Need You -N.H- Book Two

Twenty One; Settle Down

Settle Down

niall

"Hey," Greg stands with his hands in his pockets at the front door. "I tried getting ahold of you but came up short that or you just ignored all of my calls."

"The second guess," I say letting him into the house. Rosa had taken mum out for lunch, now that Chelsea was gone we were working on getting a new replacement. I had invited Greg over to talk but didn't want mum to see him until I knew he was ready for it.

The last thing I wanted was mum to see him, bring him back to her without being sure that this time he was ready to stay. She was only getting worse with the days and seeing the child she thought she had lost...seeing him would do no good for anyone.

"I'm surprised you remember where the house is," I say rudely, he laughs and sits down on the couch with a thud.

"I didn't I had to ask for directions. Mr. Edwards still works at the diner."

"Guess I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions," He sighs at my remark and looks over my shoulder at the pictures that line the mantel. "Dad took all of the ones with you in them down because it was causing mum to have episodes."

"She was bad wasn't she?"

"Was? No Greg, back then she was good, great in fact. Now-now she's bad, falling apart. She barely remembers Rosa, let alone me compared to you, and you compared to da'"

Greg looks down at his feet, upset with my words. But it didn't matter, because he needed to hear what I was saying. He sighs, moving forward on the couch to run his hands along his knees. "I don't know how many times I can say sorry Ni," he says quietly.

"You really messed me up Greg," I say "and now it's all coming back to bite me. When you left I couldn't handle mum by myself, I couldn't...Dad took off and I thought you were dead. I drank myself into a dark place, ruined my relationship with my best friend and now I'm doing it all over again with my girlfriend."

"The cute one right? Short hair?" Greg says looking at me. "She's smart Ni, really smart and very pretty."

"How do you know Sarah?"

"After our little fight I went and got wasted, terribly wasted. Stumbled over to the apartment and she let my drunk ass sleep it off on the couch." Greg explains. "She also reminded me that I was gone for a long time, I missed a lot of stuff and theres no way of saying sorry for that time that was lost, but I can make it up to you and mum."

"You don't need to make up anything to me, but mum, she has lost hours crying over you. Days over thinking I was you, calling me Greg until she remembers that you died all over again. You drove her into the darkest place possible, she won't come back from it Greg, she never will."

"I didn't expect her too but I can at least try to help her be at peace," he says "can I not?"

"I don't know Greg, she's bad, really, really awful. Some days she attacks Rosa because she's so confused of where she is. I want to know that you aren't going to leave again when you see how bad she's gotten."

"I can't promise that I'll deal with it as well as you do Ni, I won't promise you that. But I want to try, I want to see mum, I want to make this better."

"Tomorrow come for breakfast," I say "I can't say how it will go, how she'll act but I swear to god if you fuck this up Greg I'll give you more than a busted lip."

"Deal, now tell me about Sarah."

"No," I say "This wasn't a-you come over and have a bro chat."