❝You're gonna be happy, ❞ said life, ❝but first I'll make you strong.❞
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A story of how a family reeling from loss and pain can come together and realize that there is beauty in the mess of life.
In the wake of their mother's death, five siblin...
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— Nova —
GETTING STUCK WITH the tall dark-haired boy for more than three hours into this road trip was not what I anticipated when Malia and Quinn had brought this vacation up in the first place.
It didn't help that I was the one driving and got saddled with Theo in the passenger seat as the other three of our friends crammed into the back. I wasn't sure what they were expecting me to do with Theo's glowering mood but I certainly wasn't equipped for that.
Give him some slack. I told myself. I don't expect the guy to be ecstatic to leave when his brother just got hurt.
But more than anything, I wanted to give him a smile and offer him the sort of reassurance that could hopefully pierce through his guarded face. I wanted to reciprocate the same gentle advice he had given me when my own burdens caught up to me.
It didn't help that I was exhausted.
I wasn't even sure what part of my body or brain hurt more. The painful pounding in my head. The numb hollowness in my chest. Or the empty growl of my stomach.
It was unbearable. And all I could manage was just to breathe. Because if I focused on anything else, my carefully constructed calm would shatter.
So I had volunteered to drive us to Quinn's cottage with the hope of distracting myself from the drowning churn of thoughts in my head. I thought I had managed to push away my shadows of despairing thoughts by submerging myself with the stuff I loved, with the people I cared for.
But like the forecasted bouts of rain in this town, it always came when I least expected it.
My eyes glanced into the rearview mirror, finding that everyone else had fallen asleep. Quinn was settled in the middle of the backseat, as she had the smallest frame and shortest stature. Her head was settled on Malia's shoulders, while her legs were perched on Vaughn's lap on her left.
Vaughn's head was pressed against the window as his dark locks swept over his forehead and a low snore escaped his pouted lips. His strong arms fell protectively on Quinn's legs while Malia positioned her head over Quinn as her usual stoic face softened.
With everyone so immersed in sleep that even the rock music playing on the radio, this had left me with the company of Theodore Jackson.
With a side glance at his rigid posture, I knew he was awake. His eyes were trained roughly on the blurring of trees and farmland around us as his long eyelashes shielded his stormy ocean eyes.
I was thankful that it was mandatory to wear the red and white lifeguard shirt's when we were working because if Theo walked around shirtless, I would be too distracted to even notice if someone were drowning.
