Water Under the Bridge || Evan Buckley [2]

chapter nineteen

sharing some confessions

In the middle of the night, Josephine stirred in her bed. Her hand stretched to the other side to find it empty. The coldness of the bedside jolted her eyes open. She pushed the comforter off of her and slipped into her robe without a second to spare.

She descended the staircase merely feeling the case of déjà vu. Especially sauntering into the living room where Buck sat in silence with his attention unfocused on the television screen playing a rerun of a classic sitcom Friends.

"Hey, can't sleep?"

Josephine joined him on the couch.

"Kind of hard when you start reevaluating every speck of your life." Buck spoke in a monotone voice.

The heartache of the big Buckley family secret struck Buck in ways he couldn't describe. More like affirmed the isolation and lack of attention from his parents. What hurt more was his sister's betrayal. He stormed out of the apartment unable to tolerate her company and sped off to the one person he could only trust at the moment.

When Josephine swung her door open, the first few words Buck breathed out, "They never wanted me."

He revealed everything to Josephine from finding a picture of his late older brother Daniel to his birth. Unloading news like that left her shocked though sympathetic to her boyfriend she assumed registering many emotions upon this.

They spent a quiet night in as Buck wished since the presence of his girlfriend was what he needed the most desperately.

"If you need time to process, you can call in sick."

"No. I'm not going to sit around all day. I need a distraction." He wavered his gaze on his girlfriend. "I'll be okay. I promise."

Josephine stared at him not entirely convinced. But she let it go and combed her fingers into his hair before pressing a kiss on his cheek. "Okay." She stood from the couch and extended her hand. "Let's try to get some shut eye before shift."

Buck complied and grasped her hand, letting her lead them back to the bedroom.

Buck watched the table's reaction once entailing the Buckley family secret the morning of their shift. Minus Josephine, the rest of the team were flabbergasted by the new information. After a minute surpassed, Eddie was the first to speak up out of the trio.

"This explains so much about you." He commented in a blunt tone.

Hen still stunned, "It's a miracle that you even survived childhood."