Time Heals

Surprises

Songs for the chapter:

A place in this world -Taylor Swift

Innocent -Taylor Swift

(Lol I guess it was a tay tay kinda chapter. And please read the A/N at the end. I know you don't want to but like...please?)

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"Good morning," I chirp as I sit down on my designated chair. Having breakfast with my parents is odd but I have to suck it up anyway. I'm trying to keep a happy act for my dad and Annie. She has been devastated by the news and I promise myself I will try my best to make her less crushed.

"Someone's happy," my mom chuckles as she flips the pancake on the pan.

"Not happy, just less stressed," I smile. I'm really trying my best to stay behaved around my parents. My dad surely doesn't want to hear any of my usual bullshit nor does my mother at a time like this.

"You went to Sandra's yesterday, right? Is that why?" My dad smiled and I nodded in answer with a small smile as well.

"I love that girl! And Jane, too! How are they?" My mom asks me, grinning. My first instinct is to say 'if you were here, you would know' but I suppress the urge and settle with a smile and a shrug.

"Same old," I say.

"It's definitely not the same old with you." She says. What does she mean?

I gave her a puzzled look and she pointed at my hair as an answer. "I really like it, actually."

"Thank you," I say and mean it. My mother giving me a compliment is a miracle, really.

"Annie, you look really beautiful, too," my dad says and I look at Annie to find her playing with her cereal, not paying attention to anything around her.

"Annie." I nudged her elbow. She looks up at me and I immediately see the sadness in her eyes. Literally. Her eyes look swollen and slightly pink and they are paired with dark rings under them. I take her hand under the table and give it a light squeeze.

"Dad said you look beautiful," I shoot her a sad smile.

"Thanks, dad," she says quietly, almost shyly.

Uncomfortable silence fills the room as we try to busy ourselves with anything. My mom goes back to the stove and I play with the hem of my shirt. My dad stares at Annie as she hows back to stirring the milk in her bowl. His eyes hold a look of despair and love. His hazel eyes are warm but filled with sorrow, and almost guilt.

"Mom, do you need me to help you with that?" I break the silence after what feels like a million years.

"Um, sure, honey," she plays along. I stand beside her, pretending to be helping her.

"Mom, we need to help Annie," I whisper. "She hasn't talked to me since yesterday, and that's not okay"

"I know. Your dad is very heartbroken too. Besides the fact that he is so tired-"

"Okay, mom. We have to do something about this. I can't stand seeing her like this. I'm trying to keep it together just for her and dad," I say in a hushed voice so they won't hear us.

"I know-" she starts but is cut off by dad's voice.

"Are pancakes really that hard to make?" He jokes and I force a chuckle. My mom smiles and tells him they'll be ready in a minute.

"Okay we're going out." I say in a stern voice.

"Where?"

"Have a picnic or some shit. You know, the things that happy families do in cliche movies." I shrug.