Averys POV:
I go to my room shortly after I've told them about my past. Except now I feel lighter somehow as if telling them that had lifted a huge burden off me. I mean it has since keeping that from them and them having to find out eventually was weighing me down.
Snuggling into bed I try to sleep but I can't help but think about Camryn and Alessandro. I haven't heard from either of them in ages and it was weird. It was like the both of them had disappeared off the face of the earth.
So I decide to call Camryn. Taking my phone from my bedside table I look for him in my contacts and press the dial.
"Hello." A deep voice speaks after the second ring.
"Hey, Camryn it's me." I say making myself comfortable in bed.
"Sorry I don't know anyone called Me." Comes his reply and I smile.
"Oops, must be the wrong number then. I'll hang up now."
"No. Don't go." Camryn says quickly. "Turn on your facetime."
I do as he says and seconds later I see him through the screen of my phone. His phone is propped up against something on a marble counter and he sits in front of the camera resting his head on his folded arms. His hair looks longer and it's slicked back with gel, he wears a black shirt and I can see the shine of a chain by his chin that has a bit of a beard growing. Looking behind him I see that it looks a bit like a hotel.
"Where are you?" I ask.
He hesitates for a few moments before answering. "I... I'm on a lil holiday with my mom. She got a few days off so we decided to hop on a plane and take a break before the chance is gone you know."
"Oooh lucky you. You must be enjoying yourself, aren't you? Tell your mom I said hi." I say and he gives a small smile.
"I will don't worry. How's everything? How did the visit with your dad go? Did it go well?" He asks turning the conversation to me.
I shrug. "Well if you count him strangling me and putting me in a neck brace for a couple of weeks as well, then yeah id say it went well."
His eyes widen at what I say and my sarcasm. "I told you, you shouldn't have gone Avery. Are you alright?"
"Should've asked me that weeks ago but you were way too busy weren't ya?" I remark.
I couldn't help but feel sour at how little we've spoken. Normally if something like this had happened he would've been the first person to know but he was barely around or answering his calls so it was impossible.
"Well, I'm sorry Avery I didn't know-"
"I know you didn't know, as you said, you were busy. Of course, you wouldn't have."
"I'm so-"
"A sorry isn't really gonna change anything that's happened is it?" I cut him off.
"Well, what do you want me to do Avery? I can't be with you every second of the day can I?" He retorts clearly done with my behavior.
"What I need you to do is be the best friend I thought id lost years ago." I say to him glaring at the screen.
"Well if you haven't noticed some of us have a life, even if you don't, not everything can revolve around you." He says and my mouth drops.
"Is that really what you think of m-"
But before I can continue my sentence another voice cuts through mine and a girl with blond hair is in the frame and she wraps her arms around Camryn. She looks strangely familiar but before I can pinpoint who she reminds me of exactly she bends her head down to Camryns ear and whispers something and her hair falls in front of her face.
Thinking Camryn was gonna push her off him, he doesn't. Instead, he pulls her down by the neck and gives her a peck on the lips and I feel a pang in my chest but I ignore the unfamiliar feeling. I thought he was with his mom, not some blond girl.
I look at her with distaste, his mom surely wouldn't let Camryn with the likes of her, would she? Wait, is she his girlfriend? She probably was, considering how little I knew of his new life.
"Sorry am I interrupting?" The sly smile on her face lets me know she knows exactly what she's doing.
Camryn replies to her question before I can. "No you're not interrupting anything, I was just saying goodbye."
"Yeah, I apologize for interrupting you from your life." And I hang up.
What the hell?
I throw my phone in anger and it lands on the floor with a loud thud. There'll probably be a crack on it in the morning, a small one if I was lucky. I rub my hands over my face trying to rid myself of whatever I was feeling. I was going to ring Alessandro but I think that'll wait until tomorrow. The entire population of male species was pissing me off all because of one.
Laying down onto my bed I pull the covers up to my shoulders wanting to go to sleep. And it comes minutes later.
Flashback:
I come home to the sound of shouting and breaking glass and shake my head. It's fine though I'm only going to have a quick shower and change and I'm gone out the door again. I glance into the kitchen as I pass and I'm about to walk off to my bedroom but do a double-take when I see the luggage.
