Allison's POV
I stared thoughtfully at my phone and chewed lightly on my lip. For the past few hours since I woke up, this had been all I had been doing; just sitting and staring at my phone, trying to decide whether or not the call would be worth my time, whether or not he'd even care about what I wanted to say - hell, I didn't even know if he would answer in the first place. But this strange ache in my chest was pushing me to make the call anyway, the voice in the back of my mind was attempting to persuade me to pick up my cell and dial the number I knew so well. But I wasn't even sure I would be able to tell him in the first place; I was afraid I would choke on my words and hang up before I could get them out. It would be worse to be so close to saying goodbye and not being able to.
That wasn't the only reason I was staring at this device as if it would suddenly answer all my problems. No, I was so intently focused on it, for if I looked up, I would see all of my possessions packed away in stacks of cardboard boxes. I couldn't look at them without feeling like I'd burst into tears, and I've cried more than enough since I found out that my parents were sending me away. I refused to let them see how much this was affecting me; after all, they were the ones getting divorced, they had enough to deal with without having to deal with their extremely depressed daughter. Of course, I couldn't deny how angry I was with the both of them for giving up on their marriage, just like that. They never even stopped to think that it could be fixed or what it could possibly do to affect me. They were more worried about settling who gets what.
I stopped my thoughts in their tracks as tears stung the back of my eyes. I was not going to cry again; not in this house. But I couldn't stop thinking about everything that was crashing down in my life as the tears threatened to spill; so I did the first thing that came to mind to break myself from my thoughts.
Picking up the phone and immediately dialing his number without a second thought, I waited impatiently as I heard the ring tone buzz monotonously. I was so ready to give up by the third ring, I had nearly taken it away from my ear to hang up as I heard a voice on the other line greet me.
"Allison?" He'd picked up after all. I was shocked, to say the least, and it took me a moment to be able to speak again to respond to him.
"Um, yeah, it's me. Hi," I greeted awkwardly, absentmindedly tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I heard him chuckle breathlessly and I nearly smiled as I wondered what he was up to that had him out of breath. "Look, Gryffin, I need to tell you something. I wasn't sure whether I should or not, but then boxes happened and my parents are pissing me off and my phone won our staring contest and you actually picked up and....hi." I knew I had a habit of rambling and not making sense when I was nervous, but even I didn't understand half of what I was talking about. I facepalmed and sighed, surprised when I didn't hear Gryffin laugh at my horrible speech. I remember Hunter always laughed at me when I did that, but when I thought back to when we were kids, Gryffin had always been the one to focus on the meaning behind the words rather than the words themselves; he always knew when to joke around and when to be serious, a trait I had always wished that Hunter had as well.
"What's wrong, Allison?" he asked, as serious and to the point as I knew he'd be. I swallowed and started fidgeting with the wrinkles in the sheets on my bed. I really hadn't thought this through, I should have known that I would be too nervous to say it out loud, too nervous to face the facts. I was grateful that he didn't push me to say it, that he was giving me all the time I needed to get it off of my chest. The sound of his soft, patient breathing on the other end of the line soothed me, made my nerves settle down to the point where I was able to speak the words.
"I'm leaving, Gryffin, I'm saying goodbye."
As soon as the words had slid off my tongue, I wish I had never called. He didn't need this, he probably didn't even care that I was leaving. After all, he was the one that had wanted me to leave him alone in the first place; I'd thought that he didn't really mean it, that he actually wanted me to stay with him anyway, but maybe he'd just meant exactly what he'd said. Maybe, I should have just let him go.
And it became painfully clear that I was right as I heard the final click of him hanging up, followed by a deafening silence.
I couldn't believe it. I couldn't make myself believe that he had been able to drop me just like that. I was nothing to him, nothing but a memory that he was more than eager to forget. I would not let myself believe it. I tried to convince myself that I was mistaken, that he hadn't hung up and he was just silent, or that he accidently hung up on me and would call back any second. I knew, somewhere in my mind, that it wasn't true, that it was my way of coming up with an excuse for his actions. I couldn't bring myself to hate him for what he did. In fact, I couldn't bring myself to feel anything at all.
I was numb. I simply sat there, listening to the dreaded hum of the dial tone on my phone, which I still held against my ear. I didn't want to move, as I feared that any movement would shatter this numb shield my mind had put up. So I stayed there, my phone in my hand against my ear, my legs tucked underneath me, for god knows how long. It felt like an eternity for me, but every minute seemed to feel that way to me now. I only snapped back to reality as I heard the door downstairs slam open, and loud footsteps trot up the stairs, much to my parents' protests. Whoever it was obviously had no respect for authority and had obtained no manners in their years; that could only mean one thing.
Just as I put the pieces together, my bedroom door was thrown wide open, revealing a very dsigruntled and furious Gryffin. His gaze immediately landed on me as he stepped into my room and stalked towards me, the stormy glint in his eye leaving me speechless. Once he'd reached me, I felt him grip my wrist tightly and yank me to my feet, making me stumble into his chest clumsily before finding my balance. I couldn't break my gaze away from his even though I couldn't deny that he scared me when he was like this. I didn't know what to expect when he was in one of his moods, and this was certainly no exception.
