Leah
"Hey, woman, stay away." Avery shrieked as she ran and hid behind me.
"But-but I want to thank you." The girl who was running after Avery said with puppy dog eyes as she stood in front of me, looking at Avery.
"Use words. I'm fine with them. Just not hugging." Avery hissed and the girl huffed, her shoulders slouching.
"Fine. Thank you." The girl, probably a junior, thanked and left.
"Fuck. That was close." Avery sighed as she came and stood in front of me.
"What happened? You look pale." I asked as I exchanged my books in my locker to complete the assignments our teachers had previously asked us to submit on Friday but due to a school event, Friday was declared as a holiday and now we have to submit them on Thursday, which was freaking tomorrow.
Oh, joy.
Not.
"That girl wanted to hug me." Avery massaged her temples and wearily looked in the direction the girl went in. "Her top got ruined so I lent her one of the spares I keep in my locker. So to thank me, she wanted to give me a hug."
"And the problem is?"
"That hugging is basically seduction in an unseductive way!" She exclaimed and I facepalmed. You could totally expect that from Avery.
"But you don't have any problem with hugging me or even Lydia."
"That's because you both smell good. Like really good." She grinned as my face twisted in a weirdest expression. "Oh, so lover-boy finally let go off your mouth, huh?" What?
"Avery!" Lydia blushed and she raked a hand through her hair to tame the mess probably caused by Adrain. Those two were official now and Avery was right about them doing the dirty on their date night.
"What? I saw you both playing tonsil hockey. Plus you two already banged each other. Why are my words bothering you now?" Avery shot back and leaned against the locker.
"At least put it in a nice way." Lydia huffed.
"Alright. How about this? Does your heart skip a beat when you see him?" The female twin asked, an evil smile plastered on her face.
"Yeah," Lydia answered suspiciously.
"Oh my God," Avery screamed. "Are you alright? You've got arrhythmia. You could die from that." Avery shouted right on Lydia's face and left without saying another word whereas Lydia looked at me questioningly and I just cracked up.
One can never guess what could come out of that mouth of hers.
"Did she just..." Lydia trailed off and I could only nod my head in response. "Hughes!" She screamed and ran after her, disappearing through the school doors.
"Hey, Leah. Ready to go?" Ethan appeared from the opposite hallway, twirling his car keys in his hand.
"Yeah, just let me put this in." I shoved the last book in my bag and slung it on my shoulder.
"Do you have any plans for Friday?" He asked me once we were seated in his car as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.
"Oh yes. I have to get my dose of fiction." I smiled sweetly at him when he glanced at me for a moment and then back on the road again.
"Leah, I was thinking whether you would g-" He was cut off by my phone ringtone. Taking it out from my bag, I saw it was from mom.
"Hey, mom."
"Leah, your grandma..." Mom's voice cracked and she trailed off. Panic seeped through my skin as I heard mom sobbing on the phone.
"Mom, calm down. Take deep breaths." I heard her inhale and then a sob. "Mom, where's dad? Let me talk to him?" Ethan glanced at me, his face morphed into concern.
"He's with Jeremy, Leah. We're at the h-hospital. Your grandmother was brought in the morning for her surgery. Bu-but the doctors are saying she isn't responding to the treatment and her condition isn't good." Mom hiccuped and I could feel the bile rising to my throat as my heart started beating wildly inside my chest, my brain going completely blank. The phone dropped in my lap as my hands started shivering.
"Leah, what happened?" He asked and stopped the car on the side of the road "Shit, you're cold." He hissed as he took my hand in his and turned up the heater to high, although it was really hot outside.
"Hello, Aby, what happened?" He picked up my phone and was talking to my mom, whereas I sat there, frozen. I didn't realise when he had cut the call, I didn't realise when he started rubbing my hands, I just sat there motionless. I didn't realise when he had pulled me onto his lap and was rocking me back and forth. I didn't even realise I was crying until he wiped my tears and I let out a strangled sob.