"You're not leaving, I won't let you!" John shouts at my mother.
It's finally happening. I knew at some point or another one of them was gonna end up packing their bags and leaving but I just didn't think that it would be this soon. It's too soon.
"Mom?" I say standing in the doorway of the kitchen fully visible.
"Avery, honey..." My mom says looking at me with a look on her face I cant describe.
"You don't get to call her that when you're leaving her." My dad says and mom turns to look at him the same look on her face.
"You're right. I don't get to and I won't." Is all she says before she starts grabbing her bags and pushing past me to get outside.
My Dad and I follow her silently both dazed from what's happening not being able to believe that the time had finally come. Mom carries her bags outside muttering to herself but I can't hear what she's saying but when she turns to look at us both standing at the door, I see the tears streaming down her face.
She runs to me and gives me a hug cradling my head in her arms and planting kisses on my head. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. I don't want to leave you."
"Then stay. Or take me with you, don't go." I say hurriedly pulling away from her and moving to take her bags and bring the bag inside.
I take a suitcase by its handle and go to the door but just as I'm about to enter the house, I'm stopped by a tug on the suitcase I held and turn to face my mom.
"I can't stay here anymore, I just can't. Not with your father and... not with you either." She says and I feel my heart shatter. What was that supposed to mean?
"Please, Mom. Please. I- I promise ill be good, I won't ever do anything to make you angry, Ill stop skipping school and get better grades. Please." And now tears are streaming down my own face as I try to convince her to stay with the desperation in my voice.
She shakes her head. "No. I've already made my decision and I'm not changing it. I'll come back for you one day when you're all grown up. I promise."
"Don't make a promise to my daughter that you won't keep." John finally says walking towards us.
"You promise?" I ask ignoring what my father had said.
She stares down at me for a long moment not saying anything and it's quiet between the 3 of us except the sound of my ragged breathing from crying but the silence and our last moments as a family is destroyed as a taxi parks in front of the house and beeps its horn.
"Yes. Now let me go... Please?" She says trying to tug the handle of the suitcase from my hand but I can't seem to let it go until John also starts pulling on my shoulder.
I struggle against his hold and s I do so I accidentally let go of it and my mom takes the chance to pull it away from me and bring her luggage to the taxi. I want to go and run after her, tell her that we'd do better, that wd make her happier, that it doesn't have to end like this but I'm not able to with John's iron grip on me.
"Mom!" I scream, tears pouring like bucket loads now as I watch my mom get into the Taxi with wet eyes and a regretful look on her face.
But she's not regretful enough to stay and I watch as the Taxi drives away...
Taking my mom with it.
End of flashback:
~~~~~~
I sit up abruptly drenched in sweat. Touching my face, I feel that it's soaking wet with tears and I wipe my face with the sleeve of my PJ's. That day was classed as the worst day of my life but it seemed life wanted to torture me and make me remember that day as much as I tried forgetting it.
Getting out of bed I slip out the door of my bedroom. The house is quiet and dark and it comforts me as I walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I get to the kitchen and gulp down as much water as I can currently take. Placing the cup down with a clink, I look out towards the light that came from the window in the kitchen at the moonlight.
I stare at it for a few moments as I thought of the memory that I tried so much to lock away but as I do so movement from outside catches my eyes. Leaning forwards to the window I squint my eyes trying to see what it is until I see by the pond, that it's Damon.
What was he doing? Wanting to know I go out through the back door but slip on Eli's hoodie that rested nearby beforehand. I hadn't any shoes on but it was fine, the pathway to the pond was clean as they had a gardener come in every week to take care of the flowers but also make sure the back was clean overall.
Damons back is to me as he sits on the bench and I walk to him noticing he had a large bottle of liquor in his hand and was taking large gulps as though his life depended on it and I shake my head. I used to cope with things like that as well. I stand behind the bench not sure whether or not I should ask what's wrong or not.
"You know... I can- I can hear you." Damon slurs turning his head to look at me.
I don't say anything but sit down beside him. He throws a glance at me as he takes another gulp of his drink and laughs, hiccuping in between. "That hoodie makes you look tiny."
