18 Days ➳ Riley McDonough/ Before You Exit Fanfic

13.

March 14th // 6th day

R I L E Y

"Wait," Connor said as he paced back and forth in front of me, trying to process what I had just told him. "So, you're telling me that Jade actually flat-lined and when she was revived by the hospital staff, she just turned on the TV to watch Spongebob?"

I nodded, resting my chin in my hands which were propped up on my knees. "Yeah, that's pretty much it."

Jade was still in the hospital, since they made her stay overnight for further examination and observation to make sure that she was healthy enough and there was no risk in her roaming around freely. I would've stayed the night with her, but she made me go home, and I was just too tired to argue.

"She's nuts," Connor stated simply, letting himself collapse onto the spot next to me. "Absolutely out of her mind."

"That's why I love her."

Connor gave me a sad smile before he averted his eyes to the floor and lifted one leg up to rest on the coffee table. Everyone looked at me like that now. Like I was fragile and could break at any moment. Their eyes always held pity and I couldn't look into them without feeling bad about myself.

"I hate it when people look at me like that," I blurted out before I could even process the words in my head.

My words caught Connor pretty off guard as he brought his other leg back down to the floor and sat up straighter, blue eyes slightly wide. "What do you mean?"

"I hate it when people look at me like I'm weak. Like I can't handle the situation."

"Riley."

"Connor," I fired back. "You don't know what it's like to lose the love of your life."

My words seemed to have struck a nerve as I watched my brother's face go pink. I didn't know what that meant, but I could feel I wasn't going to enjoy what was coming for me next.

"You're right. I don't know what it's like," he said with no emotion in his voice at all, but his expression told me everything as I saw his eyes beginning to glass over with tears that he wouldn't let fall. "But Jade is important to me too, Riley. I may not be losing the love of my life like you are, but I'm losing the closest thing I've ever had to a sister, and both of us know how much I've always wanted a little sister. We may love her in different ways, but you better believe me when I say that I love her just as much as you do."

After everything Connor had said, I opened my mouth to speak, to shoot something back his way, but nothing came out. How could I possibly top that? Continuing the argument would've been a losing battle, no matter what words my tongue could form.

I simply watched as he blinked back his tears, finally bringing a hand up to wipe some away and, when I didn't respond, he got up from the couch and walked out the door. He always walked out when he was upset, but I've never seen him do it so fast. And now, I was all alone in the living room. It was just me.

I threw my head back to rest on the top part of the sofa as I felt the veins in my neck popping out slightly from all the straining my current sitting position required.

Then, a loud groan echoed throughout the whole house, bouncing off walls, and dancing down hallways. The, almost, animal-like sound had come from my own vocal chords, of course, because there was no one else in the house but me.

"What the heck was that?"

I stand corrected.

For some stupid reason that I could not fathom upon, I seemed to have forgotten the existence of my other brother and how we lived under the same roof. It's not my fault though. If he'd just take a break from napping all day and actually go out of his room every once in a while, I would've remembered about him. Or maybe I was just really tired. Yeah, that was probably it.

Toby was sleepily making his way down the stairs with loud thumping footsteps as he rubbed one eye with his hand and stretched the other until it brushed the ceiling. He was pretty tall for the youngest. I remember when he was merely until my waist and literally could not reach anything in the house.

"Oh, it's you," I said, lifting my head to look at him.

"The one and only Toby."

I laughed softly at his response. "You're not the only Toby in this world. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, of course," he replied, sitting on the other side of the couch, making sure there was some distance between us. "Just like how Jade isn't the only Jade in this world."

Oh boy. Here we go again. Just when things were beginning to calm down.

"Toby, I'm really not in the mood for thi—"

"So, when will you be in the mood, huh? Eighteen days from now? When she's dead?"

It was times like these where I wished I was an only child. One brother just walked out on me and the other one was stating facts that I've been trying very hard to avoid ever since I found out about this whole situation.

"Toby," I said one more time, squeezing my eyes shut in an attempt to block out his voice and his existence in general, just in case he felt like saying anything else. "Please don't say that word. Please, just stop."

He just looked at me with a frown on his face as he shook his head in disappointment. "Unbelievable," he muttered under his breath. "You know, you should really learn to accept the fact that Jade won't be here any longer."

By this time, I had completely had it and my anger and frustration reached a boiling point as I stood up abruptly to look down at him, but my dominance didn't last too long because Toby had gotten up as well, showing that he was just as powerful as I was when it came to the situation. Plus, his hair made him a quarter of an inch taller than me and that didn't help at all.

We stared at each other for quite a while and I half expected him to throw a punch or shove me back, but it didn't happen. Once he realized what was going on, his eyes softened and his clenched fists loosened.

"I don't want to fight with you, Riley," Toby said, looking at one of our pictures together when we were younger, which was hanging from the wall. Our arms were wrapped around each other and he was on his tiptoes while I was crouching down a bit because I was so much taller than him back then. Oh, how the time had gone so fast. "You're my brother and I've known you literally all my life. I don't want to hurt you in any way."

I've never seen Toby looks so broken before. It was actually pretty heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking how Jade had made such an impact on all of our lives that it didn't feel normal to think that one day she just wouldn't be there anymore.

"You know I love you, Toby,"  I said, pulling him into a brotherly hug as I patted his back a couple of times to try and make him feel a little better.

"I love you too, Riley."

~

a/n: this is pretty long are y'all proud? 

btw connor liked my tweet on twitter a while ago but i wasn't so lucky in his follow spree lol how sad but im still pretty happy. im not bragging or anything i just wanted to let it out somewhere. also, shameless self promo but hi my username on twitter is cheetobes.

anyways i just had to sneak a cute little RiBy bit at the end there bc sibling goals dude.

THIS CHAPTER BROKE MY HEART BC CONNOR AND TOBY ARE SAD SO IM SAD TOO GOODBYE