𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄

[𝟑𝟔] 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲

"A-Abel? That's him? That's Abel?"

Before Calista can say anything, Abel does.

"Why's Mr. Rieder here?" A worried look crosses his face and he frantically continues. "Is something wrong? Is Grace okay? Where is she, is she hurt?"

I almost start crying again at how much he seems to care for someone he has hardly any memories of.

"Grace is okay," I say, swallowing the lump in my throat. His eyes snap to mine and he furrows his eyebrows. I stand up from my seat hesitantly, glancing at Sam for some reassurance that this is all okay. That I'm all okay and shit like this happens every day.

I hold my shaking hand out to him, offering a small smile. "I'm okay."

Abel's lip starts to tremble as he looks me up and down like he can't believe what he's seeing. His eyes meet mine and I notice that his are completely blue, unlike mine, Calista's, and Evie's.

"You're..." he trails off at a loss for words as a tear rolls down his cheek. He looks back at Calista as if he still can't believe this is all happening.

If I'm being quite honest, I can't believe this is happening either. This is all just so surreal. How did I get here? How did this all just happen so quickly? I swear one minute I was in middle school counting calories, then at the blink of an eye, I'm sitting here in front of the brother I didn't know I had.

"Yeah, I think so," I joke, trying not to sound like I'm going to fucking start bawling my eyes.

He smiles so widely, pulling me into the tightest hug I've ever been given. I laugh, wrapping my arms around his waist as he sobs into my shoulder.

I frown, patting his back, "Hey... I'm not all that great, you know."

"I'm sorry." He sobs. I pull away gently, watching as he wipes his eyes. Smiling softly, I take a moment to observe his features. I don't know how I didn't notice the resemblance when he walked in.

His hair is almost the same color as mine but it looks darker. I noticed that about Ray and Spencer, too. Ray's hair is the same color as mom's, and dad has light brown hair. Meaning that Spencer just has a darker variant of mom's hair color. Maybe it's a guy thing.

Or maybe they have more secrets

Abel's pretty tall, too. I envy his height. I've always been the shortest amongst kids my age, which especially made me feel insecure. I'd always been small but curvy. And being short and curvy was more like being small and stubby in my eyes. I wish I was as tall as Abel, then I'd have an excuse to always have my head in the clouds.

I continue to admire how pretty of a man he is. His jaw is sharp and his eyebrows thick, but tamed. His hair is untamed though, much like mine. But it does look like he tried to make it look good, maybe gel it down. Still, though, it's sticking up in more directions than I can even comprehend. I could imagine him in college, drawing girls in like a magnet.