I roll my eyes at him looking down at Elis hoodie that fell almost to my knees and the sleeves going past my hands. "Even drunk, you're still the same."
"Why of course. N-nothing can ch-change me." He slurs and it makes me wanna laugh seeing him hiccup every few words.
"I'm sure." Is all I say to him.
It's silent between the two of us for a bit, but it's not awkward at all, it was nice. Just sitting in the dark silence surrounding us under the light of the moon with only the sound of the rushing water from the pond.
"I'm sorry." Damon says.
I turn to him but he isn't looking at me, but at the moon above us taking a sip from the bottle.
I hesitate with a reply not sure what to say. "Sorry for what?"
"Don't make me say it. I'm already having enough trouble as it is saying this." He slurs with a groan and I smile.
"Oh really? Well, in that case, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." I respond.
He sighs tiredly rubbing a hand down his face. "Look. I'm sorry for the way I've treated you. I don't know why I did, I guess I just hated the idea of having someone else in our family and I took it out on you."
"It's fi-" I start but he doesn't let me finish.
Instead, he holds up the handle holding the bottle to stop me. "I'm not finished yet. And now, after hearing what you just told us makes me feel even worse. When I'd tease you for not speaking and your looks... I don't know what I was thinking doing that. You've never done anything to me at all except be there and it bothered me for no reason but I guess that's what I hated the most. You being here."
"Because it made mom and dad so happy and I felt angry thinking 'what do you have that I don't, that we don't? Weren't we enough? What about you made them love you so much?' And I hated that. I was jealous of you. It made me hate everything about you, it annoyed me so much that I just wanted to make your life here horrible so that you'd complain and they'd take you back to wherever they got you. But it made sense, I always gave mom and dad trouble and headaches so I guess that's on me but I still found a reason to blame you for it, and for that, I'm so so sorry."
I stare at him as he speaks my eyes growing wider at each thing he said. Jealous? Damon Daly... was jealous of me? I couldn't believe it but when he turns his head to look at me I see the sincerity in his eyes and I'm stuck on what to say.
"Oh." Is all I manage to come out with and he laughs shaking his head.
"You know what really had me mad was that I was starting to understand why everyone adored you and now after telling us about your past it makes me admire you. Even though you had a tough life before coming here, you didn't let anyone, especially me walk all over you. You acted as though you hadn't a care in the world, as if nothing bothered you at all and I liked that." He takes a swig of the alcohol as I look at him wide-eyed.
"You're gonna regret saying all this in the morning." I say trying to lighten the mood that had somehow gotten heavy as he spoke.
He chuckles. "Maybe, but at least I told you."
"Yeah and it's fine, I understand. I won't hold it against you, except for the part where you said you're jealous of me and admire me." I say and he rolls his eyes.
"I never said that." He denies.
"Not directly, no. But indirectly, yes." I say with a smug smile.
"Don't make me take it all back." He glares at me but I can see the smile creeping up onto his face.
"You wouldn't." I gasp dramatically.
"Oh, I would, sister." He says.
My head whips to look at him so fast I'm surprised my head hasn't snapped off my neck. "Sister?"
He doesn't say anything for a few seconds. "Everyone has come to terms that you're gonna be a permanent part of the family and it's time I did as well."
I grin at him and in that moment realizing how happy I was. And as much as I didn't want to admit to myself I felt the same about Damon. I admired him a lot as much as he annoyed me before and realize that it was him I needed to accept me to really make me feel like a part of this family and I didn't want the feeling to end.
"Well, in that case, I'm happy to hear that, brother." I respond with a wide grin.
"Glad to know."
And we spend the rest of the evening like this, happy, staring at the moon with the pond streaming in front of us and sharing his drink.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dayummmm this chapter was long, she finally getting along with Damon buttt... cant say the same with Camryn :\ Anywaysss I hoped you liked it.
And now summer is overrr I apologise for reminding the lot of ye that haven't started yet but unfortunately, it is and I'm starting next weeekkkkkk. ewwwwwwww. But anyways I wish ye all the best of luck starting a new year of school, for those who have already started I hope it went well and for those who are done and about to go college, travelling or anything at all GOOD LUCKKKKKKKKKK.
Slater brooooooooooooooooooooooooos
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