Drunk I'm drunk I'm drunk drunk. No, I'm dreaming. No drunk.
And trespassing, but whatever.
I can't very well ring the doorbell since it's like midnight, but looking at the escape ladder makes me want to hurl.
"Evie!" I whisper-shout. Nothing.
Clinging for my life I scale the rungs at a snails pace. Let me tell you, I would force feed Evie an apology if it meant I could see Audrey Rose again.
Laying flat on the roof I catch my breath and moan. The window never seemed so far away before. Camille-style, I step in and tumble to the ground, groaning.
"Knock knock." I whisper. "Little Nap Queen? Donde estoymosomething"
"Liam! What?"
"Evie!"
"Shhh!"
"Evie, I—I can't see the baby anymore."
I sniffle a bit and let my walls down. I'll blame it on the intoxication.
"Audrey Rose? Take your shoes off if your staying, animal."
"Ash, I lost control, no baby." I mumble. "I'm miserable because I broke up with my girlfriend. She was the most breathtaking girl, I loved her you know. Then she almost died on my watch. I was scared so I ran can you believe that? Oh wait! You're my ex, oops."
"You're drunk."
"Not me."
"Bathroom, now. This doesn't mean I forgive you, asshole."
"Mmhmm."
I sit on the counter and lean my head back on the wall. It hurts. My lip is split from the way the guy hit me tonight, a whole week after the last one that ended in my banishment from the Klein residence.
"What happened?"
"Fight."
"Of course."
I hiss when she presses a swab to my stinging lip. "Ow."
She runs a finger over my bottom lip to rub in the antibiotic stuff. Nothing sobers me better than sexual tension.
Evie forces an aspirin down my throat and sighs. "Do I want to know what brought you to my window at midnight."
"Does there need to be any other reason but you?"
"If you want me to believe it." She raises a brow.
"My jacket."
"Oh." Her face falls slightly, my heart clenches.
I can't stop myself as quiet tears wet my cheeks. I miss her, and Audrey Rose, and my mom.
"Can I just, lay with you for a little bit. I just want things to go back to how they were." I say softly.
She nods, and lets me do just that. She pulls the duvet back and watches me pull my shirt off after eyeing her for permission.
"This doesn't mean I forgive you." I repeat her earlier words.
"I can call a truce for a few hours."
I crawl in beside her and she maneuvers me into her arms. It's like a breath of fresh air to be in her arms again. The ultimate safe space to be me. She's a liar, but per our truce, for now she's just Evie.
I take the opportunity to cling to her small frame and calm down as she runs her fingers through my hair. I close my eyes and feel peace for a moment.
"Evie, I know we broke up, but I still l—"
"—don't Liam, don't say it. For tonight, just truce."
"Okay... Princess."
***
I stir, pain searing the backs of my eyelids. It hurts, my fucking side. And that dream, so vivid. The same one I had for weeks after Evie's sleep spell in the cemetery. What actually happened wasn't far off. My head lulls and I hear a steady beep beep beeping by my ear. Voices, and then sleep taking me again.
Fully sobered and out of tears, I slip out of her room at dawn. I don't know what happened, but I liked it. A lot.
"Where the hell were you?" Sam's making coffee when I come through the door.
"Out."
I collapse on my own bed and sigh. Pulling out my phone, I text Ash that I worked things out. A second later my phone dings. He doesn't believe me.
I call Camille instead.
"I know you didn't just pull a mommy/daddy ask on me." She snaps.
"Come on, Camille."
"Ash said no, don't come to me for a different answer."
"Cami—"
She hangs up and I growl. We truced! That's working things out. Even if it's the kind of work that gets swept under the rug.
"Hey are we out of lube?" Sam pops in and I scream and throw a pillow at him.
"I'll just spit on it." I hear him shrug it off. His door closes and I huff. I do not want to be here. I make a SOLID point to never be here when they start shaking the walls.
But there's nowhere to go. Reluctantly I pick my phone up and call Brandon on my way out the door.
"Liam?" He answers skeptically and with a yawn.
"Hey um... Brandon." First names are weird.
"Can I help you?" He says after a moment of silence.
"I want to tryout for the lacrosse team, for real."
"Tryouts are literally next Friday man."
"I want on the team. Varsity."
"You've never held a stick in your life. You won't be on varsity."
"I want on varsity. Make it happen, please. Train me or whatever."
"Listen if this is about Evie—"
"—not everything is about your sister. Come on get your ass out of bed and show me how to play Lacrocs."
"Lacrosse. Lacrosse, dipshit."
"Well, excuse me."
"Liam."
"What?"
"Liam."
"Liam."
"Liam!"
***
I shoot up and cry out. Dreaming again. Lacrosse, Sam, Truce? Audrey Rose. Audrey Rose. That dream is a nightmare. I live part of it, being just friends with Evie, but I remember. Ash told me a week into her being at St. Anne's that I couldn't see the baby anymore if I didn't pull myself together. That real life nightmare seeped into my recurring dream too.
The devil himself stands in the corner, staring at me darkly. My heart skips a beat on the monitor. Sam is hovering over me. He must've been then one calling my name. My eyes don't leave Ash's until Camille steps up and sets Audrey Rose at the end of the hospital bed. Then they snap to her.
Bundled up in her lamb pajamas, our little sister crawls up to lay against my leg and drool on the hospital bedding. I can see her, the nightmare was just that.
And Evie? Evie who? I'm out of my mind on narcotics but I fuzzily remember Emmett and being slashed within an inch of my life outside the pizza parlor.
"We need to have a family meeting." Ash pushes off the wall and rolls up his sleeves. Him and Sam pull chairs up and they help me sit up as well.
Camille stands in the middle of the room for a second but with a flash of hurt, let's herself out, mumbling about finding her mother. As soon as the door shuts, Sam sticks his finger out for Audrey Rose to bite and Ash opens his mouth to talk.
"Emmett has to go."