The Maine Attraction

29. Changes

I faced the wall of my brothers bedroom, a blanket pulled almost all the way over my head. I had no idea what time it was and my stomach was trying to nudge me and tell me I was hungry, but I didn't care. I had no desire to eat at all, I was so nauseous that I was sure I would throw up if I tried. My face was puffy and my eyes were burning from the amount of tears that I had shed over the last however many hours.

After Dani helped me carry my stuff inside last night, she'd walked into her bedroom to talk to Callum. I assumed she was telling Callum that I was staying with them, but when they walked out of the room together a couple minutes later, Dani told me that my brother was going to sleep on the couch and that I was going to sleep in their room with her.

The look on Callum's face told me that he had a million questions he wanted to ask me, but he didn't say anything to me. I knew that it pained him not to say anything because I knew he wanted to know the exact reason why his little sister was showing up to his house in tears. But he either knew that he needed to wait until morning or Dani had asked him not to ask me about anything.

When we walked into their room, she didn't ask me questions or make me talk about anything. She just laid down on the bed with me and wrapped her arms around me like she was hugging her sister or her best friend. Of all of the things that had occurred over the summer, the one thing I was most thankful for right now was how close Dani and I had become. She'd just picked me up and let me stay with her without question and I was incredibly thankful for that.

I'd heard her leave the room earlier, but I didn't move or make an attempt to get up. I hadn't slept much, I'd spent most of the night crying and replaying Sawyer's words in my head over and over again. There was a tiny part of me that wanted to go back over there, after he had some time to decompress and hopefully think about everything. But the bigger part of me knew that it wouldn't be a good idea for either one of us and that I needed to stay exactly where I was.

The bedroom door opened and I heard two sets of footsteps entering the room. I wanted to pretend like I was asleep because I knew they were going to make me talk to them about everything that happened and that meant I had to finally tell my brother the full truth about Sawyer and I. 

I thought that I was going to have to do this with Sawyer, but now I had to have the conversation by myself and I knew his reaction was going to change simply based on everything else that I had to tell him now. If we'd been able to work things out together, I think the conversation would have been okay but now I knew that Callum was going to be angry because of how last night went. 

"Hey sis." Callum's voice was soft, like he was afraid of sending me over the edge. 

I felt the bed dip from behind me, so I knew that they sat down. I took in a breath before slowly rolling over so that I could face them. 

The second I saw the expression on both of their faces, I wanted to turn back around. Both of their faces were filled with pity and that was the last thing I wanted at this moment in time. 

"Hi." My voice was hoarse. 

"How are you doing?" Dani asked me, her voice equally as soft as Callum's.

I tilted my head and looked at her, smiling weakly. "Peachy."

Callum huffed, clearly not finding amusement in my answer. "Seriously, Aves. What's going on?"

I slowly sat up on the bed, resting my back against the headboard and pulling my knees to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my legs and let out a sigh.

"Honest answer?" I asked, directing my attention to my brother. 

I don't know when that became our thing, but whenever we weren't sure how much detail to give to one another or how truthful to be, we'd answer with honest answer? Sawyer, Callum, and I had been doing it to each other for years now.