Her Choice

Chapter 6

I sat in my room for days. I went through moods; one minute I'd be sad, crying my eyes out, and the next I'd be angry, punching the walls. Then I'd remember that dad and Trevor taught me to punch, and I'd be sad again. Then I'd be reminded that they wouldn't want me to be sad, and I'd become numb. This happened for about 6 days straight. I wouldn't talk to my mom, Brandon, any of my new friends, or even my friends from back home. There's only one person who could get me to open the door.

"Tea," he pleaded, "come on baby, open the door." I wanted to, however, I didn't want to move. "Come on hon, don't make me break down the door." I knew he'd do it, so I got up and opened the door, coming face to face with Ryan, my other brother.

Ryan and I have always been the closest. We're best friends, and we understand each other despite the age gap. Trevor was close with us, but nothing like what me and Ry had. Brandon never really fit in with us. Trevor was the oldest, he was 23, swhile Ryan was 21. Brandon was born 3 years later, making him 18, and I'm a month away from 17.

"Come here, darling," Ryan scooped me up on his arms and held me, letting me cry into him. He murmured into my ear, but he never once did he try to tell me that everything was going to be okay, because we both knew it wasn't.

"I just..." I trailed off, not having words to express how I felt.

"Shh.. I know..." he rubbed my back soothingly, and after about 10 minutes, I stopped crying.

"Tea, look at me," when I looked at his face, he had his parental look on. "You need to go to school today. I know it'll be hard, but you can't get too far behind. You need to go."

 "I know," I sighed and climbed out of bed. "I'm going to go shower and then I'll leave. Thanks Ry, I'm glad your home." I gave him one last hug and walked to the bathroom.

After showering, I put on leggings, one of Trevor's sweaters, his fatigue jacket with his name tape still on it, and a pair of Nike high tops. I let my hair dry naturally, and didn't bother with makeup.

"You got her out of her room?" my mom gasped, looking at Ryan in awe when I walked downstairs.

"You even got the troll to shower," Brandon snorted, earning him a slap in the back of the head from mom and Ryan, and a punch in the stomach from me. 

"You look nice, honey. Where are you going?"

"School. Can't get too far behind." I grabbed an apple, my keys, phone and backpack, and walked to my truck. Sometimes, it's easier to pretend like nothing happened rather than wallow in it. 

Grieving is hard for me. Showing weakness at all is hard for me. It's a lot easier to forge on, put a smile on my face, and pretend like everything's okay. The more I act normal, the less likely it is for others to question how I'm doing.

"Teagan Rae! You're back!" I was assaulted by Asia, Hadley, and  Kiley when I walked through the door. "How are you feeling? We've missed you." They each gave me a hug, and we walked towards our lockers.

"I'm doing a lot better. My other brother came home late last night and that helps a lot. Thanks for caring guys, but can we not talk about it?" They smiled and nodded with understanding as we turned to walk down the hallway to face the day.

"Hey pretty lady, how you doing?" some meat head football player slapped my ass as I walked into English. I decide to take the high road and ignore him instead of retaliating like I normally would have.

"Hey, where are you going? I'm talking to you." He was getting aggravated because I wasn't responding and fawning all over him like normal girls.

"Hey bitch, I said I'm taking to you." Breathe Teagan Rae, breathe. Don't let him get to you. "Didn't your daddy teach you any manners?" When I whirled around, he was smirking.

"Okay, that's it." I stormed up to him with a menacing glare and I saw him flinch back slightly before regaining his composure. "Listen here, bitch," I completely mocked him when I called him bitch. "You don't get to say shit to me about manners. You blatantly disrespected me, sexually harassed me, then proceeded to verbally harass me because I didn't respond in a way that you wanted. My daddy did teach me manners, before he died, and I had good enough manners to give you a chance to walk away before I retaliated. Didn't your mama teach you manners, or is that something she forgot?" I turned around to walk away and he grabbed my ass again.

"Didn't we just talk about this?" I sighed as I whirled back around and punched him in the face. He grabbed his nose and I could see blood seeping through his fingers. 

"You broke my nose, you little bitch!" He screamed and his friends grabbed me and pulled me out into the hall. They slammed me against the lockers and the dude whose nose I broke stalked towards me. You can tell how fragile his masculinity is with the fact that he feels the need to have two guys restrain me.

"Why the fuck did you punch me?" I didn't speak because I was irked by the fact that his goons were still holding me against the lockers. "Let her go guys," he said once he noticed my discomfort. "Now, why?"

"Because I straight up told you that you had no right to grab my ass and talk to me the way you did, and as soon as I turned around, you did it again. I was defending myself." As soon as the words left my mouth, I gasped.

"Ga-Gabe?" I stuttered, not believing what I was seeing.

"Hey teacup," his smooth voice surrounded me and all I could see was him as I ran towards him and jumped on him.

"I've missed you so much, Gabs," I had tears in my eyes as I snuggled into his shoulder. He still had his Army greens on and might I say, he looked damn fine.

"I've missed you too, teacup."

"Gabs, what are you doing here?" I was still wrapped in his arms, but right when he was about to open his mouth, another voice spoke up. 

"Gabe, let the poor girl go. We all know she loves me more and would much rather hug me." I looked over his shoulder and saw Kyle, Ryan's best friend and Gabe's older brother.

"KY!" I squealed, jumping off of Gabe and running into his arms. I almost knocked him over with the ferocity of my hug. He chuckled and spun me around before setting me on my feet again. "Come on! Let's go back home so you guys can see the rest of the family!"

"Teagan Rae? Why are you home so early? I'm pretty sure your school day isn't over yet?" My mom called from the kitchen, and I could hear the water running, signaling she was doing dishes.

"Mama! Ryan! You may want to come down here!"

"OH MY HEAVANS!" My mom exclaimed, running up to both boys and practically strangling them.

"Mom, you're killing them. Let me hug my best friend," Ryan pulled her off them and pretty much attacked Kyle. They were deployed to different areas, and hadn't seen each other much, so I know this was a wonderful reunion, even if it was under horrible circumstances.

"Boys," my mother scolded the two, "why didn't you inform us you were coming?"

"Sorry Ma," Kyle said apologetically, and both him and Gabe looked down shamefully. "We wanted to surprise you guys. We know this time must be extremely hard, and so we wanted to make you smile."

"Well then, we're glad you're here, despite the unfortunate events that brought you here," she smiled sadly before walking back into the kitchen.

Ryan dragged Kyle back up to his room so they could play video games, leaving me and Gabe standing awkwardly in the front hall.

"Come on Gabs, let's go play some COD in my room." I saw my mom smirking at me in the kitchen when I started pulling him with me. Gabe and Kyle are like sons to her, nonetheless, she still wants me and Gabe to start dating. She has ever since we met, and she has no problem saying it to.

"USE PROTECTION!" She called after us from her place at the sink. I just blushed and pulled a chuckling Gabe even quicker to my room.

"Sooo...protection, eh?" Gabe nudged me as I set up the x-box so we could play COD. I could feel my cheeks heat up even more. This was so embarrassing. I have no idea why my mom felt the need to keep pushing the romance thing, but apparently she did.

"Shut it." I pushed him away and sat on my bed, patting the spot next to me and pressing start on the remote.