"Leah. Nothing's going to happen to your grandmother. She's going to be fine." He tried to console me, but I know it wasn't true. My mom wouldn't cry if it was something minor.
"You don't even know." My voice was thick as another sob escaped.
"Neither do you, Leah."
"But mom was crying. She wouldn't be crying if grandma were alright." I rubbed my face in frustration as my head got heavier with frustration. He cradled me and tucked my head under his chin as he rubbed my back to console me.
"Don't cry, Leah." He whispered against my hair and kissed my forehead.
I didn't know for how long I sat there, crying on his chest. I don't know for how long he held me close to him, but eventually, my sobs ceased and my tears had stopped. My head was throbbing and I felt empty from within as I thought about grandma and her jovial smile that can even melt a stone.
She won't leave us.
She can't leave us.
She was the one who took care of me until I had turned five, as mom and dad were always busy with work. Both of us would go to the library to get books and she'd ask me to pick a book of my choice from the kids' section. Then she'd read it to me in the kitchen whilst baking sugary-goodies and I'd be sitting on my high chair, listening to her voicing out the characters, bringing them to life, and watching her bake my favourite sweets.
Grandma didn't only bring characters to life but also brought me to live in her world of fiction. It wasn't the books that made me crazy for fiction but it was the way my grandma read them to me.
"Take me home, Ethan," I whispered against his chest and lifted my head as I shifted back into the passenger seat and rested my head against the window. I saw him faintly nodding his head and felt the car roar back to life.
Savannah was pacing on the porch when we pulled up in the driveway and she rushed towards me when I got down from the car. One look at my face and she opened her arms for me. I didn't hold myself back and immediately ran into her arms to seek motherly comfort.
"Leah, honey, don't cry." I couldn't help but notice how similar Ethan was to his mom as she too rubbed my back soothingly.
We stood there on the porch with Savannah consoling me and me crying onto her shoulder. I felt worn out as my eyes dried up, forcing myself to think that nothing's going to be happening to my grandma. She's going to be alright. She's going to be back to her usual cheerful self again. She has to.
Later that night, when I refused to come down to dinner, the Adams' were nothing but understanding and I felt disgusted with my bratty-self. Ethan had brought dinner to my room, which I didn't feel like having. I had lost my appetite and constantly felt like puking. But somehow he forced me to eat and after a few morsels, I gave up.
I laid in my bed with my eyes closed, all the moments spent with grandma playing under the closed eyelids as Ethan held me close to himself, telling me that everything was going to be alright. He had refused to leave my side even when I had pushed him away.
When I almost dozed off, my phone started to vibrate on the bedside table and I jerked up to quickly get it. It was dad. Hundreds of dark thoughts clouded my mind as I stared at my phone thinking why was dad calling me at four in the morning.
Ethan picked up the call and talked to my dad, giving me a few worried glances at times. It can't be good. It's definitely something bad. I could feel it through the lack of words from his side and by the way his facial expressions changed from worried to horrified.
"Yeah, I'll tell her." He said and cancelled the call. He turned his attention to me and took my hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Leah, your grandm-" He was cut off as I rushed to the bathroom and puked my guts out, tears rolling down my cheeks. It was too much to bear, too much to digest. I knew what words were going to come from his mouth.
And for the first time, I didn't want him to speak any further.
******
Do you have any ship names in mind?
I was thinking of:
•Leahan for Leah and Ethan &
•Jeah for Jordan and Leah. (bc I'm evil like that)
Feel free to suggest if you have some other names in your mind.
This book is nowhere near completion. There are still loose ends that need to be tied before wrapping this book up. So, bear with me.
One more thing. Do you want me to upload a character list? There's a lot of confusion because of all the Js and most of the male characters' names ending with 'an'. Let me know if you want me to do that.
Alright, that's all from this awkward potato.
Until next time.