She's Gone and I'm Lost

16 | the road

dedicated to pauly4ever because they always vote on my chapters :)

16 | the road

January 1st | 2:39 pm

We talked for a few hours. Naomi and Will avoided each other, still a bit mad from their earlier argument. Isaac asked me about our family, Marleen and I gave him answers. My brother was very curious about Stella. I was happy that he was planning to get to know her. It would be a luxury that I hadn't had at her age, not that I resent Isaac for that.

After a while, Naomi said she was tired and left to go to sleep. Since Isaac was a horrible chef, he ordered pizza instead of cooking in the kitchen. As we ate our pizza, one of the most embarrassing conversations in my life started.

"So," Isaac said, swallowing a bite of pizza. "How long have you two been dating?" He looked between Will and me.

I almost choked on my food. "What?" Will looked almost as shocked as me.

"How long have you two been together?" Isaac rephrased nonchalantly.

I shook my head vigorously. "We aren't together." I pointed at Will. "Him, me, we are not dating."

Marleen burst out laughing, causing me to shoot hateful glares at her. "Come on," Isaac said. "It's obvious that you guys care about each other."

"Caring about someone doesn't mean that you're dating them," Will said.

"Oh, so you're saying that you wouldn't date my sister?" Isaac asked, going into his 'protective big brother' mode.

"Yes! Wait, no! Yes? How do I even answer this question?" Will asked. I could feel color rise to my cheeks as they burned in a blush.

I looked at Isaac, "Please, stop talking." I looked at Marleen who was now lying on the floor as she rolled around laughing, "And you, stop laughing!"

"Oh, so you're not going to yell at your boyfriend?" Isaac asked. This caused Marleen to laugh even louder. "Okay, Mar, we get it. You can get up now." Marleen did get up, chuckling to herself as she took her seat on the couch.

"I think we should go to sleep now," I suggested, eager to move the conversation to a new subject.

"Alright, I'll go get the air mattress," Isaac said, walking to the hallway where the closet was.

"You have quite the brother right there," Will noted.

I buried my head deep within my hands, trying to hide from the world. "Yes, I do," I muttered.

"It's sweet though, how he cares about you."

"How does that show he cares about me?"

"He was playing the overprotective big brother role."

"It can get really annoying."

"It's better than having your brother ignore you," he said. I remembered how he had said that he was the black sheep of the family and that he looked just like his dad. I also remembered how after his dad died, his mom and brothers couldn't bear to look at him.

Isaac came back with a deflated air mattress, a few quilts, and some pillows. I remembered the quilts. They were the ones that my grandmother had made for us. Three; one for Isaac, me, and Stella. My mom didn't trust Stella with hers, afraid she'd break it, and I couldn't stand the sight of mine when my grandmother had passed. So, Isaac had ended up with all three. He started pumping up the mattress as he spoke. "So, I'm thinking that Will can sleep on the mattress and then you two can sleep on the two couches. Sound good?"