Wild Ride - The Alternative Version (Book 2)

Chapter 18~The Calm Before The Storm

Sunday came fast, faster than I would've liked it to, and soon Elise would be here to pick up Abbie to take her back home and then I'd be completely alone for another week at least. I think we're going to have her come stay with me every other week. I knew that everything was going to get so quiet with her gone, and I'd miss her a lot too.

Abbie didn't have any nightmares since the very early hours of Thursday morning, and once she got a full night of rest she was back to her hyper self again. The guys felt bad when they heard of her nightmares that she's been having for quite some time, and they came over and spent a good part of the day with her. Ella and Isaac came with Brian and Johnny too, so Abbie was plenty entertained.

We had all of her stuff packed up and ready to go, so right now we were just waiting for Elise to come later. To pass the time, we sat down in the basement at the piano I had because she asked if I could play any instruments other than drums. I was kind of surprised that she didn't know that one already, but maybe the question just never came to mind before. So instead of telling her, I decided to show her, because she's been 'told' stuff all of her life. I think it's about time she experiences the answers to some of her questions first hand.

Abbie sat beside me and watched me play with a curiousity and a child's wonder in her eyes. She mostly watched my hands, but every now and then I could see her glance up at my face with a small smile on her own face.

When I was done, I looked down at her and smiled. "Does that answer your question?"

She grinned and nodded. "Yep."

I played a couple more songs at her request, and she moved so that she was sitting in my lap instead of beside me as I played. We were down here until just before noon, since this was about the time Elise was to pick her up.

"C'mon, we better go upstairs because we won't be able to hear if your mom comes." I said, standing up as I picked her up out of my lap.

"Why not?" She asked curiously.

"The room is soundproofed, so we can't hear up there, and anyone upstairs can't hear what's going on down here." I explained.

"Ohh, that makes sense."

We were upstairs for maybe fifteen minutes before Elise arrived, and I met her at the door while Abbie stayed the living room. Abbie's stuff was in the entryway, including her guitar and amp. I told her to take it with her and try to get Elise to play with her rather than just showing her what to do. I think it'd be really good for them to play together, especially after seeing the way Abbie watched Elise that time in the studio when she played with Brian.

As I opened the door, I grinned at her and she smiled back before I had her come in. I shut the door behind her, and she turned to me and said after greeting me,

"How has she been since...?"

"She's been fine. She only had a nightmare that one time. I did sit down with her yesterday and talked to her for a little while about what that had been like for her while she was in the hospital to try and get her to let go of some of it. She had a little bit of a hard time with it, but it was a good start." I told her.

"Good, I'm glad to hear that she hasn't had another, hopefully that'll continue. And it's good that you've got her to talk about it. Usually she'd avoid a subject like that." She said.

I nodded. "I think it made her feel better to talk about it. She's held a lot in that she shouldn't have to." We were quiet for a while, and it was in this time that I debated on how to start the conversation to talk to her about the night we slept together and how I felt. I stared at the floor, trying to think of some way to start but I couldn't seem to come up with anything. Well this has never happened before, not being able to say words.