Chasing You

41

LACEY

The rain is really coming down against the hotel's roof. Everyone is huddled in Robbie and Rae's room watching a rerun of some reality show. Trey is on the phone ordering pizza while Julie, Tori, and I are cuddled on one bed with Robbie and Rae laying in the other. Carter and Asher are sprawled out on the couch with Jeremy, Trey, and Sanders in front of them.

"Can we please watch something else?" Rae asks. Jeremy groans but reaches out for the remote. He tosses the remote onto the bed. Robbie grabs it and passes it off to Rae. Trey comes back into the room as Rae switches the channel.

"Pizza should be here in an hour," he says hopping onto our bed. We all release loud groans as we bounce on the bed. He sighs in content wrapping an arm around Julie. I lay in the middle so I have a full view of this. I gag and move closer to Tori. She lifts her head up and glances at the three of us.

"People I have no room!" she exclaims. I mumble underneath my breath and nod my head at Trey. She narrows his eyes at him.

"What you guys look comfy!" Trey defends himself. Tori rolls her eyes at him and lays back down. A small smile crosses my face as I look around the room. After we went to Braden's house we parted ways with him and came back to the hotel. We all changed and decided we wanted to be together rather than apart.

"Can we trade for the bed?" Jeremy asks from the floor.

"Yeah my right ass cheek has fallen asleep," Sanders grumbles from beside him.

"No." We all say in unison.

"So unfair," Jeremy grumbles from the floor. Carter lifts her head off of Asher's lap and tosses a couch pillow at the two of them.

"There. Share that," she says. Sanders grabs it before Jeremy even has a chance to grab it. The two of them continue arguing on the ground. I tune out their arguing and look up at the ceiling. Today has been exhausting in the worst way possible. My emotions are still all over the place. Tension is still heavy between everyone because I think we all don't know what to do. Or say. Or how to act.

I close my eyes and lean my head on Tori's shoulder, "I am exhausted."

I feel Tori sigh and nod her head, "Yeah."

"What do we do now?" Robbie asks. I open my eyes at his comment.

What do we do now?

How do we even move on from this? When everything is so confusing and you feel like you can't breathe because things feel so astronomically fucked up. I don't even know how this can happen or why things like this happen.

"We live our lives," Jeremy says. The group falls silent as I swallow thickly. The last thing I need to do right now is cry again. I don't want to keep crying.

"But how? Man, Tyler never deserved this," Trey says. He shakes his head from beside us. My bottom lip wobbles and I bite it. Hard. I don't need to cry again.

"He didn't but we have to do it for him," Sanders replies.

"Tyler wouldn't have wanted us to be like this forever," Carter chimes in. Her voice is shaky but strong. Tori and I both shift as we move to sit up. We lean our backs against the headboard. I glance down at Julie and Trey who are still lying beside us.

"It's just so unbelievably fucked," Asher says. I flick my eyes to Carter and Asher.

"Yeah," Carter whispers.

"We have to be there for Braden as much as we can," Tori pipes up from beside me. I glance at her and nod my head in agreement.

"He needs us more than ever," I breathe. I look down at my leggings and pick off an invisible fuzz. This is all not going to be easy. I know that. I think we all know it. We just have to depend on each other. We all jump when the television starts shouting about some car dealership.