Runaway - Ashton Irwin *completed*

twenty-two

"Taylor." I jumped at the sound of my name from Michael, who seemed to appear right beside me.

"Jesus Michael, you scared me half to death," I said, placing a hand over my heart and sighing, reaching to refill my
coffee cup.

"Making an extra stop for coffee today," he said. "You must be having an especially exhausting day."

I shrugged. "I don't know, I'm just not feeling it today." I've been "not feeling it" a lot lately.

"That's okay," he said. "Coffee makes everything better."

I managed to smile back at him before heading back into my office.

"Hey wait!" I turned around and Michael stepped into the elevator with me.

"I'm having another party," he explained. "It's this Friday at the same place. It's for something, uh, special. And it would be cool if you and Luke came."

"Yeah definitely," I smiled. "I'll see if Luke wants to come, but I'll be there."

"Great," he smiled back at me and got off on his floor, waving a quick goodbye.

The morning dragged on, and I was about to just call it quits right after lunch when I got a phone call from the front desk.

"Hey Taylor, you have a visitor," he front desk receptionist who was always tugging her top down and showing cleavage for Mr. Styles said into the phone.

"Who is it?" I asked, slightly uneasy.

"His name is Chris, he claims to be your brother," she said. "He said he just wants to talk for a few minutes. Should I send him up?"

"Yeah." I felt like my insides turned to liquid as I hung up the phone, waiting for him to make his appearance in my office.

7 months. Its been 7 months since I've seen him, and there could only be a couple reasons why he was here, none of which could be any good.

There was a knock on my door a moment later, and I stood from my seat, saying "come in."

Sure enough, it was Chris. Tall and lean, his light brown hair laying lightly against his head, his eyes still brown as ever. He smiled and opened his arms to me.

"Hi Tay," I welcomed his hug and wrapped my arms around him as well, slightly relieved at the smile he had. Hopefully that was a sign that whatever he was here for couldn't be too terrible.

"It's been 7 months Taylor," he said, sitting down in one of the seats. "How's Seattle?"

"It's good," I said. "I told you about my roommate Luke, the last time we talked, and he's doing well too."

"That's good to hear," he said. "Unfortunately I've been designated to be the bearer of bad news."

"Just tell me what it is," I said, sitting down at my desk and preparing for whatever he was going to tell me.

"Mom started drinking again about a month ago," he said.

"Oh god." I covered my eyes, leaning my elbows on my desk.

"She was driving home drunk and she got into a car accident and she's in the hospital," he explained. "She went right into a telephone pole. She's not in a coma or anything but she has some serious injuries and the doctors don't know if she'll be able to make it. There's a good chance that she will but they just don't know."

"I need to come back with you to Albany," I said.

"No." He stopped me from continuing any more of my thought. "You're staying here, and that's an order."