Too Far Away (Keaton Stromberg Love Story)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20;

Our trip back to Huntington Beach the following morning was... eventful, to say the least.

Brooke was strapped up in her car seat, Keaton and I in the front. Keaton drove a majority of the way, considering I was still in the mental state of a sixteen year old driver.

"Mommy, I just want to go home so I can play with Uncle Drew." Brooke spoke excitedly from the backseat, and I just tossed my hand over my chest, acting wounded.

"What am I, chopped liver?" I burst, and she giggled.

"What's that?" She laughed maniacally, and I just laughed, too, giving up on my acting.

"Never mind, silly." I just let out a short laugh, my eyes landing on Keaton's soft smile as he drove.

"Mommy?" Brooke asked for about the thousandth time, and I turned around once more.

"Brookie?" I spoke dramatically.

"Are Aunt Joanna and Uncle Lijah getting married?" She grinned all hugely, her beautiful smile adding to her beautiful face, and momentarily causing me to forget she was suffering from a life threatening disease.

"Yup, it's icky." I winked at her; she just giggled again.

"Can I be the flower girl?" She smiled just as brightly, and my words got caught in my throat.

Unless Lijah and Joanna eloped pretty soon, the chances of Brooke making it to their wedding were slim, and that was something I hadn't previously pondered on.

"You have to ask Uncle Lijah and Aunt Joanna, baby girl." Keaton smiled at her in the rear view mirror, and she sighed, but then perked up realizing neither Lijah nor Joanna would ever refuse.

"Thanks," I whispered to Keaton, and he nodded.

"Its okay, Jules. It's all okay." He said back, and I forced the words into my brain and attempted to keep them there.

It's okay. It's all okay. It's okay. It's all okay.

A few hours-- and a few trillion more questions-- later we arrived back in Huntington Beach.

Brooke was bouncing with excitement, yet she could hardly support her own weight. I hauled all of the bags of hers, as well as mine and Keaton's, inside, whereas Keaton focused on carrying her in.

"DREAM OF CALIFORNICATION!" Wes and Drew screamed at each other as I walked through the door.

"I have interrupted an intensely sexual broment, haven't I?" I sighed, setting down the bags.

"Highly. It's quite disappointing the level of unspoken sexual tension between those two." Joanna rolled her eyes as she walked through the room.

"It's almost as high as the sexual tension between him and Quinn." Drew winked, and I just snorted a laugh.

"Is Brookie here?" Wes hopped up, and I nodded.

"She wanted to stay here versus there." I explained.

"Well, I mean... Who could blame her? I'm here." Wes replied, a smug smirk on his face.

"Actually, she asked for Drew the entire ride." I shrugged, walking straight for the stairs to dump mine and Keaton's stuff.

"Let us check the scoreboard. Point eight hundred and seventy-nine for Drew Michael Chadwick, and... Wesley Trent Stromberg is still yet to get on the board." Drew spoke obnoxiously, and I laughed once again as I reached the top of the staircase.

I then realized something I was surprised I had yet to before that moment. Where did Brooke stay when she was here?

And then I realized that no one had ever allowed me to pass the first room on the right at the top of the stairs, which was mine and Keaton's, so, just as any mother would do, I wandered further down the hall in search of a bright pink room with dolls decorating the floor.

I found it quickly. It was the second room on the right, which made a lot of sense. Obviously, Brooke would be in the room directly beside mine and Keaton's.

"Juliet?" Lijah walked through his and Joanna's bedroom door, watching as I took my first steps inside Brooke's room (to my recollection).

"Hey." I whispered back, absolutely fascinated by the marvelously colorful room before me.

It was all purples and pinks and dolls and doll houses and exactly what I had imagined it would be, yet it was still breathtakingly foreign.

"It's so her, yet it's so astonishingly... Me." I pouted out my bottom lip in thought, my eyes scrounging the room for anything that was even slightly Keaton-ish, but I came up empty handed.

"She's literally a mini Juliet." Lijah nodded, and I just turned and hugged him.

"She wants to be the flower girl, but Lijah-"

"Don't say it, okay? She's the flower girl. Either way. She's always going to be here, even when she isn't... Did that make any sense?" Lijah shrugged, and I nodded, wiping tears from my eyes.

"It made sense. Hardly, but I understood." I laughed sadly, and he just pulled me in for another hug.

"Jules, I know it sucks. And I know sucks doesn't even begin to describe the tragedy, but... I'm not good with words, you know that." He shrugged, and I just smiled at him through my tears.

"Yeah. I know, you big dope." I rolled my eyes, wiping away my tears once again as I walked downstairs with my head held as high as I could manage to put it.

"I don't think that was fair!" Wes yelled, and I just smiled as I watched from the doorway.

"Was too!" Brooke stuck her tongue out.

"Not my fault she likes me better!" Drew sang, and I just burst into laughter. I lived with not one, not two, but three children. Maybe even four if Joanna was included.

"You okay?" Keaton whispered, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, his lips pressing to my bare shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I said, letting the mantra manifest into a necessary achievement in my brain.

If anything happened to Brooke, I vowed to myself I would allow recovery to come to me as easily as my ABC's did, even though I was sure that wasn't possible. But as quickly as I could, I was going to make sure I found my strength.

"Love you." Keaton whispered, his lips pressing to my forehead before he walked away, heading upstairs.

"Love you, too."

"Love birds!" Joanna sang in a high pitched and overly dramatized voice, dancing past us as she did so.

"Hi Aunt Joanna!" Brooke grinned from her spot next to Drew.

"Hola, my baby. Do I get a hug?" Joanna raised an eyebrow, and Brooke nodded, but she couldn't get up to hug Joanna on her own.

Joanna bustled over, the realization of that hitting her suddenly. She hugged Brooke tight, and then pulled away to smile ambitiously at her.

"I love you." Brooke nuzzled back into her chest, and Joanna just let out a tiny 'aw,' and pulled Brooke closer to her.

That was when I retreated from the room. I no longer wanted to feel my throat swelling uncomfortably with the tears I had left unshed.

"C'mere." Keaton was standing in the kitchen, and I obeyed, stepping into his reach and soaking in his touch.

"I love you." I whispered, and my voice barely audible through the thickness of my throat.

"I love you more." Keaton kissed my forehead.

I just stood there and let him hold me as I fought off the stubborn tears, absolutely positive that I would eradicate of any traces of their existence before I reentered the room where both Joanna and Brooke had taken refuge.

I was determined to wear my suit of armor as convincingly as I could, but as soon as something tragic happened, I knew that armor would crack... permanently.