Lucky People 💚 Awsten Knight

Chapter Seventeen: Are you feeling okay, Awsten?

I felt like I was in a dark hole. I couldn't crawl out. The world was giving in on me. All the weight that I held on my shoulders got too heavy and I gave in under the pressure.

I watched as Liam tied my tie. Her fingers were fast but accurate. She finished tying it and straightened my suit jacket. Her eyes met with mine, they were so soft and caring and kind, I didn't know what to make of her anymore. I used to see here as someone untouchable, someone that I could never get with no matter how hard I tried. I could have never guessed that the two of us would end up here.

It was Thursday, the day before we graduated, the day before we're flying across the country on our vacation and the day of my father's funeral. As soon as my aunt Marie heard about dad's passing, she flew down here and planned the whole funeral. I was helpless. I felt like I couldn't do anything. When Aunt Marie asked me to write a speech, I refused. I couldn't.

"Awsten, honey." Liam's silky smooth voice awoke me from my daze. I looked into her eyes, she looked into mine, the same way my mother did all those years ago.

"It's gonna be okay. I'll be with you every step of the way." She smiled, then pressed her lips against mine. It had been a while since we've kissed, so I grabbed her cheeks and kissed her back. She smiled into the kiss, like she usually would, and I smiled as well.

I could feel my stomach whirling into knots. It felt like a wave just broke on the shore, a wave that's been rolling throughout the ocean for the longest time ever.

It felt like the endless guilt that I've been feeling for his death, just faded away a bit. The constant pain that I've been feeling just got a lot less. It felt like I could finally breathe again.

But it didn't feel like i could stop being angry about dad's death...we still haven't found the person who killed him. The cops said that Otto found him and started to CPR on him, but to no avail. Since then, they haven't updated us on what's going on.

I pulled away from the kiss and let a few tears fall down my face. I couldn't help but cry. Liam rubbed my arms and smiled at me. "Every step of the way." She said, taking hold of my hand and lacing it with hers.

We left her room hand in hand and to the driveway, where Dallon and Breezy were waiting for us in his car, a black Jeep. We got into the backseats and buckled up. Dallon gave me a smile from the review mirror and I mustered a smile back.

We soon begun the drive filled with silence and tension. The drive to the beach. Dad always loved sand castles, so he said that when he died he wanted his ashes to built into a sand castle, then let it be washed away by the waves.

And he wanted me to build that castle.

I had been mentally preparing myself for this since I got the call last week Saturday. Once I saw the waves coming into view and I smelt the salty water from Breezy's open window, my hands begun shaking.

My chest tightened, I kept on playing with my tie. "Awsten, honey? Are you okay?" Liam whispered to me, just low enough so only we could hear. I looked at her and shook my head, feeling tears well in my eyes.

One fell down my cheek and just as fast as it fell, Liam wiped it away. She leaned in and kissed my cheek, gave me a reassuring smile then said, "Dallon and I know how you feel right now, ghostbuster."

"Yeah. It's really really hard loosing a parent, especially if you were close to them. My dad and I, we were like two peas in a pod. The day he passed, it felt like my whole world collapsed. It felt like-"

"You were stuck in a black hole and you couldn't get out?" I finished his sentence and he nodded with a sigh. "Yeah. But then I met Breezy." He looked over at her in the passenger seat and they smiled at each other.