𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 [𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤]

𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬

Now, I know how crazy it sounds for me to say that when the Pogues left I didn't think I'd be able to live on Kildare without them. But it was a true statement. They had been my people forever and not having them like I used to absolutely sucked. But like when I was in Charleston, Miles was here to make things more bearable. After Halloween weekend, he made a promise to come back the following weekend. I wasn't holding him to it or my breath waiting for him to show up.

In all honesty, I thought it was a joke until he showed up at my house at 11 o'clock the following Friday night. "Laney, your friends here!" Dylan called to me as I laid in my bed. Friend?

As I walked down the hallway, I threw my hair up in a bun. It was a mess from school and I'm refusing to wash it until tomorrow. It's just too much work.

"Miles?" He was standing in the doorway with a big goofy smile on his face, a bag draped over his shoulder and a pillow tucked under the other arm. "I thought you were joking."

"Um, no." he scoffed, "So, are you going to invite me in or am I gonna have to sleep out here?" I turned back toward the living room where my dad had been spending the majority of his time. I held up a finger before jogging back toward him.

"Hey dad?" I whisper-yelled over to him. He turned to me and waited for me to continue, "Miles is here-"

"Yeah, he called. He's good." Mike Foster, a man of few words everyone.

I slowly nodded as I walked back toward the door, "You called my dad?"

"I gave him my number in case he needed anything. In turn I got his number. I called him on Wednesday to make sure it was okay that I came." Miles stepped in the house next to me, "Is it a problem that I'm here? I can head back to Charleston-" he threw his thumb over his shoulder, cocking the same goofy grin he had when I opened the door for him.

"No!" I responded rather loudly, "No, Miles. Just come on." he followed me down to my room where he ended up pulling up some floor for the night.

"Sorry this isn't Liam's or Sarah's. At least there you had a bed to sleep in." He chuckled, "What?"

"I'd much rather kick it here than at either one of those houses. I could've stayed with Rafe, but I didn't want to bother. He seems busy anyways." As he spoke, he ruffled his blanket in the air to get it down to his feet. "Tell me about your week." He didn't look at me when he asked, his attention was still on his floor bed.

"School, more doctors appointments for my dad. Nothing new."

He flipped on his side to look at me, "And? How are things looking for him?"

"Um, we found out yesterday that he's stopped responding to the pill he's been taking for the last three weeks so the doctor wants to put him on a different oral chemo." He scoffed, "Yeah, I know. Another pill."

"Well, that's not the news I wanted to hear." I shrugged. There was virtually nothing that could hurt me even more than the life I was currently living. One piece of bad news after the other and it felt like it was almost normal to never hear anything good. Miles sighed from his spot next to me as he laid on his back. It was almost midnight and since he got here, all my tiredness had gone away. I was ready to do something that wasn't staring at the ceiling but before I had the chance to say anything to him, I could hear his little snores and decided to turn off the light to go to sleep too.

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The next morning we woke up to my dad making breakfast, which always meant he either needed or wanted something from us.

That something ended up being cleaning out the garage.

"Do you not have a life to live?" I asked as we continued to move the boxes from the garage out into the yard. Miles was coming up behind me with another one.

He jutted his lip out in a fake pout, "I thought you were happy to see me?"

"I'm always happy to see you-"

Dylan interrupted me, "Lou, that one." And pointed to another box on the opposite side of the garage as he worked on reorganizing the toolbox.

"Like I was saying, I'm always happy to see you. I just thought you would have something else to do other than clean out my garage for my dad." It was the second weekend he had been in Kildare with me. I was surprised to see him after Halloween, even though he said he would come back.

He shrugged, "It's November. What's there to do in Charleston?"

I rolled my eyes as we continued to walk in and out of the garage, nearing the end of the boxes. "Hangout with Zach? I don't know. Something besides driving 8 hours to clean out a garage."

"Your dad doesn't seem to mind." He opened up a lawn chair and flopped into it so hard I heard the fabric tear a bit.

"He just likes the help." It was true though. We all didn't mind the extra help. My dad wasn't supposed to do anything more than just day to day things. But since Miles showed up last night, my dad had been mulling over the idea of cleaning out the garage. And as of right now, what dad wants he gets. I don't think I've said no to my dad since I found out he had cancer. The only time I did feel any type of negative feelings, I ended up at John B's that one day. It's not fair to take that out on my dad when none of it's his fault. 

a/n: this parts a short one but i wanted to update for you guys! i'm on spring break right now so keep an eye out for more updates throughout the week! have fun, be safe <3