AN: READ NOTES AT THE END!!
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“Hello?” I timidly answered, having absolutely no idea who was on the other end. I started to walk outside, wanting to hear this properly.
“Connie? Is that you?” I didn’t recognise the voice at all, though it did sound vaguely familiar, I wasn’t sure if I just wanted it to be.
“Yeah, who’s this?” There was a pause. Whoever it was, was deciding how to break this to me.
“Don’t hang up, please. It’s Drake.” My breath caught itself, causing my jaw to drop.
“Drake? As in, my... my-
“Brother, yes. It’s me Connie, your brother.” My breathing hitched again, but this time it signalled the start of silent tears. Thirteen years. No contact. Nothing. Just like him.
“Connie, please say something? Just yell at me, scream, cry, anything. Just something?” His voice broke with the strain of trying to hold himself together.
“Are you calling to try and take Alex away from me too?” It was all I could say. He hadn’t spoken to me in thirteen long, painful years, and he calls after my Dad appears out of the blue, to try and break up Alex and I. It all seemed really suspicious, so it was the only conclusion I could come to. I saw them as a team, a unit. Against me.
“No Connie. I would never do that. I couldn’t, not after seeing the interview. You two look so happy together, I ‘m really happy for you. I always knew there was something between you two. And, I don’t mean to pry, but are the rumours true?”
“What rumours?” My voice cold. I didn’t know if I could let myself believe him, he’d let me down before, I didn’t know if I could put all my hopes in him.
“Are you getting married?”
“We’re engaged to be married, yes. Why have you called Drake?” I couldn’t take all this small talk; I wanted the truth.
“I knew you’d see right through this, you were always like that.”
“Don’t act like you know me. Tell me what’s going on.” His breath hitched. Was I really affecting him that much?
“Everything’s falling apart, Connie.” My heart went out to him in that second and I never looked back. How could I turn him away? He was my brother, yet I still couldn’t speak. I couldn’t tell him everything was going to be just fine, not like when we were kids. Everything had changed, everything was different now.
“You were always right about Dad; I should have listened to you. I’m so sorry…” He trailed off; waiting to hear ‘I told you so’, but it never came.
“Once we moved, everything… changed. He wouldn’t let me call you, and when he was on tour he disconnected all the phones and took away my mobile. And the threats Connie… I was so alone. He didn’t let me have friends, scared that I’d tell his secret, ruin his image. I know it’s no excuse, I should have found a way, but I was so scared Con. He got so angry and… violent.” A sob burst through the silence and my heart felt like it had been ripped out of my chest. It felt like the ground was moving out from under me, I had to sit down. I looked around for a chair, choosing one from around the previous night’s fire.
“I-I don’t know what to say Drake, I’m so sorry. I should have been there with you; we should have gone through it together. You should never have had to be alone.”
“Connie please, don’t be sorry. You weren’t to know, how could you possibly have had any idea?! How unhappy would you have been if you had come with us? Seriously, staying in England was the best thing for you, in more ways than one. I couldn’t have coped if you had to go through this too.”
“Yeah but, I’ve only just started to be happy, Drake. Alex is the only reason I’m smiling every day, he’s the only reason I get up every morning. Everyone might say that about their fiancé, but I have nothing else Drake. My life has actually been really miserable, I needed my brother… But he took you from me.”
My fists curled at the images of the beginning of my sadness. I knew I’d be okay when mum died because I had my dad and my brother, they’d take care of me. But a week after her funeral, they left. Within the space of a month, Alex had left, my mum had died and my brother and dad moved to a different country. How I stayed alive at the tender age of six years old, I can only put down to Josh. He saved me. His family became mine, not that they had much choice, since I was dumped on their doorstep. They didn’t have to treat me like their own, but they did. I looked at them and saw the family I wanted so much.
“Don’t blame him for taking me Con; I could have just as easily stayed. I was just a coward.” Silence followed. Silence had sat between us for thirteen years, but this time it was different, we welcomed it now. Because this time, the silence came with promise.
