Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Nineteen

I ended up finding Liam standing outside on our back porch, which was easy for him to find since the door to our back yard was literally at the end of the hallway. Liam was leaning against the porch railing smoking like I knew he would.

    Now we're sitting around the dining table enjoying breakfast my mother had made. "So why did you decide to come down yesterday night?" My mother asked me.

    I took a sip of my orange juice before answering her. "Well," I began to fiddle with the eggs that I have left to eat. I can feel my nerves slowly start to play. "Mom, I was hoping we could see dad's grave today instead of tomorrow."

"Why do you want to go see him today and not tomorrow?" I look up at her, it's obvious she's holding back her pain because Liam's with us but you can see it when you look into her eyes.

"It's just that one of my friends invited me on their family trip, their leaving out tomorrow." I felt so extremely guilty when the words left my mouth. Honestly, I don't like the idea of leaving her alone tomorrow.

"So you're only here for today?" She asks with a hint of sadness in her voice.  

"Mom, I-"

"No, we're not here just for today." Liam cuts me off. "I suggested for Chlo, only if it's okay with you. If we can visit her father today and do something nice before we leave on the trip tomorrow night." He continued. My mouth was gaped open in shocked and confusion on what he just said to her. Why did he do that?

The way he's looking at her, I never saw Liam look this way since I broke down at Conor's family dinner.

I turn my attention towards my mother, who hasn't said a word for a while. I watch her drink a little bit of her coffee. "Let's finish eating, afterward we can go see your dad." She tells me after she sets her mug down. Liam and I nod our heads before we continued our breakfast.

***************

When we finished eating, Liam excused himself to get dressed while I help my mother clean up.  She rinses and places the dishes into the dishwasher. While I scraped off the plates and hand them to her.

"Chlo," I hear Liam say at the entranceway causing me to look over at him. "Go get dress, I'll take over and help your mom." He tells me softly as he walks towards me.

"Liam, you don't-"

"Chloe, let him take over. You need to change before we leave." My mother cuts me off. I nod my head letting Liam take the plate from me, before making my way to the stairs.

I walked up the stairs and went into my room. I shut the door before walking towards my closet. I rummage through the millions of dresses I have, trying to decide which of them I should wear.

Bright happy colors are obvious no, including my white ones and pastels. I don't want to wear black, I feel that would be weird. I stopped moving my clothes around once my eyes land on a navy blue skater dress, that Maria got me as a birthday present months ago.

I pulled it out of my closet, laid it on my bed before stripping my night clothes off then slipped the dress on. I looked in the mirror just to see the way it hugs my curves, I couldn't help but smiled a little at how beautiful it looks on me.

I make my way back to my closet and grabbed my black flats to slip on before walking into my bathroom to brush my hair out. After taming my hair and deciding to keep it natural, I pick up my small glass jewelry box I had sitting on my counter.

    I open it up and gently pick up the necklace my father gave me on my tenth birthday. The last birthday I got to spend with him. I set the glass box back on the counter before holding the charm hanging on the chain. It's a silver heart that holds his, my mother's and my birthstone. I hardly ever wear it because I don't want to risk something ever happening to it.

    I clip the necklace around my neck, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. The memory flashing through my mind. I close my eyes trying to not let the tears escape. I take one more deep breath before exiting my bathroom and grab my jacket as I leave my room.

    When I get to the top of the stairs, I see my mother and Liam standing by the door waiting for me. My mother wearing the red lace dress, my father loved her in. She had her hair lightly curled. Liam was wearing black jeans, a band tee of a band I never heard of. "You ready?" My mother asks, breaking through my thoughts.

    "Um, Yeah." I weakly smile at her. She nods her head and makes her way out the front door.

    Liam holds the door open for me and has his hand out for me to take. I place my hand on his, which causes him to lace our fingers together. "You're beautiful," He tells me as he shuts the door when we exit the house.

    "Thank you," I say in almost a whisper. I lead him to my mother's car, right when we reach the front passenger side Liam let's go of my hand and opens the door for me. I smile at his action while getting in.

    When Liam gets in the back seat, my mother puts the car in reverse and starts backing out of the driveway. We're officially on our way to see dad.