Chapter 15
Declan's POV:
Dark grey clouds take over the sky, heavy with soaked up water ready to be released. The outside air filters through the car's venting system, the temperature a bit chilly today. I've been driving for a little over an hour now, needing to visit her. It's been too fucking long.
Wes sits beside me in the passenger seat, he's nagging with the radio, he legit changes the song every two fucking seconds. It's annoying as hell and it drives me fucking nuts, he knows it too. I swear he does it purposely just to get on my nerves.
Reaching over I turn the stupid thing off because if he were to change the song again, I would no doubt punch him. So this is a better solution.
"Really, what's got your panties in a twist?" He scowls, crossing his arms like a toddler.
I clench the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white. "Pick a fucking song, or don't listen to it at all." I hissed, "Choice is yours."
"Jeez, someone's grumpy," Wes remarks, reaching over and turning the radio back on. "It's because of her isn't it?" He questions.
I glance sideways, then focus back on driving.
"How long has it been?"
"Too long." I mutter, "She called last night, she said she missed me."
Reaching down into the center council, I pick up the pack of cigarettes, pop the lid open and take one out. I put the chemical invested thing in my mouth and light the thing, throwing the pack back down. Inhaling the contaminated air sends feelings of relief to my fucked up head.
Wes leans back in his seat. He then rolls down the window, not liking my smoking habits. "Does she know you're coming?"
"No," I say, releasing a grey cloud of smoke from my mouth. "I want to surprise her."
She was upset last night, so upset I'm pretty sure she was crying. I could hear her quiet sniffles over the phone, she wanted to see me, she missed me. Now I need to make up for it, for making her cry.
Taking another swig of my cigarette, I let the toxic air fill my lungs.
Wes stays quiet, not bothering to answer me. From the corner of my eye, I see his lips set into a straight line. Thinking, no maybe ignoring? I don't fucking know. If it keeps him quiet then I'm not complaining. I don't care if he's my best friend, he can get hella annoying, and certainly strives to irritate me.
After a while longer we reach the town she lives in, a small community. It's kind of dull not going to lie, but it's safe and that is what matters. The houses are decently sized and have a good amount of land.
Getting to the end of my cigarette, I flick it out the window and continue to watch the road.
"Does Ella know about her?" Wes breaks the silence.
"Not yet, I haven't told her," I mumble.
Wes smiles for some unknown reason. "Do you think she's outside? You know how much she loves the outdoors."
I shrug, "Not sure, guess we'll find out."
I pull onto her road, passing a small park with a playground and swings. It must be one old playground since the paint is almost nearly all chipped off. Nobody's there either, probably because of the incoming storm or maybe just because it's kind of creepy.
You can hear the creaking swings due to the wind blowing. Old? More like fucking ancient.
Reaching her driveway, I pull into it immediately taking in the white ranch home with a medium-sized oak wood porch. Through the windows, I can see the dining room lights on. Once my car is parked, I swing open the door and get out.
I walk up onto the wooden porch and knock three times. Wes stands behind me as we wait. After about a minute the wooden door opens and my aunt peeks out.
Once she sees me, her lips curve into a welcoming smile. "Declan, I wasn't expecting you." She exclaims.
"I wanted to see Riley, I would've called but I thought surprising her would be better," I say, shrugging.
She opens the door completely, "I see. Well come in, you know where to go."
Wes and I do as we're told and walk-in. I start walking down the familiar long white hall with lots of picture frames hung. When I reach her door, I knock softly twice, then walk in, not waiting for a response like always.
My eyes scan the room until they land on the little girl sitting at the window seat. Her curly black hair falls just under her shoulder. Her blue eyes concentrated on the picture she's drawing. Crayons are sprawled out around her small frame.
Riley looks up from her drawing, hearing me come in. When her eyes land on me, she drops her crayons and starts running. "Decwen, I miswed you!" She exclaims happily, jumping right into my arms.
I don't hesitate to pick her up and swing her around. "I missed you too, Riley girl," I murmur, kissing her forehead.
She smiles, holding me tight until she sees Wes behind me. She squiggles out of my arms, then runs over to him. "Wes." She murmurs, hugging his leg.
Wes hugs my little sister back with the same enthusiasm, then gives her a noogie making her dark curls all the wilder. "Hey, kiddo."
Her big blue eyes beam in happiness.
"What are you drawing?" I ask, walking over to the abandoned paper she was working on moments before.
She catches up to me taking my hand, she then leads me the rest of the way to the drawing. I pick up the picture and look it over, there's a yellow sun in the top corner with grey clouds around it.
Towards the bottom is two people, both stick figures, ones taller with short hair and the others shorter with long hair. The two people are holding hands.
Riley points to the tall person saying, "That's you, Decwen." She tells me
.
I can't help the smile that pushes onto my lips. She then points at the shorter stick figure, "And that's me." She says. "Do you wike it?"
I squeeze her small hand. "I love it, you did such a good job Rye," I murmur.
She once again wraps her little arms around me, giving me another hug. "It's for you."
"Hey, where's mine?" Wes pouts, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'll make you wun to for next time." She promises, and I can't help but laugh at how cute she is with her speech impediment.
Wes smiles a big goofy smile, "Sounds like a plan, but don't you forget." He says, pointing a playful finger at her.
"I won't. I pinkie pwromise." She tells him, holding out her pinkie.
Wes hooks her pinkie with his, holding her to that promise.
After the promise is complete, I ask Riley what she wants to do. Her response was she wanted to go to McDonald's and get a happy meal. In all honesty, she just loves the toy that comes with the meal.
