It's Not Over

Thank you

I woke up screaming with an awful headache. I realized I was alone on the couch and sunlight was shining brightly through the windows. I sat up and saw the note on the coffee table. 'Hey, spend the day relaxing. See you later tonight. –Ian.' That was sweet. I wondered into the kitchen finding Ian's mom at the table. "Oh good morning sweetie! I made you breakfast." I sat down with my plate and started eating. Daisy came in from the other room and sat on my feet. We sat in a comfortable silence until I couldn't take it anymore. "Can I ask you a question?" "Yes of course!" I thought for a second. "Why is Daisy an emotional support dog?" She looked down at the table. "Oh sweetie that's not something I can tell you. Ian would have to." "Mom, is it too late to register for school?" She looked at me. "Maybe not. Would you like me to take you to register tomorrow?" I nodded.

The rest of the day continued about the same until I got a phone call. It was a Georgia number that I didn't recognize. "Hello" "Hello Lauren, it's your father." "Hey dad. What's going on?" "Your mother and I have been talking and I want to let you know that we don't want you to come home. You are eighteen now and you can figure it out on your own. I would also appreciate if you didn't call anymore. It will only upset your mother." Before I got another word in, he had hung up on me. I stared at my phone and just started to cry. Just as things were starting to look better for me, I thought my dad loved and supported me, but it was starting to feel like he only sent me out here to please my mom. Like none of it meant anything anymore. That little sliver of hope that my family could be fixed, was just thrown out the window. I started crying. I closed my eyes and just let the tears fall. It's not like in mattered anyways. My parents hated me and my brother- I didn't even wanna think about it. Ever since that dream, I didn't know how to feel anymore. It just messed with all the feelings I had been trying to hide.

I felt a set of arms snake me into a hug and squeeze me tight. I tried to push them off of me but it just made him squeeze tighter. "Get off of me!" "Nope. I'm going to hold on, even when you are letting go." Ian was such a freaking dork. We were on good terms but I didn't know what his deal was. He was there for me and I wanted him to be, but I was confused on were we stood. I finally gave up on trying to get out of his grasp and put my face on his shirt, but quickly recoiled. "You smell awful! What did you go roll in some dirt?" He laughed. "No, I just came back from working out with Anthony. I need to get a shower but so do you. You need to go get ready, we're going out tonight." He got up to get ready. I stretched out on the couch thinking that if I somehow fell back to sleep I wouldn't have to get up, but I did. Ian's mom rushed me in the guest bedroom to get ready. I went in the bathroom and quickly showered. I went back in the bedroom with my towel wrapped around my torso. All my clothes were in Ian's room, so I darted across the hall and started digging in my duffle bag. I pulled out a set of underwear and the black party dress I was going to wear for my birthday. I started getting dress when I heard Ian walked in. "Hey get out!" "No you are in my room." "Fine then." I already had my dress on so it's not like it was a big deal. I was brushing all the tangles out of my hair and felt Ian's hand on my back pulling the zipper on my dress up. "Thanks." I turned around to face him. Ian was standing there in just a towel. His hair was a damp mess and he was – damn he looked good. Bad Lauren, stop that. Okay now stop looking. I turned back around blushing like a mad man. I don't know why, but all of a sudden I felt extremely hot. I quickly went into the living room leaving him to cover himself and finish getting ready. I waited for him to come over while his mom gushed over me and helped me fix my face. By that I mean cover up some deep bruises with foundation and make it look presentable. Right as she was finished, Ian walked out of his room looking very handsome. He was wearing a dark wash jeans and a v neck dark blue shirt. He smiled and offered his arm for me to take. His mom ran out of the room to get her camera, but Ian was dragging me out the door. She made it to the front door taking as many picture as possible as Ian back out of the driveway. I was laughing like crazy and Ian was shaking his head at his mom. "Awh come on Ian, she's not that bad." "It's just how my mom is. She has hundreds of pictures of me and Anthony when we were kids. It's just her awkward way of caring."

We drove in silence for a while before Ian made it to the house pulling in the driveway. "What's this?" "Welcome home!" He got out the car and opened my door. "You hyped me up and we are just coming home. What the even heck Ian!" He laughed and helped me out of the car. We almost made it to the front door and he stopped. "Hey, put this on first." He wrapped a blindfold around my head and led me into the house. I didn't really sense where he was leading me but it felt off. Further than the couch but not as far as the bedroom. I was confused. "Okay stand right here." I took off the blindfold and almost cried at what I saw. Anthony's old bedroom had been turned into another office but with a catch. The walls were covered in fan mail, for me. Words of encouragement from people I didn't know, had never met and probably would never meet. I turned back to Ian, just in awe. "How did you do this?" He stared at the ground before sighing. "Right after the accident I posted a video about you, you know since you are part of the crew still. The fans overflowed with mail of encouraging words, and here they are." I gave him a hug breathing his scent in creepily. "Hey guess what?" "What?" "I'm going to go attend school." "Like with social interaction and people?" "Yeah. I'm really looking forward to it." The rest of the night was spent on just talking and eating pizza. We had ended up watching a movie, and I was cuddling in to him slowly starting to get sleepy. I yawned and he laughed at me. "If you are tired go to bed." He started to get up but I grabbed the back of his neck to pull him closer to me. Before I knew what the hell I was doing, I had pulled him into a simple kiss. "Thank you." He smirked at my action. "No, Thank you."