It was the first time since that night when I was 11 that I had run into Justin's arms. "He's gonna be alright, Kady." It was the first time he had called me Kady since that night. It was the first time I had seen him cry since that night.
I had paced for an entire hour, back and forth across the lonesome corridor until Brandon gently tugged me towards him, enveloping his arms around me with his chin lightly resting on my shoulder while we stood to face the ICU room Jace was in.
"Brandon?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"You should go home, it's getting late. I'm okay." My voice was croaky from all the crying.
He tugged me impossibly tighter which I was incredibly thankful for. He kissed my neck softly and said, "You're pretty funny if you think I'm leaving you alone like this." Without him here I don't think I would have stopped crying. He was here the whole time letting me free all the welled up tears that were present in me. He didn't once let me go.
I couldn't help it, a fresh set of tears pricked at my eyes, a waterfall about to cascade down again. My shoulders didn't shake and my breathing didn't come out heavy, the tears trickled down my cheeks soundlessly. Despite this, Brandon immediately knew I was crying, almost as if he could sense my pain as his own.
He turned me around, without breaking his embrace and pulled me right into his chest. His chin now rested faintly on the top of my head as he brought his jacket around the both of us, his large frame completely engulfing my own.
"I-I didn't know-know it was gonna be this serious," I said, my chest heaving between the strangled sobs escaping my tightened throat.
"I know, baby, I know. But he's gonna be alright, I promise."
"How c-can you promise that?"
"Because the little dickhead's gonna have to buy me a new shirt, you know, from all the snot you got on it," he said and I lifted my face up to see him looking at me with a small smile. I murmured, "I'm so sorry," while reluctantly going to pull away from him.
My hands didn't even leave his torso when he grumbled out a "no" and pulled me back into him, grabbing my face with both his hands and wiping my tears. "You can snot on me all you want," he said with a wink.
Despite all the palpable tension in the air terrifying me I gave Brandon a small smile.
"And plus, I need to punch him in the face for making my girl worry so much."
I chuckled and I realised just how thankful I really was. My twin, my best friend, my chocolate stealing buddy was in the ICU and I don't think anybody could have distracted me and gotten me to stop crying and actually smile in such a situation especially with the dense rock of melancholy residing in my chest.
Nobody, except Brandon.
With his simple and caring embraces, he gave me a breath of air amidst all this suffocation.
"Thank you. So very much."
He smiled and placed a kiss on my forehead.
Justin appeared from behind Brandon with some coffee in his hands. His shoulders slumped downwards and the bags under his eyes drooped with ache. Brandon took the coffee cups from him and gave me a small nod, telling me he understood what I had to do as I unravelled from his embrace.
I went over to Justin's side and he wrapped an arm around my shoulder as we turned to walk the other way so I could have a moment alone to be with him. I smiled at Brandon, reassuring him that I was going to be okay and he smiled back, making it clear that he was going to be right here, whenever I needed him.
"You can cry some more if you want, you know," I say to Justin
"He's not dead. I'm not crying anymore. Not that I did cry previously."
"Okay. So can I cry a little?"
"No."
"Please?" I say and I almost feel the tears about to rise at the back of my throat.
"Uh-uh no. He's probably in there dreaming about someone making an edible football so that he never has to come off the field when he's hungry."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Shut up, you know that only works with you and Jace."
"We have to get him a cake in the shape of a football, ya dimwit. He's gonna kill us if we don't have one."
"Oh shit, yeah. I'll order it. You get back to Brandon." I turned to walk away just as I heard him say, "Kady?"
"Yeah?"
"I think mum and dad would have loved Brandon. He cares for you in a way none of us could, nor could anybody else ever."
"Thanks, Justin. I love ya, buddy."
"I love ya too, Kady."
I turned around and rounded the corner and bumped into none other than the man with the earth-shattering smile and heart-melting dimples himself.
"Sorry, I was just coming to make sure you were okay."
"Of course you were," I said and tipped on my toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. We walked back to the seats near Jace's room and just as we were about to sit the doctor assigned to Jace came out.
The second I saw him I rushed to his side.
"Are you the patient's immediate family?"
"Yes, yes I am."
"Well, he's out of danger. I will let you know about all that he needs after your ready. You can go inside and see him now. Just make sure to keep it really quiet as he is still trying to adjust to his surroundings."
"Crap!"
"Excuse me but that's not really quite the reaction I get when I tell somebody that their family member is doing well."
"No, you don't understand," I say and then look over to a puzzled Brandon with a somewhat panicky look.
"His cake isn't nearly ready yet."
DBCHWB HJFQHHJBHJBEQHHDAGAQHJRAHR KQKH
OH MY!! Thank you guys so much for all the love you have given to this book. My phone was blowing up with notifications and I cannot even begin to explain how incredibly happy you guys made me. So as per your requests and my thanks I updated a chapter in which Brandon is melting hearts again.
Thank You Guys So Much!
Love Y'all.
Vote
Fan
Comment
Share
Smile
Stay FaBuLoUs