My Life In Pieces (Book #1)

Chapter 30

I woke up the next morning in Ari's bed. Little slivers of light were shining through his blackout curtains. I looked around the familiar space that somehow felt foreign at the moment. Ari had been AWOL for almost all of break. He had shown up looking healthy, but nothing like himself last night. I looked down to the foot of the bed and saw Elle curled up. We had all stayed up until two, catching up.

Elle and Brenna had spent the entire time at their dad's either fighting or ignoring each other. He lived in downtown Toronto.

Ari hadn't opened up much about what was going on with him. He seemed to be dodging the subject. Which I understood. I hoped that he would be more forthcoming with information today.

I felt him stir next to me. I looked over and saw his blue-gray eyes starring groggily back at me. His hair was a curly mess on his head and he looked fucking gorgeous. I leaned down and kissed his lips. I felt his hand curl around the nape of my neck. He started pulling me closer to his chest and running his other hand up my thigh.

"Gross. Get a room you two."

We broke out of our trance and looked over at Elle. She was looking back with an upturned nose and like she was about to puke.

"We're in my room." Ari countered.

Elle rolled her eyes and threw her pillow in Ari's general direction. He caught and threw it back at her.

Siblings.

Elle crawled off the bed and left us alone. It was the first time we had been truly just the two of us in weeks.

I looked over at Ari who was looking pointedly at me.

"You ready to ask all the questions, Lex?"

I smiled, "Only if you are ready to answer them."

We talked for the next hour or so. I found out Ari had been given a diagnosis of Bipolar Manic Depression. It was the same disorder that his mom had had. He had spent the last couple of weeks taking different doses of meds to see what would work for him. He also had to go to group therapy and see a therapist himself.

His parents had decided on their own that his 'look' wasn't helping his mood. So while he was gone, they packed up most of his clothes and things that were 'too depressing' and took them away. That left him with Jake's hand-me-downs and they took him to the mall to grab a couple of new outfits that were parent approved.

This shocked me. Three out of the four Evans/Munro kids liked to dress the same way, but it was only a problem for Ari? The only reason he didn't fight with them about it was because he did not want to risk getting sent back to the hospital.

When we had hashed through all the gory details I got up to head home.

A few days later school was back in session. It was hard getting back into the swing of things. There was a fair going on this afternoon during lunch for everyone to sign up for clubs for the second semester. I had put more thought into what Dylan had told me about joining something. He had a point. It would be healthy to get involved.

I told Ari I wanted to check it out and he told me he would rather get his teeth pulled so I headed to the fair alone.

There were so many choices. I could join the spring production of Guys and Dolls. That would have been fine if not for the fact that Landon was the stage manager and Annie was the choreographer. I wanted something none of the other kids were in.

There was soft ball, soccer, and basketball. There was no way I was in shape enough to compete against the girls I saw at those tables. I liked to run but those girls looked like they were steroids.