Me and my Brothers

Chapter 12~Weekend Struggles

The last two days have been amazing, my brothers have been extra sweet to me. It made me realize how much I missed them. The weekend consisted of every single Harry Potter movie, popcorn, and cuddles. 

My brothers don't seem mad at me, they seem to have almost forgotten the incident entirely. However, I know them well enough to know they would never forget something like this. I just hope they are not mad at me. I hate when anyone, especially my brothers, is mad at me. Their behavior isn't completely normal though, they seem more overprotective than usual. I don't even know how they manage to be MORE overprotective than they always are. 

It's late Sunday evening, meaning the weekend is basically over. By the time I shower and brush my teeth Drew will be up to tell me goodnight. After my teeth are brushed, and my pajamas are on, Andrew opens my door. He walks in and sits beside me on my bed and pulls my shirt up, reliving the now only purple bruise. I don't fight them anymore when they go to pull up my shirt, I trust them. 

He rubs his hand across the yellowing spot, being careful not to push too hard. I can see the tears in his eyes as he pulls my shirt down. I hate that he blames himself for this, I should know how to protect myself without them. Almost in tears myself, I lay my head on his shoulder. I hope it will bring him some comfort. We sit there for a minute in comfortable silence until Andrew breaks it with a question.

 "Want to tell me who did that now?" He says, kissing the top of my head, laving his cheek on the top of my head. 

"Not really," I say back. I try to keep my answer light, hoping he just drops it. 

Instead, he lifts his head up from my hair and forces me to make eye contact with him. "Denver, please, I can't help you if I don't know who did it," he says with his voice breaking. 

Wonderful, I guess I'll be crying myself to sleep tonight. 

There's something about Andrew looking so lost that breaks my heart, he always knows what to do. I start to cry. I've caused him so much pain. Now I'm just hurting him more by keeping him on the outside, but wouldn't he rather me be hurt than dead? My tears don't go unnoticed. Before I know it, I'm in Andrew's lap. I'm facing him with my legs on either side of him, so I lay my head on his chest as he rubs my back. He whispers sweet nothings in my ear, trying to console my crying. I wish things were different, I wish I was different. I wish I didn't cause them so much pain.

 "I'm so sorry, baby," Andrew says, holding my head and playing with my hair, still rubbing my back with his other hand. 

"It's not your fault Drew" I whisper my throat sore from crying.

 "Yes, it is. I'm supposed to keep you safe, and I've failed," Andrew says in a more stern voice. 

"Drew, you can't blame yourself for things that are out of your control," I say to him, trying to make him not blame himself. That's what I have wanted to prevent from the start.

 "You're never going to be out of my reach, you are my kid there's nothing I wouldn't do for you," He says still keeping my head on his chest.

 There's something about him calling me his kid that makes my heart warm and immediately brings a smile to my face. When he notices my smile, he smiles as well. He finally lets my head free, but only so he can shift our bodies, so I'm laying down. He stands up, pulling my covers up on me.

 "Goodnight, baby," Andrew says, kissing me on the forehead and walking out of the door. On his way out, he turns the lights off, leaving me in my dark bedroom. With all my crying and thinking, I can feel my eyelids start to get heavy.              

Andrews P.O.V 

After Denver and I's talk, I barge into Jack's room so I can finally get some answers. I'm tired of waiting, I figure this out now. I couldn't ask him all weekend about what he knows or how he knows it. I guess I could have at some point, but we wouldn't let Denver out of our sight. Now he's asleep, and I'm getting answers. The door makes a loud noise as I open it, and I hope I didn't wake Denver up. Jack looks up and takes his headphones off.