Gracious

Chapter 38

A/N - owed you all two updates in one day 🫶🏾

~~~

"Here they are!", I was met with the friendly smile from Delilah the second she opened her door, the homely feeling that her house gave off engulfing me in an instant.

"Hey Delilah", Caleb stepped in first, somewhat towering over his best friend's mother as he hugged her briefly and kicked off his shoes.

The twins followed, the two of them removing their shoes and rushing into the kitchen without so much as a look back, I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to Delilah, wrapping my arms around her for a moment.

"You're shaking honey", of course she had to say that out loud, I could feel Prescott's eyes burning holes into my back as we pulled apart; I pocketed my hands in an instant and cleared my throat.

"Just need to eat", I shook my head with what I hoped was a convincing smile, "I'm fine".

Lie.

I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch today, so the dinner that Delilah had invited us all over for was due to be my first meal of the day, not so good for my health. Plus, my insulin pod needed changing, I was just praying the looming drop in my sugar levels would wait until we got home.

"You've grown even more since I last saw you", Delilah hugged Chase, seemingly believing what I'd told her, "how's Rory?". Chase smiled, adjusting his glasses with his index finger before clearing his throat.

"She's good", he nodded, a slight blush covering his cheeks, I wasn't sure if it was because he was shy about the topic of his girlfriend, or if he was self-conscious about the fact that he didn't have his hearing aids in. He didn't like to communicate verbally if they weren't in, but when we were around people who didn't know sign well enough he'd make an exception.

"And don't you look smart?", Delilah pinched Prescott's cheek as if he wasn't a twenty year old man, "you've put everyone else to shame".

"It's just a shirt and trousers", my brother shrugged, removing his shoes and rising to his full height, "it smells great in here, I'm starving".

"And yet I had to convince Theo to put a shirt on in general", she rolled her eyes, "food will be ten more minutes, that okay?".

"Sounds perfect, and thank you again for-,", she cut me off with a raised hand to which Prescott chuckled, Chase doing the same as he hovered in the hallway.

"Accept it Zane", she told me, cocking her head towards the kitchen, "you boys want a drink?". I just prayed this dinner went as smoothly as possible.

~

I was an idiot.

Of course I was having regrets about not eating now, because although I had a large plate of lasagna and garlic bread in front of me as we speak, it was too late.

I was in the midst of a hypo, my hands trembling in my lap like I was going through withdrawals, my vision blurry and drowsiness beginning to take over. I was seated next to Prescott, just because the universe was against me, my most observant brother just had to be right there in close proximity.

Theo's thirteen year old sister Amelia was opposite me, but she seemed more interested in poking her twin brother Grayson with a fork and stealing small glances at Alexander than what was going on with me.

"Can I stand up please?", my hazy vision shifted to Xavier who was shifting in his seat, a frown on his face as he fiddled with his cutlery. He was next to Delilah and Alexander near the other end of the table, and while he'd managed to sit there for a good seven minutes, I knew him asking to move around was inevitable.