Us.

Chapter 38: Us

Claire's P.O.V. (2 days later)

I wake up in my bed with tears streaming down my face.

Braden is leaving today.

I cried myself to sleep last night, and I know I'll be crying later. My eyes are puffy and my face is wet. I don't care what I look like, I get out of bed and go downstairs. When I get to the bottom of the stairs my mom comes in with Daisy. I look at her and she gives me a sad look.

"Oh, honey. Come here." She says. I wrap my arms around her and she wraps her arms around me. "Everything is going to be okay." She says soothingly.

I sob into her shoulder and she rubs my back.

"I know this is hard, but everything is gonna be alright. You'll see him soon." She coos to me. My heart aches and I pull myself from her shoulder.

"I'm gonna go upstairs." I say.

"Honey, please. Let's just talk about it." She says.

"I don't want to talk about it right now. I-I just need to be alone." I say as I continue my way up the stairs. Just as I'm about to get in my room, Jake comes out of the bathroom.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asks.

"He's leaving today." I say.

"I'm sorry." He says as he pulls me into a hug. "It's gonna be okay." He says.

"Everyone keeps saying that." I say.

"Yeah, but it will be." He says. "Just think, you and your favorite brother will be going to the majority of the UCLA games." He says.

I laugh a little.

"See? Everything is going to be alright." He says.

"I'll see you later. I just want to be alone." I say. He releases me and I go into my room. I close the door behind me and fall to my knees. Tears steam down my face and I can't seem to stop them. I crawl over to my bed and pull the blankets over my head. I curl into a ball and the air becomes warm and thick, just like my tears.

Everything is not going to be okay!

"Claire?" I barely hear. "Claire!" I hear again, but not well because of the blankets over my head and the door being closed.

I feel a hand on my waist. It's Braden. He pulls the blankets off of my head and cold oxygen comes over me. Braden is kneeling down in front of me, his hand on my waist.

"Please don't cry." He says. He takes my hand in his and gently strokes the top of it. "Come here." He says. He stands up and slips his arms under my knees and across my back. He sits down on the floor and leans against my bed, and squeezes me against his chest. "Everything is gonna be okay." He says soothingly.

"Everyone keeps saying that." I say into his chest. The muscles in his arm loosen a little.

"Because it is." He says.

"And how do you know that?" I ask while sitting up. "How do you know everything's going to be okay? Wha-What if you meet someone else? What if you get hurt while playing? What if we drift apart?" I ask.

"I'm not going to meet someone else. I'll be careful. And nothing can tear us apart." He says, answering my 'what if' questions. "And you know how I know?" He asks.

"If I did, I wouldn't be asking you." I say.

He chuckles a little and drops his head. He picks it back up with a smile. "Because we love each other. And that's enough to keep us together." He says. He's right. If we love each other, which we do, that should be enough to keep us together over the distance.