"What do you mean, you're leaving?" he demanded angrily, searching my face for answers. I felt his grip on my arm tighten further when I didn't answer, and I winced inwardly at the pain.
"My parents are sending me away to go live with my aunt in Canada," I managed, attempting to swallow the lump in my throat. I've never said it out loud before, and it only made it much more real. I was almost grateful that I was too frightened to feel the full impact of the words.
Gryffin shook his head and chuckled humorlessly. "You can't leave." I raised my eyebrows challengingly, crossing my arms as best as I could in spite of his hand on my wrist. Even though I didn't want to leave, I felt a need to challenge his statement. He couldn't control me or what I did - whether I wanted to do it or not.
"Oh really? I can't leave? I can't?" I scoffed sarcastically and rolled my eyes, earning a growl from Gryffin. "You're the one who left, Gryffin! You're the one who just stopped talking to us, stopped being Hunter's brother - hell, my brother! You left us first, so you have no right to tell me what I can and can't do." I choke on the last few words and lowered my head to hide the tears that I was trying to blink back. I told myself I wouldn't cry, I wouldn't cry again, not here, and definitely not in front of Gryffin. I should be mad at him for just up and leaving us, for just shutting us out. But I remember the day he first severed ties with us. I remembered the way he looked at me. Eyes were supposed to be windows to the soul, and his once were; but on that day, they had become steel doors.
Now however, I couldn't make myself look up to see those very eyes glaring down at her with an unconcealed anger. I flinched back at the sound of his voice when he spoke again, his voice a low growl.
"As if I didn't have my reasons for turning away, Baites," he spat. He only ever called me by my last name when he was realy, truly angry with me, and I knew then that I should be scared. He was unpredictable with a temper he couldn't control, god knows no one - much less me - wanted to be the target of his rage, or anywhere near the scene when it happened. But I had no way out of it, and his words were true enough to sting. "Neither of you even tried once to get me back. You kept saying you were just giving me time to heal when you were just saying that to make you feel better about yourselves. You just didn't care about me enough, after all that we've been through, to even ask what was going on. But god knows you spent months - no, years - trying to save Hunter whenever he got slightly upset. So don't you dare tell me I'm the one who left."
I gulped nervously and kept my head ducked down low, my brown hair falling down in a curtain to hide my face from his view. I was shaking noticeably now as I tried to hold myself together, my arms wraooing around my body as if it would keep me from falling apart. It was my fault. It was all my fault. Why couldn't I see what I was doing wrong? Why couldn't I stop making everything so much worse?
Maybe this is why they're sending you away, I thought, but I shook my head to clear it. I couldn't believe it, I couldn't let myself believe that I was the reason that everything was falling apart - even if I was the common factor.
"Allison, look at me." His voice was stern, and still angry, but it was contained now, or at least it was on some level. I hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not I should actually look up, but at the sound of an irritated sigh, my eyes slid up to his slowly as if with a mind of their own. He simply looked into them for the longest time, and his gaze both calmed me and made me want to burst into tears all at the same time. He'd always had a strange affect on me, both of them did, though the feelings I had around them were drastically different.
"Yeah?" I asked quietly after a few long moments had past. The nerves had past, and now I just felt like my awkward self as I shifted uneasily on my feet.
"Nothing," he replied, his voice a bit softer now, though it still had an edge to it. Then, it always did now. I frowned slightly in confusion, my head tilting slightly as I studied him. What was he thinking? Why did he change his mind about what he was going to say? Hell, what was he going to say in the first place? I opened my mouth the respond, to ask, but he silenced me with a shake of his head.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he turned away from me to eye the boxes that filled the room, the same action I had been avoiding earlier. A strange expression came over his features, but it was gone before I could tell what it was. By the time he turned back to me, it was moulded back into his usual expression which gaave nothing of his thoughts or feelings away. I wanted to ask what he was thinking about. I wanted to ask him how he was feeling. I wanted to ask him why he had gone through the trouble of coming all the way over to my house. I wanted to ask him so many things. And I almost did. I was almost able to ask him all of those things and know I wasn't going to get any of the answers I was looking for.
But I was interrupted by the last words I ever expected to hear.
"I'm coming with you."
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A/N: Hey guys ^^
I know it's been 6 months since I updated this book last, and I'm really sorry about that. I have had a lot of personal issues that have been keeping me from writing, which honestly only made things worse. I'm not sure if I am back to having steady updates yet, but I am trying to make them at least a bit more readily available. Hopefully I can find the time to update again soon.
In the meantime, why don't you guys go check out my other story The Angel's Guardian? If you like this story, you will definitely like that one as well. Not to mention, there might be a few cross overs with secret surprises from the future for Allison and the Storm twins X3
Question of the Chapter:
Do you have any predictions for what will happen next? What will happen between Gryffin and Allison now?
Leave your answers in the comments, my lovely bookworms.
Vote! Comment! Fan! Enjoy!