Lost And Loved

2. Sad

"Edward?" I heard Grace call my name.

I just returned home from taking Marley to her wanted destination and the twins room was on the way to my own. I twirled my keys, trying to distract my mind from how huge the party was.

I stop outside of the doorway that was open, exposing my little sister sitting in the middle of the room. Her old Barbie dolls that she had, for some unknown reason, put away months ago was now in front of her.

Although Riley, her twin brother, ruined them with fire and permanent marker, she never once held it against him. Sure, she made jabs about not being able to ever leave him home with me baby-sitting again, but still.

"Yes?" I ask, leaning against the door frame as my arms cross over my chest.

"Do you have a minute?" Her blue eyes raise to find mine and before I could form a coherent excuse on why I don't have time, I moved to the middle of the room and sat down near her.

"What's up, kiddo?" I ask.

"Just wanted someone to spend time with." She says with a shake of her head, blonde frizzy curls bouncing. "Mom's always busy now."

Mom had gotten herself into... a romantic situation as of recently. She's been on five dates this past week alone. Eight weeks, and she still hasn't gotten tired of him.

"You reek of sea life." Gracie tells me.

"Kind of a given since I work where I do."

"Why doesn't Marley reek of it, too, then? She always smells nice."

I take in a deep breath. If it wasn't for Grace's interest, I don't think Marley would come around as much as she does, and it's not much at all. She loves my family but she'd rather be doing her own thing with other people now.

"She cleans up better than I do." I answer, just a second off.

Grace lifts one of her dolls up to me and I hesitantly take it, the figure was faceless until she drew a weird face on it.

It was the one she called Marley last summer.

"She's really sad again." She tells me. She rests her hands on her knees as she watches the doll. "She's been sad for a while but I've been ignorng it because she has."

"Why is she sad?"

"Because she misses how things used to be."

"Who misses how things used to be?" Alyssa asks from the door way. Her hair went from lower-back length to a pixie cut as the weather grew warmer. It was still a strange sight to me.

I think Alyssa was as sad as I had been when Marley and I returned back to Florida. I wasn't really wanting to talk to anyone about anything that happened in England, but I was more than willing when she offered an ear.

She even tried talking to Marley as well, but when Marley dismissed my sister, Alyssa gave up.

"Gracie is using her dolls to represent Marley." I answer.

"She did that a bit while you were away last summer." Alyssa answered, walking away from the door. "Mom told her to stop because she was making herself depressed."

A door was heard being shut as I turned my head to look at my younger sister.

"Is that why you put them away?" I ask.

"Yep. Would hate to disappoint anyone." She says deadpan.

"How do you even know about how she could be feeling?"

"I dunno, I just feel sad when they do." She peers up at me through her lashes as if she were calculating me. "I feel sad because of you."

"I'm not sad, sis." I say, groaning as I stand up from the ground, knowing it would make her smile to hear me complain like an old man. It did. "Just a wee tired."

I padded out of her room and over to my own, pondering over what she just said. Grace was always good with knowing people, reading their faces and everything, which is odd for an eight year old but still quite fasinating.

There was no hiding anything with her.

I'm sad.

* * *

"Edward, hey." I hear Kena's voice call just as I step out of my Jeep. She jumped down from the rock wall outside of the Marine park where she was waiting for her hours to roll in.

"Hey, how are you?" I ask as she catches up to me. We walk through the park entrance together and I see her shrug beside me.

"I'm okay. Tired, ya know? Party until late."

"If it ran late, it must've been a good one." I tried to smile at her but as I took in the look of her, I saw just how tired she really was. My smile faded.

"I could think of ways that would've made it better." She says with a sigh. "Like less pervs, maybe."

"Wasn't Austin with you?" I ask. Normally he always tags along to make sure she's okay.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean pervs for me. I meant for Marley." Kena groans and turns to me, grasping my arm. "I thought you were gonna settle down with her. Like, make it official."

"I never said-"

"Maybe it's the kick in the butt she needs to stop throwing herself around. Put a damn ring on it or something. You promised to help save my friend."

"I know-"

"Don't you love her?"

"Of course I do." I say sternly. "I want her to be well, I want to change how she's acting now, but I can't do that if I don't sort out the root of what's got her this way. She doesn't talk to me."

"You two fuck all the time, and she still hasn't told you why she's acting this way?"

"Yeah." I say hesitantly, dipping my head closer as a crowd draws near. "She doesn't trust me yet, when she trusts me, then she'll talk. I know it."

"She trusts you to pull out, how hard can it be?"

"Oh, my God, Kena." I laugh loudly, her words causing a small splash of heat to hit my cheeks. "You-"

"Edward," I hear a voice call over the loud murmurs of the crowd. I turn my head, my smile falling from goofy into a more normal gesture as I see Marley bee-lining her way toward me from inside the park.

"Good morning." I tell her. It was no later than 10:30.

"What's so funny?" Marley asks, looking up at me before peering over at Kena.

"Nothing." Her best friend responds. "Just telling stupid jokes."

"It must've been good seeing as Edward laughed as hard as he did." Marley looks up at me again, her prominent clear blue eyes dancing between my own.

"Silly word exchange, really." I answer.

She surprises me by wrapping her arms around my waist, her head tilted back so her eyes could stay upon my face.

"I'm just gonna....go sign in." Kena announces before scampering off.

"Were you two flirting?" Marley asks as soon as Kena loses herself in the crowds of people.

"Why would you think that?"

"Why are you answering a question with a question?"

"No, Marley." I tell her, my arms finding their way around her waist. "I was not flirting with Kena."

She nods once before releasing her hold on me and stepping away, her hand sliding down to mine. It was strange because she never showed any displays of affection while out in public.

But I smiled a bit to myself. Without truly saying it, she has feelings for me. Some type of feelings that make her jealous.