209-Dizzy

It's Just A Lot

"This. Is. War." Luke seethed, standing in the door of his bedroom covered head to toe in slime. Michael stood a fair distance away down the hall, doubled over in laughter, barely intaking any air.

I've come to know Luke pretty well and I didn't want to be on his bad side. So, I did what any saving-face accomplice would do. 

"It was all his idea!" I blurted out, my finger pointed squarely down the hall. "I knew better than to mess with you." 

Lukes lips quirk up into a half smile, looking at me then shifting his narrowed gaze down the hallway. 

"Your little side kick ratted." He said, eerily calm.

Michael sent a playful glare my way. "You little-" 

Before he could even finish his sentence Luke was hot on his tail, chasing him down the hallway at full speed. They flew down the stairs, and it eventually turned into a game of chicken around the kitchen island. 

For a group of doctors.. they sure did act like children sometimes.

But, the more I was around it, the more I found it endearing. 

The front door opened a short time later and Calum walked in, looking between the two of them curiously.

"Do I want to know?" He asked, looking up at the top of the stairs where I stood. I shook my head, trying to stifle my laughs. 

He shrugged and kept walking into the kitchen, grabbing something out of the fridge before looking at the two of them. 

"When you two are done.. with whatever this is, I'd like to talk privately." He said, lowering his voice on the last word. I took this as my cue and went back into my empty room, shutting the door and sitting on the floor. 

I didn't really know what to do, so I laid down and began humming softly, just allowing myself to fully relax. It'd been awhile since a place felt like home, but this was as close as I'd been since birth. 

I'm not sure how much time passed, but a little later Luke pushed the door slowly open and came inside. Moving to sit beside me on the ground. 

"You've got a pretty voice kid." He said, smiling at me softly.

I felt my face heat up, I really wasn't one to enjoy attention, nor was I good at taking compliments.

"Thank you." I mumbled, staring at the ground. "I've heard you're a pretty good singer yourself. Are you ever gonna let me hear anything you've written?" I ask, and he sighs and lays back onto the floor.

"Maybe.. one day." He says, admiring the ceiling. I decided to lay back beside him.

"What'd Calum want?" 

"He had some new information on the whole marriage situation, and something we've been working on went through, so he wanted a gameplan on our next steps." He explained quietly as I nodded.

"Doctor stuff?"

"Something like that." He said, being oddly vague but I didn't press it.

"Was the slime hard to get out?"

"I shampooed like five times." He confirmed and I snorted, rolling my eyes. 

Someone else came in and I recognized it as Ashton when he laid beside me. 

"Calum filled out divorce paper work, but we think it'll be best if we go talk to a judge in person and explain the situation if you're up for it. Since, we know we probably can't get the dude to sign off on it."

"When?" I asked Ashton, not looking forward to having to spill my life story to yet another stranger. 

"Soon, Calums going to look into possible appointment dates in the morning." I nodded, agreeing.  

As big as my aversion was to the idea, I knew it was the only way to cut ties with the order once and for all. After the divorce, and my parents official court date, they'll have no claim to me. 

"Does anyone know when my parents will get sentenced?" I asked quietly.

"The 20th was the last thing the attorney told us." Ashton confirmed, causing me to sit up and look at them. 

"We have an attorney? Since when?" 

They both let out a sigh and sat up as well, looking to each other before Luke spoke.

"We figured it'd be best to let you get settled here, and comfortable while we handled the legal stuff." He explained, his eyes searching my face and gauging my reaction.

"We wanted to let you just be a teenager for a little." Ashton said, and I felt the anger that had been building up inside me dissipate. 

They were just looking out for me... doing what a guardian was supposed to do. 

"They don't need me for anything?" I asked, feeling surprised. "Not even to testify?"

"Between the four of us at the hospital, and the cops thorough investigation, they were able to find more than enough evidence for the abuse and neglect charge. That was the first thing we asked too." 

I felt myself relax at Lukes words, before a small knot formed in my stomach. 

That meant I wouldn't see them again.. most likely ever. All this time I'd expected to face them one last time at the court date, but it wasn't going to happen. 

There was a lot of mixed emotions behind this revelation. Relief, because I was officially done with those monsters. Pain, because deep down a part of me missed my parents. Fear, because an even bigger part of me wanted.. a resolution, a connection.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked over to see Luke looking at me, wide eyed and concerned.

Ashton however had moved to sit closer in front of me, and didn't look surprised in the slightest. "You're crying." He said softly, making me acknowledge the wetness on my face.

"It's just a lot." 

He nodded in response, and I felt Luke squeeze my shoulder a little. 

"I think it'd be best that we get you into therapy with someone." Ashton said, and I nodded slowly in agreement. 

I wasn't going to fight help this time, I knew I was in over my head. 

"In the mean time, why don't we all go watch a movie?" Luke proposed, making me smile. 

"Deal."