bed and see her sound asleep. I walk across the room and unplug the lights; I smile at her as I quietly close the door behind me. I walk back downstairs just in time to see Clark walk through the front door. "Hey, how was work," I ask as he comes over and kisses me. "It was great. How was your day?"
"It was pretty amazing; I got a lot done today. I worked online for a little bit; it was a pretty amazing day."
"That's good, he," said with a smile. "Where're the kids?"
"They're all in bed," I say with a smile. "So, what your saying is me, and you have the house to ourselves right now? They are all in bed?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying." I quickly feel arms go around my legs as Clark throws me over his shoulder, takes me into the kitchen, and sets me on the counter. He starts rummaging around in the freezer, "Chocolate?" He asks, picking up the tub of ice cream in the freezer. "Yes, we've been married for twelve years, babe; you should know this by now," I say with a laugh. He scoops out two bowls of ice cream and takes them to the living room. "Wait here." He says, pointing at me. I roll my eyes; he walks back into the kitchen with a smile on his face, picking me back up off the counter and carrying me back into the living room, which is now illuminated by the lit candles that are strategically placed around the room. He sets me on the couch then sits down next to me. I grab my ice cream and lay into his arm. I smile at him. "We might have to blow out the candles in a little bit." He says as I start to laugh, "Why?"
"Because all I could find were random scented candles, and I don't know what it's going smell like with all of them together. " He shrugged his shoulders as he put his arm behind me and turns on Netflix. We finish our ice cream and an episode of our favorite show. He turns and looks at me, smiles at me, and kisses the top of my head. I nuzzle myself deeper into his chest. "Hey Clark, I got a phone call tonight."
"From who?"
"From CPS."
"Okay?"
"They asked us to take in another child."
"What did you tell them?"
"I told them I wanted to talk to you first."
"Tell me about the kid."
"Well, He's fifteen, He's living in a group home, severed parental rights."
"Severed parental rights? Did Nicole call? Does she want us to adopt again?"
"No, it wasn't Nicole, but Nicole did give the guy that called our name. She thinks he could be a good fit, and we were saying the other day that we thought this house could use another set of footprints."
"Yeah, we did. I thought they were gonna be little footprints, but if Nicole thinks this will be a good fit, We need to at least give him a shot. Why did they call us about him anyway? Did they just need him out of the group home?"
"He's been getting into a lot of fights. The group home asked for him to be moved out."
"Fights? He's been starting fights."
"Not starting them, but getting beat up in them."
"Call what's his face back first thing in the morning. I'll have a room for him set up for him by tomorrow night if I need to." I nod my head. We clean up everything that we had gotten out and gone to bed, unsure what this next chapter of our lives would look like but ready for whatever it had in store for us.