Three weeks have gone by. My stomach is slowly growing but I'm still able to hide it underneath big shirts and sweaters. I can't sleep, it's five thirty in the morning. I head down stairs and lie on the couch.
Sawyer walks in carrying a duffle bag and pushing a suitcase. I sit up and watch as he places everything by the door.
We look at each other but don't say anything.
Is he going somewhere?
He looks away angrily and bends down to zip up a back pack.
"Wait, Sawyer. Don't go yet!" I hear Avery yell from upstairs. She rushes down the steps and gives him a hug. "I hate that you're leaving. Especially for a few months." She says and I look down when Sawyer catches me staring.
He's leaving today? So soon?
"Will you be able to call us from Arabia?"
"Yes." Sawyer answers like she's a child.
"Take lots of pictures."
He doesn't even turn to look at me. He checks to make sure he has everything he needs in his pockets and I watch, his back to me as he walks out the front door. Not a single wave, half smile, not even a see you later, or a dumb remark.
You let him walk out the door, your heart racing. He knows I hate goodbyes. I don't need a goodbye from him. He'll be back soon, like Avery said, he'll be back in a couple of months.
I lie back down on the couch and shut my eyes, but I'm still unable to slow my beating heart.
"You know, if he loves it over there they might ask him to stay there full time." Avery is standing over me and I peak one eye open.
"Full time?" I swallow hard at her words.
"Opal, stop being so stubborn. You can't just let him leave!" She shouts and my heart races faster. I can, he left so easily, like he always does. She gives me a look and I sit there, my leg shaking impatiently. I quickly run upstairs, grab something and sprint back downstairs.
I race to his car, he's already backing out and I run to the back of his car. He halts to a stop, making the car make a screeching sound. Sawyer angrily gets out, slamming the driver door side closed.
"What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself fucking killed?" He yells, his hands flying everywhere.
When he sees my eyes water he smiles, "Opal." He walks straight to me,
"You forgot this." I hand him a piece of paper and nervously laugh. He looks down at the paper and back up to me with a bright smile. It's a hand drawn family portrait of all of us. I've been working on a couple ever since summer. "I'm so sorry, Sawyer." I apologize for the way I've been.
Sawyer shakes his head, "No, I'm sorry. I'm the asshole." He says, holding my hands in his. "I should have let you have your space, should have talked to you." He starts making up excuses and this time I shake my head, taking a closer step to him.
"No. It's your life. You shouldn't feel the need to explain anything to me. I know I run away from all my problems, and I'm learning to face them,"
"No, Opal." Sawyer interrupts, but I interrupt him.
"I love you, Sawyer." I cry. This time Sawyer freezes at my words. His eyes soften and he smiles. He places both his hands on my cheeks, he leans in, his nose touching mine.
"Say it again." He demands in a tiny whisper.
I can't help but croak as I cry and laugh at the same time. "I love you, you asshole."
Sawyer looks at me almost relieved and he breathes out before he pulls me into a small kiss. "I love you." He says into my mouth and I pull away from him wiping my tears away.
"What now?" I ask, trying to lighten the intense mood. I don't want to beg him to stay. He seems at a tug of war with himself and I can't help but frown.
He looks at the car and back to me.
"You can't leave for three months." I hold onto his shirt. His eyebrows crease in confusion,
"Who said anything about three months?" He questions and I look at Avery who is spying on us from the entrance door.
"Avery." I tell him.
"Opal, I'm going to a work training. It's only for a week." He says and I drop the arm that's clutching his shirt.
"Oh." I frown.
"You seem disappointed." He says, he raises an eyebrow and I turn back to Avery.
"No. I'm just glad your aren't leaving for that long. But I'll take that back." I try to pull the drawing from his hand, but he moves his hand away from me and hides it in his coat. He smirks as I frown and he pulls me into a hug.
"I wouldn't just leave without telling you." He kisses me on the top of my head.
"I don't believe you." I say into his chest and I feel his laugh rumble through his chest.
"You hate goodbyes remember." He states the obvious and I hug him tighter. "I expect a movie night when I come back." He says and I nod into his chest, smelling him one last time. He smells like cinnamon and coffee mixed with his deodorant and I can't help but want to bottle it up and spray it everywhere, as weird as that sounds. "Alright, I'm going to be late." He whispers and I nod into his chest, but don't let go. "If someone peaks out the window they might know." He says and I finally, but slowly let go.
"Okay." I frown.
He opens his mouth to say goodbye but he stops himself before he pats me on the head, awkwardly. I move out of the way as he gets into his car and he waves at me.
I walk back inside when I don't see his car anymore.
"You're welcome." Avery pats me on the back and I look at her.
"For?" I ask.
"Come on. Do you really think I would hug Sawyer and make a big deal about him leaving? I probably just would have texted him goodbye."
"You planned this?" I question.
