Adopted By My Step Brothers

Chapter 18: Love

Maybe I knew they loved me when they continued to call me and text me over and over when they would leave the house. Maybe I realized they loved me when they all wanted me to meet their parents and wanted me to stay the night at their houses every single night or they wanted to stay at mine so I wouldn't be alone.

But I actually knew they loved me when they all showed up at my house every single day attempting and succeeding to take me on an adventure just to keep a smile on my face. When they would plan the day out for us to constantly keep me entertained and to keep me busy.

Taylor, Grace, Collin and Ashton were the definition of real friends. "So what's the plan for today?" Collin asked us. We were all lounging around in Ashton's huge house in his living room. The tv was turned but was muted. I was sitting next to Ashton with my head on his shoulder and my legs in Taylor's lap.

His parents were 'out' is what he told us.

"How about swimming?" Grace suggested while laying her head on Collin's shoulder, his was around her waist. "We swim like everyday." Taylor groaned.

"True." We all agreed.

"Carnivals in town." I told them. As soon as I mentioned the carnival my thoughts went back to when I was there with my sister. Eleanor.

How could I have forgotten about my own sister?
"Hold on guys." I told everyone while snatching my phone out of my pocket. I walked down Ashton's hallway and entered his huge kitchen. I dialed Eleanor's number in anticipation.

"Come on answer Eleanor." I paced back at forth waiting to hear her say hello. I couldn't believe I forgot about her. I haven't spoke to her since before the twins left. I was still getting use to the thought of even having a sister.

In my 4th attempt to call and being countlessly sent to voicemail and hearing her beautiful voice telling me to leave a message i decided to leave one.

"Eleanor." I sighed into the phone. "I'm so sorry I haven't called you in a while....but in my defense, you haven't called me either." I sighed again and took a deep breath. "So many things have happened....." My voice trailed off. I squeezed my eyes shut coaching myself not to cry. It's what I did every day to keep myself from breaking down when I thought about them. I held the phone closer to my ear.

"They left Eleanor....Kale and Kingsley left me." I whispered. I took a deep breath and reopened my eyes. "But I'm okay, I have the greatest friends in the world here for me so I'm not alone."I smiled while thinking about those amazing humans in the other room. "But I need you Eleanor. I need some kind of family with me too. I need my sister." I ended the voicemail with that and hoped to God that she called me soon.

I turned around to see Collin standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He walked over to me and smiled. "You okay?" He asked with concern. He walked over to the fridge while watching me closely.
I smiled while shaking my head. "Yeah."

"Good." He nods. "We got a surprise on where were going." He grabs a water bottle sips from it and grabbed my hand. I chuckled while he dragged me out of the kitchen.

*

"Okay um where are we going?" I laughed while sitting in the backseat of Ashton's car between Grace and Taylor. Obviously no one wanted to spill the tea on where we were going since it was a surprise.

"Almost there." Ashton winked at me from the mirror and I squinted my eyes while smirking at him. "You guys are something else." I shook my head. They had their share of an inside laugh which made me laugh as well.

About 20 minutes later we arrived at a lake. Surrounded by woods. It was towards the end of the day and it was getting dark out.

"What are we doing here?" I asked cautiously while following the girls out of the car. The lake had a wooden bridge that led to the water. It was getting fairly dark out, the only light provided was a little pinch of sun still visible in the sky.