Not a Reunion

Chapter 14

Mason

So we didn't think this through. When we had agreed on me staying here tonight, we didn't think about how it would be. We didn't think about the sleeping arrangements.

I could've easily gone to sleep on the couch, but Thea's mother passed out on it. If we were to wake her up right now, there would be no way we could drag her up the stairs. I knew how hard it was to move her from the kitchen to the living room. There weren't many steps from the two rooms, and I still had difficulties. I was a strong man, and yet I couldn't carry her on my own. Her body weight and limbs were getting in the way of me carrying her nicely.

Thea sighs as she runs a hand through her hair. Her sweater had a few smudges of blood on it, and her hand was blooded as well. I wondered if her mom was in pain from the cuts or if the alcohol was numbing the pain right now. She had fallen on the glass there in the kitchen before I came in, so I don't doubt that she had gotten hurt.

"I'm going to head upstairs and clean up," Thea says in a tired voice. I understood where she was coming from; I mean, she had just spent hours on a plane and then had come home to this. I wasn't new to the alcohol situation; I had a fair share of it during my days living with my parents. I knew the toll that alcohol and misery could take on you. It wasn't an easy card to be dealt with.

Before Thea could leave, though, I placed a finger up and said, "Hey, Thea?"

"Yeah, Mason?" Thea calls back, tired, as she wants to just head to bed for the night.

"Not to cause any more problems or anything," I start with a little apologetic smile. "But where am I sleeping tonight?"

"Right," Thea said, turning around to look at me rather than the stairs she had wanted to escape to. She glances at her mom on the couch and then backs up at my face. "Um, I don't think you can sleep down here."

I shake my head in agreement. She then looks up the stairs she had wanted to use and says, "I guess I can take my parents' room—"

She halts her speech abruptly when she realizes the wording she had just used. Her eyes catch mine, and I notice that she looked rather embarrassed by having spoken of her parents in plural form, as if both of them were alive right now. That made the ache in my heart hurt deeper because I knew how she must feel right now.

"Um," she licks her lips, trying again. "I'll sleep in that room, and you can take my room."

"Okay," I say, even though the idea of sleeping in her room alone was not something I thought I would be doing. I hadn't expected to come back to her house, but if I had thought of it, I would've expected to think that I would be there with her. If there was a reason that I would have come to her house again, it would be to come home with her. Not to this. This wasn't something I would have imagined.

Thea leads us up the stairs and then stops in front of her room. She peers through her childhood bedroom and then says, "I threw the sheets in the wash from the last time I had slept here, so they should be clean."

"Okay," I say casually, because that is not one of my current problems. I didn't much care whether the sheets have been washed or not unless she had brought her fiance down here. Then it would be a problem, but I didn't think so. Thea leaves to check out her own room, and I head into her bedroom.

It takes me a lot of convincing to actually move and not just spin around while I look around the room. I was amazed at how the room was exactly the same as it was last year. I guess it made sense considering she hasn't lived with her for long periods of time, so she didn't need to rearrange it.

I head downstairs to get some clothes out of my suitcase. Once I have a change of clothes that I can sleep in, I head back upstairs to Thea's room, which was also the place where I was going to be sleeping for the night. It was weird to think about, but I guess I could get used to it.