trying to save us

vii. worth the wait

Days had passed since Sean told Kaycee about their first encounter. They spent the rest of that night, well morning, listening to Sean relive their most cherished memories with Kaycee putting in all the effort to remember them this time around.

From that day on, the pair had grown increasingly closer; Sean couldn't help but feel like this actually was his second chance at happiness, their second chance at happiness.

They'd grown so close that Sean was, in fact, on his way back to the Rice household for another one of their reminiscing sessions.

It had become their thing. To meet up at the Rice house everyday and after Sean's finished whatever errands he had that day, and simply talk. Talk about them and life and everything they've gone through together until sunlight shined through the girl's blinds and loud chatter was replaced but soft snores.

This became Sean's new favorite thing.

Being apart from the girl after two years only to reconnect still felt like a dream to him. Staying up late doing nothing but talking and enjoying each other's company had been a habit of theirs all throughout their relationship. Whether it had been via facetime or in person, not a day went by without their nightly catch up sessions.

It felt amazing to fall asleep with the girl unconsciously curled up into his arm, feeling her soft locks brushing against his cheek as her low breathing filled his ears. It felt like things had never changed, as if he never lost her.

Shutting off his car, Sean was quick to tug his keys out of the ignition and reached over for the bag of takeout he'd picked up for them.

He eagerly ran up the stairs leading to the main entrance before knocking on the door. Within a few minutes, he could spot Brad heading for the door through the glass, his expression not being as bright as it usually was.

"Hey Brad," he greeted once the door was completely open. He was ready to enter into the house when he felt a strong yet gentle hand push him back onto the porch.

"Sean, I don't know how to say this, but now is actually not a really good time for you to be hear. I'm sorry but you have to go home."

"Oh, well Kaycee actually texted me a few hours ago to make sure I was still stopping by tonight. I'm sure you've noticed that we've started to build quite the routine and—"

"I know Sean and I wish I could let you in here, but now is really not a good time. Kaycee actually isn't even here right now and you should really just go home."

"What do you mean Kaycee isn't home? She's the one who asked me to come at this time why wouldn't she be home?"

Brad opened his mouth to respond, but just as he was going to speak the slam of a car door interrupted him.

Both of their heads snapped toward the direction of the sound, Sean spotting Kylie's car in the drive way as said girl was struggling to pull her younger sister out of the passenger seat.

He immediately rushed to help her before Brad could even let out his shouts of protest.

"What's wrong? Kaycee why won't you come out of the car? Come on we can head back inside and talk all night like we always do and the—"

"Kylie get him away from me please. I can't breathe, Dad please come get me, please!" the overwhelmed girl pleaded wanting to get as far from her ex as possible.

Sean watched in confusion as the scene unfolded before him, his heart breaking each time Kaycee stared at him with her eyes full of fear.

Why didn't she want to be with me? What did I do?

"Sean, I mean it, just please go home. We can't have you here right now," he heard Brad breathe out shakily as he felt strong arms usher him to his car.

The chirp of his car being unlocked brought him back into consciousness as he looked back at Kaycee. She was currently wrapped up in Laura's arms, her mother appearing only a few seconds after she heard the chaos outside.

He watched on as the girl cried into her mother's chest, her face ridden with fear whenever she looked toward Sean's direction.

"Please, son. I need you to go home," were the last words the man heard before obliging to Brad's pleas and heading back in the direction he came from.

Hours had passed since the whole scene went down. Sean still confused out of his mind as to why the Rice family was acting so strange toward him. More specifically, why Kaycee had suddenly seemed afraid of him.

The hours-old memory of the girl begging for her sister to get him away from her was still replaying through his mind. An ache in his chest replaced the void that only Kaycee Rice could fill.

What did he do wrong? What could have possibly occurred in the few hours since they last spoke to cause Kaycee to have a complete change of heart?

He couldn't recognize the Kaycee he had seen hours ago. Something in her changed, her eyes full of fear, fear directed toward him, was something he had never witnessed in the decade that he knew her.

She constantly told him how much he made her feel safe, thus making him feel as though it was his duty to protect her. So he did.

He made sure she was never in danger, always keep her tucked under one of his arms as they strolled through crowded places and always came over to her place whenever she was home alone.

She was his greatest gift, he couldn't lose her.

But he did, and it was almost for good.

He might've lost her again, and he had now idea why.

He wanted so badly to call her, to ask what went wrong and what he could do to fix it. But based off the way she reacted when she saw him, she knew that last thing she'd want to do was talk to him.

All he wished was that he didn't get his hopes up so quickly. He had such high hopes for rekindling their friendship and later their romance, but that was all shut down in a matter of days

But even if it was going to take years, he was not going to give up on Kaycee Rice. She was his endgame, he knew there would be no other like her.

So if it was going to take days, weeks, months, or years, he'd wait for her. Even if he had to wait a life time, he knew she was worth fighting for.

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hi i'm so bad at updating this book i'm sorry :( I'll try my best to keep this one updated. i promise i'll finish it eventually, but the updates will be slow since school is in session. thank you to everyone who is still even reading this book, love you all and hope you guys enjoyed this <3