If I Stay✔️

67

C H A R L I E

"— What's the next step? Does this set him back? What do we do now, Char?"

I listen to Zac as he rambles on about every concern under the sun. I nod and smile in understanding with every pointless thing he says. When he asks the last question, finally I have a chance to actually speak.

"We adjust his medication," I tell him, knowing he wouldn't be happy with the short answer, but also knowing he'd cut in before I could say anymore than that.

"That's it?" He shakes his head and begins pacing, rambling even more about things that I would answer if he gave me the time to. Lord give me strength. "Surely there must be more than that? The medication can't be working if he had a breakdown this bad, we have to—"

"— stop and let Charlie speak?" I cut him off and clap my hands. "I agree. That's exactly what we have to do."

Just as I imagined, Zac doesn't seem all that impressed. "This is serious, Charlie."

"Oh, is it really? I did not know this... this is brand new information." Zac's face turns the colour of a fire truck. He gapes at me, blue eyes bulging from their perfectly shaped sockets. "Relax, I know what we have to do."

"And that is?" Arms cross over his masculine toned chest, muscles tensing, veins becoming more visible as he leans his whole perfectly sculpted body against the wall.

I avert my eyes. Not the time, Charlie, soooo not the time.

"Well," I take a seat on one of the many chairs lining the abandoned hallway and clasp my hands together, forcing my eyes to remain on my shoes.

"First, we see if Jack can calm him down, then I'll speak with Leo and see what mind frame he's in, how he's feeling and how he wants to proceed with treatments. After that, if Le agrees, I increase his therapy sessions and work out what triggered this episode, if there was even a trigger."

"Of course there was a trigger," Zac states, as if he's the one that studies psychology. "This wouldn't happen out of nowhere."

"If he wasn't schizophrenic I'd agree with you, but he is. These episodes can happen out of the blue, Zac. Leo has a disease that has no cure. This is his life now, your life. Whilst medication can help control his symptoms better..."

"It won't stop them completely." Zac finishes off.

"Precisely." I concur with a nod. Ensuring I can control myself, I shift my eyes to his.

"Look, Z, I know this all seems scary and excessive but with time things will start to seem a lot more promising. Leo is still in the early stages of his diagnosis, it'll take some getting used to for him and for you guys, too."

"I know," Zac's cheeks swell and fade as he exhales a puff of breath. "It's just horrible to see him so distraught and not know how to help."

"Being here will help him." I say, believing my words a thousand percent.

Leo needs his family around him, whether he believes that or not. From what I've gathered over the two years of knowing the Lombardi's, Zac and his siblings have been the only good thing Leo's ever known, the comfort he's grown used to. Once Leo accepts that he does need help, soon he'll accept the fact that he needs and deserves his family, too.