Indestructible: Reinforced

Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

     September 2012

     Present Day

     I exited Avy’s room when Mom came back, and spotted Josh dozing off with his head resting against the wall behind him. Drake was nowhere to be seen, I hoped he wouldn’t bump into Dad. I sat down slowly next to Josh and pushed a lock of hair off his forehead. His eyes fluttered open and he yawned. “Sorry, I dozed off.”

     “Go home.” I urged. “You’re tired and you really don’t have to stay here.”

     “And miss the show when Jake comes here?” He asked sarcastically. “I don’t think so.”

     “Did you text Augustus?” I asked, ignoring his snide comment. I wasn’t going to fight with him because of this. “Why isn’t anyone here?”

     “Narcissa’s sick.” Josh sighed. “He has to stay home with her. Says he’ll come tomorrow if Narcissa’s feeling any better.”

     “Great.” I muttered and leaned back in my seat. “Way to make her feel loved.”

     “She knows everyone loves her.” Josh put his arm around me and held me close. “She’s going to be okay, Gaby. Don’t worry about her.”

     “I remembered when I went to visit her after you and I started dating.” I said. “And she was so helpful and warm. It was the first time Avy and I really talked. First time I felt like I had a sister.”

     “She’s not dying, Gaby.” He rubbed my back soothingly. “She’s just giving birth to a baby. She’s going to be just fine, and you’ll have a baby to play with when all of this is over.”

     “It’s not about that.” I shook my head. “Drake’s her bestfriend. And the baby she’s giving birth to is his kid. She needs him to be there for her.”

     “He is.”

     “Not like that.” I sighed. “If I were in her place, I’d like to have you there as you are now. But she can’t be like that with him because of Amelie. She needs him as a boyfriend or whatever, not just as the father of her child. He’s her bestfriend and she can’t even talk to him about anything that’s going on with her. She’s all alone now, Josh, and I can’t help her. She’s my sister, I owe her a lot, and I can’t even help her.”

     “Oh, Gabs.” Josh hugged me and I started crying, I needed to get it out and I didn’t mind crying infront of him. It didn’t make him uncomfortable, and he was actually really good at soothing me and making me feel better. “Avy’s a tough one, she’ll pull through it and in a couple of days she’ll be back to being a ballbuster.”

     “But she said she was broken.” I sobbed. “She said she wasn’t feeling good and that certain things broke her.”

     “Hormones.” Josh replied. “It’s just some hormones. Pregnant women tend to be emotional. Instead of being her usual angry self she just became sad. You shouldn’t worry so much.”

     I calmed down a bit. If it was just hormones then maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Maybe I was overreacting. I sniffed and pulled back to look at him. “You really think so?”

     He smiled reassuringly at me. “Yes.” He wiped my tears away and cupped my face. “Now, will you please calm down? I hate seeing you like this.”

     I smiled at him and grabbed my purse. “Sorry, I’m a mess, I know.”

     He rubbed my back soothingly and kissed my shoulder. “It’s alright, I like taking care of you. And I love how much you love your sister, it’s cute.”