SEVENTEEN

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-MAISIE-

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-MAISIE-

THE WIND SWAYS my hair as soon as I step outside. I pull the jacket closer to my body. The sky is painted orange when I leave the PT center, leaves of the same color litter the streets. October has just started and I already can smell pumpkin in the air. 

My eyes scan the parking lot, looking for Blake. My heart skips a beat as I think he has forgotten about me. I grab my phone, my thumbs skirting over the letters at full speed. Suddenly, a second before I press send, arms circle my waist from behind. My feet dangle in the air, a gasp escapes my lips.

"Surprise," a voice I recognize so well chuckles into my ears. Brody. He holds me up and spins us around.

When I realize it is just my brother, I relax in his embrace. Even a laugh bubbles out of my mouth.

He puts me down and not even a second later, I turn and throw myself at him.

"Bugs!" I exclaim, my arms circling his neck. He bends down at first before he stabilizes himself again.

"Wow, I didn't know you loved me this much, Mouse," he amuses out, snuggling his nose in my hair. 

I hold him tighter. "I thought you weren't going to show up today." My confession is merely a whisper, almost dissipating against the sounds of the city.

"Hey, hey." He forces me out of his neck, but still maintaining me close. My arms slip down, my chin finds his chest as I blink up at him. He pouts, caressing my cheek. "Of course I would show up. Why do you think I wasn't?"

"Logan and Al are not on the best terms. And Al said Blake would be the one to pick me up." My shoulders rise. "I-I just thought..."

"It's Thursday," Brody points out, tilting his head. "We have dinner on Thursdays."

He says this as if it was a known fact. Water boils at one hundred degrees celsius. The day is twenty-four hours long. And my family—what is left of it, at least—has dinner Thursdays nights. Period.

I feel so stupid now, for ever doubting that.

"Logan too?" I find the need to confirm.

"Of course." Brody nods. "Blake was never going to pick you up, I just wanted to make a surprise." He flicks my nose, the knot in my heart untangles. "You are so silly to think otherwise," my brother chuckles.

My smile falters for a second.

He is right. I am silly. Completely silly. Stupid. Foolish. Overreacting all the time. Did I really cry over something so small? Weak. Always needing other's reassurance.

So damn pathetic.

I am probably overreacting about Al too. I must have gotten things confused. He wouldn't have been drinking that early. And Finlay, it is just asthma. It won't kill him. You are silly. Stupid. Crazy even. That is what will push people away. They will get tired of you. As fragile as all your brothers already see you. Needy. Pitiful. Dramatic.

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