Here Comes the Sun | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Two - Libby

Chapter Twenty-Two. Libby

"Sorry for being sad."

He shrugs closing the door behind us and throwing me a reassuring smile. "Hey, no unneeded apologies in this house."

Shaking my head, I brush my fingers back through my short hair and let out a much-needed breath of anxiety. My phone vibrates against my butt in my back pocket and I cringe at the thought of answering the call. But I have to. No, I need to.

While getting ready for tonight's date with Liam, I had been in my hotel room picking out my clothes when my phone rang in notice of an email. Without even thinking, I opened it up and saw that it was a message, not from Mom, but from Dad. I curiously opened it, surprised that he even put forth the effort to try to contact me.

Libby, it read.

It's been on my mind about how we left things off between us when you left - I hated how we said goodbye. It's only been about a week since you've left (not even, actually), but you're very missed in this town.

The neighbors keep asking about you - and that young boy who use to chase after you ever since the fifth grade keeps calling to check up on you. I don't know why he doesn't just call you himself. I still think he's chicken-shit.

Give us a call sometime? We miss your voice. We miss you singing Broadway songs in the shower and having our picture taken at least twice a day in ridiculous poses (sorry).

We love you, and I'm sorry again for the shitty goodbye.

Dad

I pursed my lips after that, hesitantly setting my phone back on the bedside table. I thought about the email as I got dressed, staring at myself in the crappy mirror in the bathroom but not really taking in my physique. Instead, I was thinking roughly on my reply. What all should I tell them?

My brows scrunched together and I picked my phone back up from the table, hitting the 'new' button and typing in my reply.

Dad, I said.

Have you heard the term 'big things often have small beginnings?' Well... have an open mind when I tell you about my less-than-a-week adventure I've had in the great state of New York.

I tell him about the kiss.

Liam.

His story.

Our tiny adventures together.

And our upcoming date.

But I didn't make it all about Liam; I included my - Liv's - bucket list achievements and... well that's it. Other than Liam and the bucket list, I had nothing else to worry about - nothing else to do. This realization caused me to stand up straighter, my face grew brighter, and wiped my mind clear of any stressers that I had hidden in the back of my mind.

But this didn't last long.

A few minutes after, and I was already shutting off the lights in my room, my phone rang with a new email notice. Dad. I waited until I had slid into the bench of a cab and given the kind driver Liam's address to finally read the message.

To say the least, there was a lot of caps and a lot of cussing.

I bit my lip and slid my phone back into my pocket. The driver asked if I was okay, and it was then that I noticed I was crying. "Yeah," I had replied, sniffing up the creud snot and and blinking hard to keep the tears from spilling even more onto my cheeks. I wiped the tears pathetically off my chin, and when I saw that we were already rounding off to the apartments Liam lived in, I requested for us to stop off to the side of them and not at the front - I needed time to prep myself back up.