Sunshine ☀️

eighteen☀️

Julie came home from school, exhausted. But she didn't care about how tired she was, she just wanted to go home, get changed and go see Aurora.

She put her school bag in the kitchen, and was about to go upstairs, but stopped when she saw the guys sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Hey guys, what are you doing in here?" Julie said as she walked over to them.

Just as they were about to reply, Ray walked into the living room and saw his daughter.

"Mija, you're home. I need to talk to you." Ray said as he gently pulled his daughter towards the couch. The guys got up off the couch and sat on the coffee table instead, seeing as Ray couldn't see them.

"What's up?" Julie said, looking at her father.

"Aurora is going to be staying with us, honey. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it." Ray said gently. He had spoken to Aurora when he and Carlos brought her up a sandwich, and Aurora asked if he could tell Julie what happened with her mom.

"Of course I'm okay with that." Julie said with a small smile on her face. "Does that mean she's not in the hospital anymore? And is she staying with us until her mom gets better?"

"No, honey. She's gonna be living with us from now on, and yes, she got out of the hospital this morning." Ray said, holding his daughters hands.

"Living with us? As in, forever? Why?" Julie said, confused. She didn't mind of course, she loved Aurora. She was her other best friend. But why was she going to be living with them?

Ray sighed, looking at his daughter. He didn't want to be the one to tell her, but he knew that Aurora wouldn't be able to talk about what happened without crying. He didn't want her to be more upset than she had to be. He also knew that Julie had grown close to Aurora's mother in the time that she had known her.

"Honey, Aurora's mother passed away last night." He said softly, rubbing his thumb over Julie's knuckles.

Julie gasped softly, pulling her hands out of her fathers grip to cover her mouth with. She was sad of course, but right now, all she could think about was Aurora.

The boys were the same, none of them knew how to react. They knew how close Aurora was to her mother, they knew that she was the person Aurora looked up to the most.

"What? But the last time I spoke to Aurora she said her mom was fine?" Julie said, confused.

"That's because she was. She was fine during her surgery, but she passed away in her sleep afterwards." Ray said. "She found out today, just before I picked her up. You can go see her if you want, but I'm pretty sure she's sleeping. Just don't push her to talk if she doesn't want too, okay? I've called Flynn and told her what's happened, and she's coming round tomorrow to see her."

Julie just nodded and ran up to her room, hearing the boys following behind her. When she reached her room, she stopped before she could open the door. She turned around and looked at the boys.

"Gosh, what do we even say to her?" Julie whispered.

The boys all sadly shrugged their shoulders.

"I don't know. We'll just be there for her, whether she wants to talk or not." Alex said.

Julie nodded and opened her bedroom door as quietly as she could, and looked over at her bed to see Aurora sleeping, cuddled up in a hoodie that Julie let her borrow. She also saw Aurora's cat, Luna, sleeping by Aurora's head, making her smile.

She saw the sandwich that her dad and Carlos had brought up hadn't been touched, meaning she didn't see it or just didn't eat it. Walking over to the bed, she sat down next to Aurora and brushed some hair away from her face gently. She ran her thumb over her cheeks, seeing some dried tears there, before gently tapping her cheeks, waking her up.