All That's Left

Chapter 7 | Dorian

Present
2023
Seventeen years old

I'll never be cut out to be a stalker, that's for sure. My siblings, who had dutifully agreed to play spy with me, and I had been tailing Vania for the past ten minutes, and we had to duck into another aisle when she nearly spotted us on numerous occasions.

But why were we following Vania, when she was just buying groceries, you may ask? Well, ever since the soccer game, which was a week ago, I had only seen Vania when she came to pick up my siblings in the morning, and at dinner every night.

I didn't know where she was while I was at school, or what she was doing. I had given her this week to settle back in, even though I wanted to spend every waking moment with her. But is she thought I was going to stay away forever, she had it wrong.

We had been through everything together, Vania and I. Our first words were said in the same day, as if we had a telepathic connection and told each other, 'Today is the day we make some unintelligible sounds that sounds like words and make our parents so very excited'. We had helped each other take our first steps, as proven by the videos on the old tape recorder in our attic which held a lot of our memories.

Our first day of kindergarten was spent together, as well as middle school and high school. First relationships, first heartbreaks...everything in our lives was connected with each other, and I planned on keeping that fact up until I die.

That's we had promised each other, after all. To spend our entire lives connected in some way or another. She would have gone to prom with me. I'd be the one she called when she got her first, official job. She'd be my best-woman at my wedding, and I'd be the man-of-honor at hers. And when we were old and wrinkly, we would cause mayhem in the retirement homes until we got kicked out.

I know life happens, and things rarely happened according to plan, but I wasn't losing my best friend because of an accident she blamed herself for.

Vania wasn't looking after herself, and I knew she didn't like my parents worrying about her, but tough cookies. We would worry about her until she finally moved on from blaming herself, and then we would still worry about her, because she was family.

Aspen and Kian sat in the grocery cart, keeping an eye on Vania as we followed her through the grocery shop a reasonable distance away. She wasn't buying a lot of groceries, which was concerning since I knew she had lost a considerable amount of weight. That, and the fact that the little groceries she bought when she first arrived were used up. Sure, she was eating dinner with us each night, but what about breakfast? Lunch? Snacks? A person had to have snacks.

"Oh no,'' Kian whispers, and I follow his gaze to where Daniel Kimmons just bumped into Vania, sending the small amount of contents in her basket scattering over the floor. ''She has associated with the enemy,'' Kian says as Daniel steadies Vania with a hand on her arm, smiling.

I refrained from rolling my eyes. Daniel was a player, as simple as that. He lived for the chase, and once he had the girl, he dumped them aside and moved on to the next girl. Not to talk about his asshole of a little brother who was a spoiled little brat that liked to bully Kian at school 24/7.

Daniel quickly helps gather the little products that were thrown on the floor, and I can hear him apologizing from where we are parked with the cart. He probably ran into her on purpose.

I watch as he says something to her, smirking, while she keeps her gaze on the items in her basket.

He was flirting with her. In the grocery store. In front of the cereal selection.

This guy had no game.

''Can we go save her now? He's going to kill her with douchebag-ness,'' Kian says, and I grin.

I loved my little siblings.

Aspen was still quiet next to Kian in the cart, and I knew it had to with Vania being a couple of feet away. I was going to have to mention this to Dad sometime if she didn't get better.

I wasn't saying that anything was wrong with her. She was allowed to feel however she felt about Vania. But I couldn't let her go back into that funk like when she was younger.

''Yeah, let's go save our girl from the douchebag. Remember, we just got here.'' I steer our cart in Vania's direction, making sure it looked like we were just casually strolling through the grocery store and not intentionally intervening. Which we are.

''You left without us! You do this every time! Why? Doesn't anyone love us? Isn't there anyone who cares about the Lowe trio?''

Yes, I was quoting Sid The Sloth, but I'll do anything to make sure the next guy Vania dates is a decent human being. Not a player like Daniel. And certainly not an unhinged psychopath like Lucas was.

Daniel eyes me up and down before glancing at my sibling in the cart. ''I'll see you around, Vania,'' he bids her goodbye, shooting me another look before walking off.

''What was that all about?'' I ask Vania, faking interest in the content on the shelf. She shrugs. ''He was just saying hello. Why?''

Why, indeed. I had never been in the habit of lying to myself, that's why I knew I didn't approach Vania and Daniel just to protect her.

''Daniel's brother bullies me at school,'' Kian says, saving my butt. ''Don't let Kyle bully you.''

Vania smiles slightly, reaching over to push up Kian's glasses which had slid halfway down his nose. Damn, we needed to get those things adjusted. One of these days they were going to slip off his face, and he wouldn't even notice, because Kian was so focused on everything else besides himself.

''I'll be sure to steer clear of him when I can, kiddo,'' Vania replied. I took her basket from her, placing it on Kian's lap. ''Why don't you guys pick some for us? And make sure one of them is something to do with chocolate'' I told my siblings, gesturing to the cereal I had parked them in front of.

When they were occupied, I grabbed Vania's hand, pulling her a few feet away from them. ''Why are you buying so little food, Vania?'' I ask, and I see the flicker of hesitation in her eyes before she shrugs, avoiding my eyes. ''I don't have an appetite lately.''

That only slightly made me feel better, since now I knew Vania wasn't punishing herself by not eating or some shit. But still, appetite or not, she was severely underweight. Each time I had given her a hug, I had felt her ribs poking me in the stomach, and I didn't like that. Her face was thinner to, her cheek bones more defined, but not in a good way.

I sighed, pulling Vania in for a hug. ''You worry me, kid.'' She didn't wrap her arms around me, which caused my heart to hurt. I know I was a complete asshole to say this, considering everything Vania went through, but I missed my best friend. I missed her smile, and the beautiful sound that was her laugh. I missed the feeling of her arms wrapping around me when we hugged, and the way she looked at me when she thought I was doing something stupid.

And I knew that most of my feelings for her, most of what I missed about her, wasn't things a platonic friend should feel or miss about their friend. And I knew that I couldn't feel this way about Vania. I had always known that.

She was my best friend first, and nothing would ever be more important than than.

And then, that teeny tiny part of me that blamed myself for how Lucas had acted burst into my head.

It had been my feelings towards Vania, the non-platonic kind, which had made Lucas suspicious, and I understood why he did. But he didn't have any trust in Vania, and that wasn't her fault. Lucas had just always been a little unstable, and I wasn't being mean by saying that. It had been proven.

It had been proven too little, too late, because after Lucas grew suspicious, he got way, way out of hand. And then he had killed Uncle Brennan. He had killed those innocent bystanders.

And he had killed the version of Vania I now longed for.

But I would get her back.

Even if only a tiny part.