Soul - Colby Brock

Fifty-Seven - Octavia

I'm really nervous about this chapter. I'm sorry if you don't like what I have done... please forgive me.

"Hey, Octavia," Callum said through the phone.

"Hi," I replied.

"I visited... them yesterday," he said. My mouth dropped open in shock.

"What? Does that mean you're in LA? How are they? How is she?" the words tumbled out. 

"I am in LA, they are both fine, she misses you," he replied.

"She remembers me?"

"Of course she does! Tave, she still loves you! You..."

"I know, Callum. Sorry,"

"I'm actually staying here for a few days. You're welcome to join," I paused my movements.

"I don't know. I don't like being a bad influence,"

"I'm worse than you know and she isn't gonna be influenced now! She's ..."

"I know how old she is, Callum," I cut him off again.

"Just think about it, yeah? You don't want to forget to visit her this year. It's the right month, remember,"

"I know, Callum," I gulped. "I'll talk to you later,"

"Wait..."

"Bye," I hung up on his as fast as I could. I should visit her, shouldn't I? I should see her more. I shouldn't leave her. Maybe I should take her back. No, I shouldn't... right? No, I should! I'll visit her then I can decide. I wonder what Jay is doing now... Not that I care about that scumbag, I have Colby and he'd be a better d... let's not finish that.

**********

"Octavia!" Callum announced when he opened the door to the building I hadn't been to in an entire year. I visited this place every January. It was home to what used to be the only person I loved other than Callum. Gracie. Saying her name, even just in my head, upset me. And it also held my sister, mother of one plus looking after Gracie, Emily and her son, Brandon.

"Been a while," I smiled at him. 

"Yeah," we shared a short hug. 

"OCTAVIA!" Emily yelled. She ran to the door, hugging me and pulling me inside at the same time. Callum shut the door behind us. 

"Hey Emily! How are you?" I asked. She pulled away.

"I'm great. BRANDON. GRACIE," I took a breath. "Gracie's missed you a lot more this year. She said she saw you? Not sure where,"

"Oh, I've been featured on some YouTube videos. My boyfriend is a YouTuber, I'll explain later," she smiled at me. I saw a slight bit of shock in her eye.

"Aunt Tave!" Brandon yelled once he reached the bottom of the stairs. He hugged me, making my heart warm.

"Hey, Brandon. Wow, you're tall!" he smiled up at me. "You're, let me guess, 8?"

"Nailed it!" he hugged me again. "I saw you on YouTube! I hope you don't mind that I showed Gracie," he looked at the ground.

"Not at all," I smiled.

"Mommy!" Gracie did her best to get to the bottom of the stairs. I picked her up, supporting her on my one arm.

"Gracie!" I replied. Gracie, my soon-to-be five-year-old daughter. I had her when I was just fourteen, turning fifteen, with a guy named Jay. He was such a dick he did nothing to help during pregnancy and was nowhere to be seen when she was born. Since Emily already had a three-year-old son, I depended heavily on her to look after Gracie. When the gang really started to kick off, though, I started hanging out with them more than my own daughter and to make myself feel better I always visited in January. "How have you been?" I asked. 

"Great! I saw you!" she exclaimed.

"Did Brandon show you?" she nodded happily. "Do you want to be on the big screen with mom?" I asked her. She nodded again. "OK, Emily can you take a photo?"

"Yeah, course," she handed my phone back to me after the photo. I captioned it: 'I'll explain later...' The moment I hit 'post', I had at least three or four comments asking who she was. Colby didn't comment, instead, he called me.