"Kinda. I saw how miserable he looked every time he would pass by you sleeping on the couch. I saw him walk over to you a couple of times, hesitate and then angrily stomp away." She laughs. "Honestly, I don't think he was expecting you just to confess. I'm surprised it worked." She dusts off her shoulder like she's proud of her small plan.
"Evil. He isn't even leaving for three months." I glare at her.
"I know. I honestly knew he wasn't listening to a word I was saying. His focus was on you." She rolls her eyes.
"Thank you." I tell her. I don't think I would have confessed if it wasn't for her.
"It wasn't so hard was it?" She teases and I roll my eyes.
"I guess a whole week is better than a few months." I tell her and we both plop onto the couch.
"Ever wonder if Evan sends him on these trips?" She turns to me and I ponder on it. How can he? They don't work together, do they?
"I'm not sure." I shrug. "How did you know Sawyer was leaving today?" I ask her.
"You're not the only one who snoops." She nudges my arm.
"What else do you know?" I squint my eyes.
She sighs out, "Not much. They're so secretive. They all have been for as long as I've known them." She leans her head back.
"What's the biggest secret they've kept?" She asks and she turns to me with a frown.
"Whit. I think they've been plotting against him since they were kids." She says.
"Why?" I ask and she shrugs.
"Hell would I know? I was shrugs.
It's weird to me that they've been plotting against Whit for so long. They're really good at picking up who's evil and bad and who isn't.
"They're really over protective if they care about you."
"Whatever happened to Daniel and Charolette?" I ask, I remember them hanging out with Sawyer and then when I visited in the summer.
"Whit." She says in slight disgust.
"Explain." I tell her and she sighs out.
"You know how I almost killed you? Well there's more to it. It was Charlottes plan the whole time. She was obsessed with Sawyer and any girl who got in the way knew that. I was so stupid." She says and my eyes widen.
"But she was so nice." I cross my arms, feeling cold all of the sudden.
"If you thought I was mean, she was worse. Sawyer saw right through her and Daniel."
"Why didn't Sawyer do anything?" I ask.
Avery puts her hair up, and breathes out like it's hard to talk about the past.
"He did. I just don't know what? Sawyers brain it's too complex for me. But he did something. He always does, and it's always just and fair, somehow." She says and I look away. How the heck did Sawyer become this way?
"They're paying for what they did then?" I ask and Avery laughs.
"In a way yes."
"If only they knew the life they would be living." Avery looks around. It seems so normal now to live in huge houses.
"A life of luxury." I sink further into the couch. "But it will eventually end." I tell her and she looks at me,
"Don't say such things." She says. "How are you feeling?" She questions.
"You two are up early." Evan comes down and Avery rolls her eyes.
"We couldn't sleep." She winks, knowing we both woke up to stop Sawyer. " Want to make us breakfast?"
Evan looks between us. His eyes seem to soften when he looks at me, and I wonder if he's regretted what he told me.
"Nancy should be coming." He says, "but what do you guys want? We can order in." He says with a small smile before he leans down and kisses Avery on the cheek.
"Pancakes!" Avery yells, excited. "Opal?" She asks.
"I'm craving hash browns, from McDonald's." I tell him, emphasizing the word craving. He stares at me like he wants to tell me something, but he holds it back.
"Anything else?" He asks and I shake my head.
"McDonald's breakfast day it is." Evan says as he pulls his phone out to order. This is the first time I've seen Evan in pajamas.
"Wrapped around my finger." She smiles as Evan leaves the room. My smile falls and she tilts her head,
"What's wrong?"
I don't know if I should confide in Avery. I've always been told not to fully trust anyone and that is where I stand right now. I mean he's wrapped around her finger, maybe she can say something so he can stop acting like this toward me, but I decide against it.
"Nothing. I think I'm just tired."
"Take a quick nap. I'll wake you when breakfast is here." She says and I head back upstairs.
I walk back upstairs, hand in my pajama pockets holding on tight to the watch. The watch I stole off of Sawyer this morning.
By the time he figures out it's gone he'll be on a plane far away from me and I'll be free to time hop whenever I want without him interrupting, except now I know to be safe and not interfere with past us.
I hide the watch in a floorboard I pulled up, underneath my desk and head straight for bed.
"Do you smell it?" I hear Avery's voice far away and I slowly open my eyes. She's waving a hash brown in front of my face.
"What time is it?" I question and she looks at the clock.
"Almost eleven." She says and my eyes widen. I slept five hours. Pregnancy is tiring.
"Come on, everyone is downstairs eating." She says and pulls me out of bed.
"Morning." Drew flicks my forehead and I take a seat at the table.
I quickly dig in and Evan clears his throat.
"I revived a call earlier today." He looks at everyone and his eyes land on me. It almost feels like Sawyers death glare just not as intense.
I nod, waiting for him to continue.
"It seems that someone stole something from my brother." He says, his eyes still to me and then he looks at everyone else.
"Sawyer? He's too careful with that kind of stuff. I tried taking something of his once and he knew it was me seconds later." Drew confesses.
"What did they steal?" Avery asks.
