People Like Us: Part II [MxFxM]

Chapter Fifteen

The room was trashed. There was no better way to put it. River was fully aware of what he'd done up there earlier, and if they were going to sleep tonight, they needed to clean the room up. First though, Charlie and Adrian needed to see it, and they each had their own separate reactions. Charlie leaned more toward surprised in expression, while Adrian decided to just kind of glance around.

"Well, you were pretty busy up here, weren't you," he commented toward River.

"I did it all when Mom popped in."

"Jecklynn appeared?" Charlie asked.

"She tried to talk to me when I got up here. I didn't want to." River answered. "I was so mean to her."

From where he stood, River could see the black case of his violin open, the pieces of the instrument strewn about past it. A part of him clenched at the sight, but it was his fault. He'd done it in the end, after all, and started making his way towards them. Charlie seemed to notice the violin too and sighed a little, tilting her head.

"You were angry. People say things they don't mean, when they feel bad. I'm sure she would understand that you were upset," she said quietly.

Adrian started to comment, but Charlie just looked at him and he stopped before speaking, turning to look the room over better instead. River walked up to the body of the violin and picked it up gingerly, looking it over.

"I sent her away," he murmured, reaching for the bow and part of the neck. "And I don't know if she'll be able to come back."

Charlie walked over to stand next to him.

"You haven't needed the violin to summon her for a little while now. Maybe there's a chance that she can still come without it."

River shook his head, exhaling quietly. He'd wanted her gone in his anger. No longer able to come back, and though he regretted it now, he didn't know if he could bring her back, even if he did have the violin.

"I told her to go Charlie. I don't know if she can come back at all."

She tilted her head at that.

"Do you think...she'd come back if you asked her to? Or that she's gone, for good?"

"I don't know. I can't sense her anymore." River answered, looking at his mate. "What if I did make her go away for good? What if I can't bring her back? I sent away my own mom, Charlie. Just because I didn't want to talk to her."

Charlie frowned a little, reaching over to put a hand on River's back.

"You didn't mean to," she said quietly. "There must be a way to fix it, somehow. We'll figure it out."

"Guess I'll try later." River murmured, bringing the violin pieces to the case and carefully set them inside it. "Will you guys help me clean?"

She gave him a small smile and rubbed his back a little.

"Sure, we'll help. Adrian and I don't mind that at all, do we?" she asked, looking over to Adrian who shrugged.

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's moving shit," he said with a nod.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Charlie said, moving to the blankets and starting to put them back on the bed.

River started picking up things too, glancing over to Adrian when he started levitating things. Typical business with him though, so River let it go, finding himself drifting closer and closer to Charlie, brushing against her at points, which he didn't mean to. Until they were done. Then, he did it more intentionally, receiving smiles from her whenever he did it.