Chasing Blue

#6: Family.

All things truly wicked start from innocence.
-Ernest Hemingway

. . .

Present

Isabella

For almost an hour now, Austin has kept my parents hijacked in the guest room. I wonder all the things he could be feeding them—half-truths and half-lies. Of all the possibly spoken matters, the thought of him catching their breaths with every trauma he unfolds and returning it back to them plays in an animatic sequence in my head. 

"What is taking him so long?" Grace growled, pacing back and forth in front of me.

"Do we look like we have any clue?" Cody asked raising his eyebrows.

Jason had come up on the couch and I was sleeping on his lap with my legs stretched out. May-the-erudite was immersed in the spine of The Great Gatsby. Mia was just on her stomach sleeping on the carpet seeing pictures from Grace's laptop.

"Should we just call them out?" Grace asked looking at me. I just shook my head.

"Liam's missing out on all the fun," Jason grumbled.

I slowly sat up from his lap and glared at him. I'm pretty sure May, Mia, and Grace were mirroring my expression at the uncanniness of his words. 

"You think this is fun?" Grace took a step closer to him and I completely turned, staring daggers and swords at him. 

If at any point he seems to think of this whole situation as fun, he would lose me as a friend this very instant. I cross my arms as I try to discern the meaning of what he meant. 

"God, no. I called it fun because I love being here. This was excuse enough for me to spend the night here rather than going to my house where all that is being spoken about is how my parents want to settle their divorce." He shook his head. 

It took me a moment to realize how horrible his time in his house might be. He was extremely close to both his parents. Having to see them fight every night for the last one year and now fight for the settlement of the divorce is just sad. I ruffle his hair at the same time Grace backs up. I get what he means by saying he likes coming over here, even though the excuse is not friendly. 

"You really do understand the importance of family, don't you?" Mia asked him after closing the laptop she spent an hour ogling at. "I am the child of a single parent too. We lost our mom when I was five." 

"Is that why you shuffle between Frankfurt and New York?" I was immediate with my question. 

Mia rolled onto her back as she watched my ceiling. She had chestnut brown hair that traveled all the way through her back and ended just below her waist. Her hair was something that always caught my eyes. They were naturally so thick and beautiful. She did a lot of hair care. Grace has known Mia since her time in high school. 

They were all in the same batch in Frankfurt High. Three years senior to us. Grace, Mia, Austin's elder brother Aiden, May's boyfriend Ethan, and a huge chunk of their group. I wonder if they all still keep in touch after they separated for college because not once in the last three years have I heard Grace mention anyone apart from Mia. 

I've known Mia Sanders all my life. And she's known me all her life too. The only difference being we know each other through Grace. I've never once had a heart-to-heart conversation with Mia. But anything in my life/Grace's life goes wrong, she's always in the picture afterward. I know Grace only kept in touch with her because they were together in New York as well.