Directly after Calum had started my IV, Luke walking Ben in.
He immediately hugged me, which I of course returned, exhaling into him shoulders, so thankful that he wasn't angry.
"It's good to see you" he told me immediately, pulling away as I watched his eyes search my face.
"It's good to see you too" I told him honestly, moving to sit in one of the random chairs in the room, patting the other to make him sit beside me.
And from that point on we discussed everything that came up.
The guys gave us privacy, but I knew they were still pretty close, Calum was coming in every ten minutes just to check on us, but giving small excuses to make it seem like that's not what he was doing.
"So I'm thinking, once you have your surgery and the guys clear you to go, we should probably do your running away plan. We can just go to a whole different state, just get as far away from here as possible." He spoke through a whisper.
"Ben- that's not a plan anymore." I mumbled to him.
"What do you mean- in the car that one morning you said you were running away with or without me-" "that was before I fully trusted Calum and before the worst-" "oh you have to be kidding me." He interrupted me with a laugh.
I leaned back in my chair, letting him rant
"So one day you tell me you don't trust Calum enough to go to him, so you want to run away and then maybe two days later you're running and telling him our life story?" He spat to me.
"I always trusted Calum, I just knew I could make it without being vulnerable-" he interrupted me again.
"Without being vulnerable? Are you fucking kidding me? You told these doctors everything and had them separating us, questioning us, sticking us with needles- everything you did made us vulnerable." He spoke to me harshly, it intimidated me.
"I'm sorry that I made them put you in a vulnerable position- but Roy had just done something to me that I couldn't handle on my own-" "oh yeah- something that you'll run around and tell every single one of these doctors, but not your big brother." He spat out, making me go silent.
From that point on, I stayed completely silent as he fully lectured me
Calum.
Please stand your ground, Briley.
I was begging her in my brain to just stop letting him interrupt her, stop letting him talk to her like she was less than him, stop letting him treat her like shit.
And as badly as I wanted to be angry at him- I couldn't, because he doesn't even truly understand what he is doing.
He was raised and taught to do this for a very long time and it was going to be very hard on everyone- especially himself- to realize what he is doing and stop.
Finally I had enough of him yelling at her and I grabbed Luke, telling him we needed to politely intervene, not make it seem like we were forcing them to separate, but to give them both the option.
"Hey guys" Luke walked in with a smile, letting me follow.
I knew it was bad when Briley didn't even look up at us.
"You guys have been talking for about an hour and this is normally the time Briley takes a snack break and such, so we just wanted to give that option to you guys." He spoke calmly, making Briley look to us.
"No we are okay." Ben immediately spoke.
"Okay Ben- good. Briley, how about you? Ready for a snack? Maybe a nap?" Luke gave her, her way out.
She took it
"I could use a snack" she spoke quietly, moving to stand.
"But I said we were okay" Ben seemed very confused and I could tell Briley felt uncomfortable.
"Well Ben, just because you feel okay, doesn't mean that Briley isn't hungry. We also have her on a pretty strict eating schedule, so it's best that she takes this little break for that. She'll be back and ready to talk to you again in about thirty ish minutes." Like explained.
I couldn't read Ben's facial expression, but I could tell he was confused.
"Do you mind walking Briley to eat?" I asked Luke, who immediately nodded.
"I'll stay with Ben"
Briley.
"I'll stay with Ben" I heard Calum speak as I walked to the door, and just that sentence made me want to cry.
I had just went through a horrible conversation with Ben and all I wanted to do was talk to Calum about it and he just volunteers to stay with Ben?
I walked beside Luke silently to the cafeteria, him and I both grabbing fruit and taking it to his office, where we sat in almost silence.
"Talk to me, Briley" he exhaled, scooting closer to me.
I shrugged calmly.
"I don't even know what to say" I told him.
"Pretend I'm Calum" he leaned back, putting on a fake facial expression- something similar to what Calum would make, which immediately made me laugh,
"I just- I wish I could know what Ben could've been like it Roy had never entered his life" I told him calmly.
"Continue" Luke focused to me, making me exhale, looking away from him to help my brain imagine that it was Calum so maybe I could figure out what I'm actually trying to say.
"Like- he just acts so much like my dad" I mumbled
"I'd love to know who he truly is, without the influence of my dad in his life"
"Because I know he's a good guy- he's a good brother, he cares. But at the same time, he's a total dick that thinks I'm so much less than him, and that he can control everything I do including just speaking."
