Irish Oxytocin

Brother | 12

❁ Chapter 12 ❁

Cora's Point of View

Time.

They say time heals all wounds and eases every pain. You'll wake up one morning after suffering for so long and realize the pain has faded. You'll realize that you had been drowning under water as the current slipped you beneath the waves, and then...
You just weren't.
You weren't drowning anymore, and you gave it your best shot to kick your legs to the surface one last time before the sharp below-zero temperature of the water shoved the air out of your lungs.
And there it was.

Your safe haven.

I hated meeting new people after what Liam did to me. I thought we could push against the odds because I was just that much in love with him. He was my best friend, my brother's best friend. A friend for all of us. It wasn't only me he let down that day.
I thought I was suffering without him. I thought that I would never go through a pain greater than losing him.
But today, I woke up realizing I was happy for him.
I was selfish to hold him back from the woman he was supposed to be with. I think we both always knew that. I knew he loved me, too. But it wasn't enough in the end. The universe made it out to be that way.
In another life, I used to think.
But someone changed everything.
The way his hands felt on mine, and the emotions we couldn't fake. That's the thing about chemistry. You don't have it with everyone, and you can't fake it.

"If you have chemistry, you only need one other thing: Timing.
But Timing's a bitch."
- Robin Scherbatsky.

♥︎♥︎♥︎

My bag strap hung off my left shoulder as a coffee rested in one hand, and an English muffin breakfast sandwich in the other. The heels of my boots clicked on the tiles of the school floor as I approached my locker. Ethan drove me to school again today following yesterday's events at the cherry blossom field. Jacob insisted on us getting breakfast on the way, and I wasn't complaining.
I placed my coffee on the floor next to my locker as I shoved the sandwich in my mouth. I flipped around the code on my lock to get ready to grab all my materials for the first two periods.

"Hey," said a less energetic Ella Lopez.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked, surprised to see her without my brother.
"Have you heard?" She asked in return.
Well, of course, that's what's going on.
"Do you guys ever come to talk to me without it being about some sort of drama?" I joked, kind of. El' rolled her eyes.

"I'm taking that as a no," she started.
"Supposedly Nol' asked the Kaylen Miller on a date tonight. She accordingly agreed, and there are rumours going around that they hooked up at Ethan's party last week. I was so shocked. I thought for sure he was into you."

My stomach sank to the bottom of my body.
He genuinely didn't care about what I had to say.
I need to let go. I can't do this again.

"Let's go find the girls, yeah?" I asked, trying to hide the hint of betrayal in my voice.
"You okay, Cor'?" She asked.
I closed my eyes as the lump in my throat grew more and more.

Then, Ella hugged me. She pulled me in by my shoulders and wrapped her body around mine. She pushed the back of my head gently, making my head rest on her shoulder.
"Stop hiding your emotions from everyone,' she demanded.
My arms returned the hug.

She held me there for a moment. She rubbed her fingers through my hair and I just stayed there. Emotionless.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom, okay?" I said, pulling away.
She gave me a reassuring smile as I walked toward the girl's bathroom.
It was at this moment that I knew what I needed to do; what I wanted to do.