“I love you sis. I needed you more than you could imagine. And I miss you so much, can I see you? And Alex? I want to apologise to him too.” My heart swelled. He called me his sister, he still thought of me that way, he still wanted to be my family. If I wasn’t getting married to the most amazing person I had ever met, I would say this moment was the best of my life. But it was tinged with the memory of him.
“Drake, don’t be stupid! You don’t have to apologise for the things he’s said. They’re his problems, and you shouldn’t be shouldering the blame for him! It’s not right, Drake.”
“I’m not ‘shouldering his blame’, not as such. I just want to make things right again, that’s all. It just so happens, unfortunately, that the things that need fixing in this family are the things he’s broken. And Alex is family now, not that he hasn’t been since you two met!” How had I ever thought ill of him? I was kicking myself at being so foolish. I’d hated this person so much for most of my life, and he turned out to be one of the most decent people, ever.
“Where are you staying?”
“At Uncle Shannon’s house, he came home this afternoon to check on me. Plus, I think he needs a little break from dad, tensions have been running a little high between them lately. Uncle Shannon had no idea what was going on, and then he found out last month and practically dragged me out of there! He’s been a real hero actually.” My heart jumped into my mouth, panic gripped my lungs, freezing any breath that dared to venture there.
“You walked out?! Drake, are you crazy!” The latter sentence wasn’t a question, I knew it was fact. He’d walked out on his abusive father, and went to live at his brother’s. Smart move!
“Well I couldn’t stay could I?! Uncle Shannon’s is the safest place for me to be right now. I have no-where else to go Con.” Those familiar words that I’d spoken and thought so many times acted like a catalyst, and spurred me on to be the sister I’d always wanted to be.
“Stay with me. InEngland. Although I might not be living here for that much longer, I don’t know yet. ButBaltimoreis far away fromL.A., you’ll be safe there!” I heard him chuckle.
“That’s really kind of you Con, but I’m fine here, really. Plus, how could I live with a newly engaged couple? That’s just not fair!” We both laughed at that one. I guess he did have a point; however, I would have still loved him to live with me. It would have been like we were making up for the time we would have been living under the same roof. I really did miss him, surprisingly so.
“But, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you still!”
“I know it doesn’t. But Drake, you see-
It was at that point that Alex almost fell out the bus door and stumbled towards me. I looked at him disapprovingly, he was so drunk. He looked questioningly at me, noticing I was on the phone – well maybe he wasn’t that drunk after all. Reaching out to take my free hand, he pulled me up so he could sit down, with me on his lap. I nuzzled into his neck and sighed in complete bliss as he weaved his arms around me.
“Is Alex there by any chance?” I giggled; he must have heard my sigh.
“He might be, nosey!” I laughed again, making Alex shake in response.
“When can I see you?” My laughing stopped abruptly at his sudden question, paired with a sudden decline in happiness. He was serious now; he’d waited so long for this.
“Well, I’m on Alex’s tour of theUKat the moment, and we’re heading forManchesterin the morning for the next couple of days. You could come then?” I looked at Alex’s still puzzled expression, but he nodded mechanically nonetheless.
“Are you sure Con, I don’t want to intrude or get in the way…”
I brushed off his qualms, “oh don’t worry! I’m always in the way, at least this way, we can both escape together?” I turned to look at Alex from the corner of my eye, his head shaking vigorously.
“You never get in the way, beautiful.” He whispered delicately in my ear, sending shivers all over my body. How he could still turn me into some horny, captivated teenager with just one simple touch, one whispered word, amazed me.
“Really?” The voice brought me out of my daze, Alex laughed. He knew he still had this effect on me, and he loved it.
“Yes! Now get your arse over from sunnyL.A.to rainyManchesternow!” I felt Alex’s body go rigid under me. He’d put all the pieces together, he knew I was on the phone to my long-lost brother. I lifted my hand to his face and pulled him up so I could kiss him quickly, before absently stroking his hair. I wanted to reassure him that everything was okay, because it was. Everything was amazingly okay.
