broken home - j.f✔️

thirty.

Elizabeth was up early. Despite her raging headache and the constant ache to throw up, she had immediately gotten to cleaning up. There were cups everywhere, broken bottles and spillages, even confetti? She had began on the kitchen, throwing the trash out and scrubbing everything down. The strong smell of antibacterial spray had made her nauseous, her headache pounding more and more.

It wasn't until noon that she had heard another voice. "Morning, Beth." She knew the deep voice to be Zach's. Quickly scooting past him, she hovered over the collection of shoes she had gathered around the house, holding up a pair. He retrieved them, smoothing his hair out with his fingers.

"You can stay longer, I recommend it. I'm making everyone breakfast." Elizabeth mentioned, guiding him to the couch, which was still covered in confetti. "Where the fuck did this come from?" She asked, seeing he had fallen back asleep again the side of the couch. She had vacuumed, cleaned, and tidied everywhere for the boys to finally come downstairs.

She knew Justin had fallen asleep on her bay window, so she'd woken him up and let him sleep in her bed. To the best of her knowledge, Monty was still out like a light in the guest room, and Charlie, Clay, Sheri, and Jess were all piled up in the living room with Zach. This gave her enough time to clean the inside of the house, and made breakfast.

"Something smells great." Monty mentioned, rubbing his face and sitting at the island. Elizabeth, finally noticing it was Monty, had retrieved his freshly washed and dried jacket from the laundry room. She handed it to him, watching as he smiled and winced, clutching his head.

Soon enough the whole group had woken up, joining each other on the couch as Elizabeth spread food around the coffee table. They all hummed and groaned at the delight of getting something other than alcohol into their stomachs. As Aspirin, water, and smiles were passed around, Justin had pulled Elizabeth into his lap. His messy hair, tired eyes, and gorgeous as ever smile had brightened her morning, almost cleared her sick feeling in her stomach.

"Can we all agree that Elizabeth is now our mom?" Monty mentioned. "She washed my jacket, found everyone's shoes, cleaned the house, and made us breakfast?!" The group laughed and continued to eat, Elizabeth watching them with pride.

"I haven't even started on the outside." She mumbled into Justin's shoulder.

Justin chuckled. "And you don't need to worry about that. We will do it, you've done enough for us." As she had taken all of the dishes into the kitchen, the group had gone outside to clean up. Jess staying behind and walking into the kitchen.

"Beth, thank you." She spoke. "I've been such a dick to you, and you've taken care of me so well. I'm really sorry." Elizabeth turned and smiled at her new friend.

"You're all my friends, of course I'm going to take care of you guys."

Jess had instinctively joined in on helping Elizabeth clean the dishes, opening various cupboards to find where everything goes. As everywhere was as clean as it started, Elizabeth huffed and sat at the island. "So, you and Justin are a thing?"

Elizabeth nodded at her question, placing her head into her hands. Hearing Jessica's next response. "I'm happy for you both. Really."

"Thank you, Jess."

With everyone finally gone, she could finally relax in bed and deal with her hangover properly. Justin had gone home too, and she was close to falling asleep. Before her phone rang.

"Mija, I'm on my way home." Her dad spoke, she could hear cars in the background. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, papa. I just finished cleaning the house, I had some friends over yesterday." She explained, hoping her dad couldn't hear through her lies. "When will you be back?" There was a silence.

"Hopefully tonight."

She rejoiced at the news, getting out of bed to find her phone and text Justin.

I know it's soon, but would you like to meet my dad?

Justin: Of course! When?

He gets home tonight, so maybe sometime in the next few days?

Justin: Perfect, I love you and I'll see you at school tomorrow.

I love you too.