Mended

18

Ethan's POV

Early next morning, the apartment was dead silent, littered with the trash from last night. The sound of city traffic filled my ears as I sat alone out on the balcony, tapping my foot restlessly against the ground beneath me.

I stole a quick glance down at my phone to check the time, letting out a deep breath when I saw that it was barely past seven. Nobody else would be awake for hours, so I still had a while to wait.

"Did you sleep at all?" Caleb's voice appeared from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at him, rolling my eyes before turning back around. From the corner of my eye, I noticed him pull out the other spare chair and settle into it. "At the rate you're going, you're gonna start growing grey hairs any moment now."

"Fuck off."

I heard him sigh. "You gotta relax, man," he rasped, his voice hoarse from the remnants of sleep. "You're worried over nothing."

I whipped my head towards him, narrowing my gaze. "Nothing? You're fucking with me, right?" Caleb raised his eyebrows, unfazed. "Chase and Izzy might've— "

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Caleb cut me off, shaking his head in annoyance. "Chase and Izzy nothing. He would never do that to you, and Izzy's not interested."

I ground my teeth together. "How do you know?"

"Because she actually talks to me about Julian," Caleb emphasized. "Trust me, she's head over heels. That'll never change."

I blinked. "She talks to you about what?"

"Julian," Caleb told me, his lips twitching. "Because unlike you and the rest of our family, she knows I'm not going to go all psycho on her every time she mentions a guy."

"So she doesn't trust me?" I asked, trying not to feel offended that she confided in Caleb, but not me.

His eyes glittered with amusement as if he could sense what I was feeling. "It's not that. She trusts you, she just trusts me more." Caleb chuckled at my expression. "It's nothing personal."

"It kind of fucking is," I snapped.

He ignored me. "I'm just saying," he said flatly. "You got nothing to worry about. Plus, we don't even know if what she said was true. Julian might be wrong."

I didn't know. I didn't know what to think, so I said nothing. Instead, I started to tap my foot again, feeling the restlessness of not knowing creep in. When my fidgeting got too much, I reached for my pack of cigarettes. Placing one in between my lips, I lit it and took a long drag, exhaling slowly.

Caleb scoffed as the smoke curled around us, and I lazily turned my attention towards my brother. "Something wrong?" I asked flatly as I noticed the tight set of his jaw.

"I thought you were going to quit," he said quietly, his dark eyes flickering towards the cigarette in my hand.

"Tried it," I shrugged carelessly, bringing it back up to my lips. "Failed. I'll give it another chance when I feel like it."

He was silent for a few moments. "I wish you'd stop taking everything for granted."

I blinked, my brows drawing together as I studied him. His gaze flashed to the cigarette again, lingering, before he looked away. "What exactly do I take for granted?" I asked.

He refused to look at me, a muscle in his jaw shifting. "I mean, the least you could do is not do it in front of me," he murmured. "Some of us don't get second chances."

Caleb's stare met mine again, and the emptiness in his gaze knocked the wind out of my lungs as the realization clicked. Immediately, I put out the cigarette.