"A watch." Evans eyes once again lands on me. "He knows who took it, and seemed pretty heated. Furious, apologetic, steamed, murderous even." Evan continues and I gulp.
"God, I feel sorry when he gets his hands on whoever took it." Drew takes a bite out of his food and I look down at mine.
Sawyer should have known I'd take it. He should have.
"Sawyer isn't going to do anything." I laugh nervously.
"You haven't seen Sawyer angry then. Sawyer and I went out drinking once. There was this man bothering some girl and Sawyer wasn't having it. The man had a couple of men with him and threatened Sawyer. Sawyer sees red. I saw red, lots of it, everywhere." Drew says, staring off into space almost as if he were traumatized.
Evans phone rings right on cue.
"It's for you, Opal." Evan says and I slowly get up and walk to Evan.
Avery is smiling, thinking it's going to be a sweet call, but it isn't.
"What does Sawyer need to talk to her for?" Drew asks and I shrug.
"Probably work related." I tell him, quickly grab the phone and walk into the living.
"Hello?" I say.
"For the love of all things good, Maeve, you better not use that watch." Sawyer angrily threatens. "If I were not on this plane, Opal..." he stops and I hear a flight attendant talking to him and I hear him politely say thank you.
He's using my middle name to get to me.
"What watch?" I deny and I hear him breathe in and out a few times, and I know he's fuming.
"Opal." He says my name slowly. "You better fucking listen to me...you don't..." I don't get to hear what he says because I hang up. I can't stand him yelling over the phone and I don't need to hear him, I can just hang up and no one will know.
I walk back into the kitchen with a smile on my face.
"Yeah, mhmm going to miss you too. Goodbye." I pretend to talk and hang up in front of everyone. I pass the phone back to Evan.
"Everything resolved?" Evan raises an eyebrow and I nod.
I'm the last to finish my breakfast and help" Nancy with cleaning up.
"You're just not going to tell me you're pregnant?" Nancy says out loud and my whole body turns to her that I almost give myself whiplash.
"How do you know?" I whisper.
She points to the mess on the counter.
"Doritos and oranges? Pickle juice mixed with sour cream? Ice cream and garlic bread together?" She says and I frown. I was too tired to clean up the mess I made yesterday. All the different concoctions I thought I was craving.
"I was experimenting." I shrug.
"Those are pregnancy cravings if I ever seen them." She says.
"Please don't tell anyone." I tell her and she frowns.
"Does the father know?" She asks and I nod.
"Secret is safe with me." She says and I hug her. "I'm going to start making you healthy meals." She says and I hold the urge to scrunch my nose. All I've been craving is junk, but I guess I need to start eating healthier.
"If you ever need advice and if you're in pain, come straight to me. I've helped in so many home births, it was my job before Sawyer brought me into his family." She says and I nod.
"I'm scared." I tell her and I can't hold back my tears.
"It's scary. But we'll all be here for you." She pulls me into a small hug and she laughs a little. "But guess what? Women have been doing this for centuries." She smiles and I nod.
"Thank you." I tell her.
"Now, don't get me started on the size of the heads and how they just tear everything up." She starts to say and I playfully glare at her.
"Not helping."
"I know. I'm only joking." She says "or am I?" She whispers. I laugh and give her one last hug before I walk out of the kitchen.
Everyone is lounging in the living room and Evan is waiting for me, phone in his hand.
"It's Sawyer." He says and I roll my eyes taking the phone.
"What do you want?" I ask, not saying hello.
"Opal, I need you to listen. If you hang up, I swear to God I'm flying this plane straight home." He says and I stay quiet and he takes that as his cue to continue. "Why?" He asks.
"Why what?" I question, it's cute and funny that he's on a plane throwing a tantrum over a watch.
"Opal, please. Im not in the mood to be playing your stupid silly games." He snaps and I stay quiet. He will eventually get answers when he realizes he needs to be nice. "Opal?" He asks when I don't say anything.
"Yes?" I quietly say.
"Why did you take the watch?" He seems calmer now, but there is still an edge to it.
"I don't trust you with it."
"You don't trust me with it." He says, repeating my words, and I know I'm on thin ice.
"I don't." I know he can feel me smiling through the phone which makes him angrier. He doesn't say anything for a long time before he breathes out.
"Okay, this is how you want to play. I trust you." He says and I frown. Not the reaction I was expecting. "Just don't do anything stupid." He pleads and I nod knowing he can't see me.
"I won't." I tell him.
He breathes out again. "Okay. Okay." He says, and I know he doesn't trust me. I've given him many reasons not to.
"Thank you." I tell him, "for trusting me."
"Of course." He says but he isn't being himself.
"Okay." I tell him.
"Okay." He says and I know he's still mad.
"Goodb..." I'm about to say bye when the line cuts off. Jerk.
Im startled by the sound of banging noise and I accidentally drop Evans phone. Who is trying to knock down our door?
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Late update! Hope you enjoy!
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