I don't like McDonald's, but I wanted to make her happy, so that's what we did.
On the car ride there, Wes and I play eye spy with my little eye with her. When she got bored, she asked me to turn up the radio so she could sing, and of course, Wes just had to sing with her. It was fucking fantastic let me tell you, music to my ears.
Deep down, hearing Riley sing, her being happy in general was all I cared about. She didn't know many of the words, but she sang proudly anyway. No matter how hard I tried to hold in my smile, I couldn't. She was adorable. I loved this little girl with my life.
After getting Riley her food, we took her to that old park chipped off paint. I pushed her on the swings for a while. It seemed like the brewing storm would hold off a bit longer.
Every so often, she would yell, "Higher Decwen higher!"
Wes was swinging in the swing next to Riley because he's a fucking child. When Riley wanted to do something else we played tag, mostly Wes and I chasing her. She even attempted to cross the monkey bars, though she was a little bit scared at first.
We were at the park for an hour when Riley decided she wanted to leave. So we did, I drove us back to our aunts and then we sat in her room. Wes played dolls while I watched them.
As the sky fell darker, it was time for Wes and me to leave. Her little blue eyes filled with tears, the look broke my heart. "B-but I want you to s-stay." She hiccuped.
I'm not good at goodbyes, especially when Riley started to cry.
"We know, kiddo, but it's getting late, and you have school tomorrow," Wes murmurs softly.
"Decwen, pwease d-don't go." She pleaded, looking at me with the saddest doe eyes.
I pick her up off the floor, bouncing her a bit in my arms. "Don't cry, baby girl. " I coo, "I'll be back soon, okay?"
She cries into my shoulder. "But I-I don't want you t-to gwo."
A sigh leaves my lips as I rub her back. "I know, baby girl, but I'll be back before you know it."
It takes a little while to get Riley settled down. I hum to her all the while rocking her in my arms, she soon falls quiet. Gently I lay her down in bed tucking her in, I then put in a princess movie, her favorite.
Before I leave I sit on the edge of her bed, she squeezes me tight. I place a kiss on her forehead, "I love you, Rye." I whisper.
Her bottom lip trembles, "I wove you too."
With one last glance, I then stand up and leave the room. By the time Wes and I leave, it's late.
All I can think is I hate leaving her like that. I hate leaving her at all.
The drive home is quiet except for the soft sound of the radio. Wes doesn't play with it knowing that I'm not in the best mood. Leaving her always puts me in a mood.
Wes cares for her just as much as I do.
*
Ella's POV:
I woke up with a startle this morning, another nightmare in the books. To release the pent up tension and underlying nerves, I spontaneously decided to go for a short two-mile run. The effects of the nightmare had left goosebumps trailing my arms and an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I ran the back roads. Very few cars drive on the backroads, and there's a minimal amount of houses. I didn't like running where a lot of people could see me, so this was my solution. As I ran, music thudded loud in my ears, my playlist popping.
The air was cool against my skin, a bit humid but nothing I couldn't handle. A mile into my run, I came up to a big grassy field. It was doused with morning fog. Little assorted wildflowers littered the grass. Behind the field was a trickling stream.
The view was so pretty, so I decided to take a tiny break and sit in the damp grass.
After relaxing, watching the stream, I run the mile back to my house. The run back seemed longer somehow, but I feel a whole lot more relaxed now than I did before.
When I return home, I take a warm bath with lavender scented Epsom salt. It was still early, and nobody was up yet. I was surprised I even had the motivation to run this early.
After my bath, I get dressed in a pair of sweats and a long sleeve hearing my mom and Thomas downstairs. Deciding to join them, I walk down the stairs, which creak as I do so.
As I get downstairs, I see my mom and her boyfriend, Julian, in the living room. They sit next to each laughing and drinking coffee. So what do I do? I walk right past the living room, not bothering to say hello. Instead, I go right to the kitchen and pour myself a cup of coffee in my favorite blue mug and sit at the table.
Must of having heard my awakening, my mom comes out in her pajamas, Julian not far behind. She takes the seat next to me, and Julain takes the seat next to her.
My mom smiles at me, "Good morning." She and Julian both say at the same time.
"Morning," I mumble, feeling uncomfortable.
"Did you sleep okay?" She asks, scanning my face over, her eyes full of concern. She must see my bags.
"Yeah, fine," I lie, glancing down at the table and taking a sip of my coffee.
With Julian here, I'm kind of nervous, I don't know him, and he seems pretty intimidating. He must have spent the night considering he's wearing pajamas too.
After a couple of minutes, my mom asks, "Where did you go this morning. I heard you leave."
"For a run," I say, rubbing my hands up and down the warm mug.
She nods. It's still awkward since that day we all had dinner with Julian. I ran out of the house upset and didn't come back till the next day. I think he notices too.
"I'm sorry for making you upset the last time we met. Why don't we start fresh." Julian apologizes, sounding apologetic.
I glance up, eyeing both Julian and my mom. They watch me waiting for my answer.
"Yeah, umm, okay." I agree quietly.
He smiles widely in response, his dark blue eyes bright. He really was attractive for a man my mom's age. It was off-putting.
With my answer, I stand up and put my empty mug in the sink, then hurry back upstairs. I'm hungry, but I'll wait until my mom and Julain leave to make something; no need for another awkward conversation.
Once in my room, I hop back in bed and take my book off my nightstand and start reading. Currently, I'm reading the series called 'A Court of Thorns and Roses.'
Edited by @Marilyn_McKnight! Thank you, I appreciate you lots!