ＳＴＡＹ ••• 𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙢 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙 💌

4.

darlene walked out into the chilly air unsurely, and nervously strolled to stand beside her best friend's mother. "hi." she greeted. the lady jumped, not realizing she was right beside her. "sorry." she said, quietly chuckling. "..no, it's alright." ellie forgave, waiting a moment before putting the blanket around darlene's shoulder with her arm inside the blanket.

they stood there in silence. "i'm sorry for adam. he doesn't mean it, i promise." darlene shook her head. "i know he doesn't. it's just... i don't know what to do, you know? is it me? am i a bad mother?" "no ! no." darlene quickly responded, shaking her head, "you are not a bad mom. you are trying. and if adam can't respond sympathetically to that, then that's his fault."

"i'm sorry your parents haven't come to pick you up. do you think they're late?" though ellie already knew that answer to the question, she had to ask. "probably not. they probably won't come for a day or two." darlene shrugged, playing with the ring on her right ring finger. it was the only ring on her hands. a silver ring, with an engraving of poppies, her birth flower. inside read 'you're not a grass weed, you're a reed'. it was a ring adam had given her when they were younger, about 7, and adam had gone to france with his parents. ellie noticed the slightly hurt look on her face.

this had happened more than a couple times since claudia died. darlene's parents buried themselves into their work, hoping it would distract them from the unbearing pain of their older daughter's death. her mother was a pediatric nurse and her father was a doctor that worked at nearby hospitals. but they never thought about how it felt for darlene. the unbearable pain she had to grieve and feel everyday since her older sister had died. since her best friend had died. so now, her parents would put themselves into their work and totally forget about the only kid they had left. for days, they would forget.

wordlessly, ellie turned and pulled darlene into a bone-crushing hug. darlene teared up as she put her head into ellie's chest, and ellie started to silently cry as she held darlene. she was such a sweet child, and her parents forgot about her? she was such a good mom, how could her son not realize that? ellie quickly kissed darlene's head, before putting her cheek back atop of the girl's head.

they were what each other needed.

___

darlene walked into adam's room, now in adam's clean boxers and ellie's 'i <3 louis reed' shirt. tonight was adam's turn on his bed, and darlene's on the thin air mattress sitting beside adam's bed.

adam looked up from his book. "hi." he said. she smiled, falling onto the air mattress. "hi." "so... did you and mom have a good talk?" she nodded, "yeah. we did." he nodded back, and didn't push anything. "okay, ready?" he asked. "mhm." she hummed, grabbing the  softest blankets she could find on adam's bed and putting them over herself. adam reached over and shut the lights off. the dark cascaded over them except for the window that had moon and starlight flooding into the first couple feet of the room.

within the first minute, adam could hear the soft snores of darlene in the bed beside him. one thing to know about darlene was that she could fall asleep anywhere. she once feel asleep in a rollercoaster while waiting for the ride to start.

so, that left adam with himself and his thoughts. he turned himself onto his back and gazed up at the ceiling. glow-in-the-dark stars glowed a dim green, as if staring back at the blonde boy.

suddenly, the stars opened their eyes, and started to crawl across the ceiling and walls. adam looked around, confused and scared, when the plastic stars started to chant, "you are ungrateful. you are a brat." a star crawled onto adam's headboard and whispered, "you are such a bad son and friend. how could you let darla get suspended again when she did nothing but defend you? you are so unthoughtful. how could you ever think that she would like you back? and more than a friend?" the star cackled, and another star crawled down onto the other side of adam's head. "and you can't be a good son to your mother. you can't just support her and let her live her life, and darla has to come and save your ass like always." adam looked around, the emotion of fear dancing around his face.