Take Two

24║Take Two

(I'll leave the sappy stuff for the end)

it's been a long time coming so without further ado I to present you the final chapter of Take Two, enjoy

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T W E N T Y F O U R;

I hadn't felt like this in months, six months to be exact.

This feeling of fullness, like everything was okay. It was something that had been lacking in my life, yet I finally found it.

After staying up late talking with my mum about what the divorce meant for us and how we could finally take that step forward, I felt this same feeling come over me as I sat down on my bed. I was finally content.

My friends were back in my life, granted it wasn't the same relationship that we had before. I no longer hosted the parties and was viewed as the popular girl, but I still had my good true friends. It's true that nothing, not something materialistic like an iPhone or makeup, else matters when you have those friends. I had also found a new friendship with Maria. I think that she and Elli were finally getting along, so that didn't hurt my friendship dynamic either.

Then there was Thea. I had thought that after Mark's death she would resent me because I was a reminder of what she had lost. On the contrary I think that I was the reminder of Mark that she needed. Thea had even started coming over almost every other weekend to have dinner with my mother and I since we had started talking a few months ago.

It had taken me a while, but I had finally come to terms with the fact that Mark would be happy now. He would want me to move on. Mark was my best friend, he knew me better than I knew myself. I think that was why it was so hard to move on after his death. Not just because he was my brother, but because I didn't want to disappoint him. Although it had only taken a couple of different hands to pull me out of the hole that I had dug so that I could realize that my brother could never be disappointed in me. I was his sister, I was the first person that he turned to when he needed help. And I knew now that he would want me to be happy.

So, I made the decision that everything I did in the future, every choice that I made, was because I wanted to be happy. Not because someone else wanted me to do it, or because I was too afraid to step out of my comfort zone. No, I was going to do it for Mark, for my Dad, for everything and everyone that I had lost- yet everything that I had also gained. I knew that was what Mark would want, for me to live my life for me.

And Carter. My Carter. It had been a week that school had been back in sessions since Christmas break had ended, yet he still hadn't returned to school. I tried to call him but the minute that the connection would go through my call would be sent straight to voicemail. I knew what he was going through, and I knew that all he wanted was space. But I also knew Carter, like Elli said that I did. And I knew that if was allowed all that time by himself his thoughts would consume him and he'd dig himself down a whole that would be impossible to get out.

So yes, I did know Carter. And I knew that he was the exact opposite of me. Carter was the type of man that needed that attention, he needed someone to pull him back down when he got lost in his thoughts.

That was one of the many things that I loved about him, that he was the exact opposite of me. We contrasted each other in so many ways yet he continued to be the only person that truly understood me. And that was why I knew that I needed to go and see him.

"Have you tried texting him?" Ryder spoke up from the end of the table. We all had left school to go to a small little restaurant across the street for lunch.

I gave him a look that screamed 'duh', "of course I've tried to text him."

Ryder shrugged, picking at his plate of fries in front of him. I could tell by the slight red that spread across his cheeks that he was embarrassed, Ryder was never one to speak up in a group conversation. Yet I also knew that he was trying, trying for Carter and trying for me.