“Okay, okay bossy boots! I’m throwing some things into a suitcase right now; I’m on the next flight toManchesterairport.” I laughed, I always used to throw a shoe at him when he called me ‘bossy boots’, I had no idea why, I was a strange little kid!
“Now I have to throw my shoe at you! Just wait till you get here Dray! Just wait.” He laughed at my mock threats. Alex looked completely lost, so I kissed his cheek and smiled at him.
“Not keeping up Bubbles?” I whispered in his ear, in turn making his eyes close as goose bumps spread across his body. I smiled in satisfaction; I still did it to him like he did it to me.
“See you tomorrow Con, I love you.”
“I love you too, Dray. Can’t wait.” And I put the phone down.
******
She put the phone back in her pocket and turned her whole body around so she was straddling her fiancé. Cupping his face in her hands, she leaned in towards him. She brushed her lips so lightly across his, before touching her lips to his softly. The promise of more became more likely as he deepened the kiss. But as she pulled away, he let out a loud groan.
“No way! You’re such a tease Connie Jane Leto.” And for once she didn’t scold him for using her real last name. This time she was willing to accept who she was, so tired of running from the faint little girl she’d left behind, so many years ago.
“But that is why you want to be my wife, Lady Alexander William Gaskarth!” He grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss, not letting her escape. As much as it peeved her that he’d won, her mild annoyance slowly dissolved into him.
He pulled away this time with a huge grin on his face. “Everything’s working out isn’t it? We’re engaged, your brother is coming, and we’re going to have four kids and-
“Whoa, wait, what?! Four kids? That’s what you were thinking about before! But four? Ow.” He laughed at her many questions.
“Two girls and two boys! I have names and everything; we’re going to be a great family.” He got that far away look in his eye again, as he remembered the images he had conjured up.
“What are their names?” Her eyes lit up, a sparkle dancing in them. Her curiosity building, she felt like these may well be her children, like they were already real.
“Daniel Peter, Joshua (and I think Drake should be his middle name), Cassidy Jane and Emily Isobel.” A tear formed in her eye and slowly trickled down her cheek, quickly stopped by the thumb of the person she adored more than anyone else.
“I love you so much.”
“I love you too.” And they just stayed in that moment, so happy with each other. Unable to contain their excitement for what the future held for them. They both knew what the other was thinking: whatever the future did hold, they always had the person in front of them, their best friend and soon to be, husband and wife.
A devilish grin crept onto her face, before she playfully punched him in the shoulder and climbed off him. “Come on you loser, let’s go for a walk.” She held her hand out for him to get up and walk with her. Instead a growl ripped from his chest, making her jump at first, but then making her run, enticing him to chase her.
“We’re like dogs!” She shouted back at him, before he tackled her to the ground. They lay next to each other, facing the stars.
“You cannot be serious for like a second can you?”
“So very unwilling to be. Race you to our tree!” She laughed before getting up and running towards the woods. He ran after her with a huge smile on his face and a laugh on his tongue.
Just two kids, so in love, with so much promise. It seemed that nothing could stand between them, nothing could tear them apart. They’d have their problems, sure – they knew that; they’d also have days when they forgot why they’d even bothered. But for now, they had today. And that was all that mattered. And today, they didn’t have to change one thing, they could have life how they wanted it. Because for now, change is yesterday and that bothered them not one bit.
They were ready for whatever forever had to throw at them. They’d made it.
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AN: IMPORTANT!! READ READ READ!!
There is the opportunity to have a sequel! I have some ideas and I reckon I can make a story out of them. So, it's up to you guys!
It'll be called 'Change Is Tomorrow' and I'll only write one if people want one.
ALSO, and if anyone wants some one-shots, or has any ideas for one, please do comment (:
Here's a link to one on my profile: http://www.wattpad.com/5117038-simply-just-everything-atl-one-shot
Anyway, I'll shut up now.
Thanks so much for reading my terrible story! Never would have expected this many reads, votes, comments, it's really great. (':
Bye! X