Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Twenty-Six

I was woken up by the sunlight shining through the window. I rolled over onto my back, squeezing my eyes shut as my hands rubbed against them. A groan of frustration leaves my mouth, due to the fact that I'm extremely tired but can't sleep now that the sun is shining

    I remove my hands from my face when I heard the bedroom door open. "Hey," Liam said as he enters the room.

    "Hi," I say back. "You're up early," I tell him.

    "Um, yeah." Liam begins to say. "The hardwood floor isn't that comfortable, like the floor in your room." He adds as he sets our bags down.

    "I could have slept on the floor, this is your room, Liam. So you deserve to sleep on your bed."

    Liam grabs my bag, walks over towards me and sets it down beside me. He leans down so his face was close to mine. "If I remember correctly, you didn't have much of a say on where you sleep. Since you fell asleep in my arms, Sweetheart." He whispers huskily to me.

    A heatwave suddenly hits me, making me feel hot causing my face to heat up. Liam smirks at me and pushes himself off the bed to stand up straight, he doesn't say another word while he walks back over to his things

I reached my hand out to grab my phone off the nightstand. Ignoring this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, I attempt to unlock my phone to see if anyone has texted me. Disappointment ran through me when it won't turn on.

Tossing my phone onto my lap, I pulled my bag closer to me and dug around inside until I found my charger. Once I got ahold of it, I lean over off the bed to try and find the outlet by the nightstand.

    "Conor downstairs in the kitchen," Liam tells me, breaking the silence in the room. "He saw me carrying our bags, I didn't tell him you were here as well. I figured you wanted to surprise him."

    "Oh, okay," I say quietly before biting the inside of my lip. My nerves began to play as I start getting anxious about seeing Conor.

    I set my phone back down on the nightstand and place my attention back to my bag. I start fiddling with my clothes inside while my mind clicks play for the thought carousel to go around in circles.

    Does Conor want me here? Will he be thrilled to see me or displease? He did beg me to reschedule my stay with my mother, to come here. When I declined what Conor suggested for me to do, that could have made him change his mind about me coming on this trip. Conor could have just asked me to join the trip, only to be nice. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have let Liam talk me into coming. I should have just stayed with my mother.

    "I'm going to head back down and let you get dressed." Liam breaks me from my thoughts. "I'll see you down there." He adds before exiting the room, leaving me alone in silence.

    I let out a deep breath, shaking my head to stop the running carousel. I pulled out a black pair of leggings and a pastel pink sweater before getting off the bed to change.

    I don't want to change and go down those stairs to see Conor but I know that I can't hide in this room forever.

******

    My hands are shaking as I stand at the top of the staircase. My eyes are closed as I strive to steady my breath to calm myself.

    I can hear everyone talking along with clicking and clacking, while I'm quietly counting to myself with my left hand is gripping onto the railing.

    Finally opening up my eyes, pushing the chaotic thoughts to the back of mind before taking my first step down. I softly take one step at a time, making sure that I don't create a creaking sound to cause attention to myself.

    Biting my lip, watching my feet that's covered up in my white socks with pink butterflies all over them. When I watch them hit the wooden floor, I release the huge breath I was holding in.

    Now I have to force my feet to follow the noises, that could possibly lead to Conor. Just like that my nerves slowly start to play again. 'Breathe Chloe,' I think to myself as I breathe in and out.

    "You can do this, you can do this," I whisper. I let go of the railing and slowly begin walking towards the racket.

    My eyes wander the tan walls that are covered in paintings and family pictures. The entrance-way a big open space, it was connected to what looked like a family room. There were couch and chairs in front of the fireplace, they set on a large grey and white rug.

    I turn towards the left to walk through the entrance but stop when I see everyone gather inside a beautiful kitchen. It wasn't too fancy, it had a homey vibe to it. I stayed put and let my eyes roam around at every detail. Dark maple wood cabinets along with the counters, that look like they have chocolate marble tops.

    The walls were a light gray, light maple wood floor. In the center of the kitchen was an island that matches the counters. At that island sat Conor, who's sitting next to his sister. Their back facing me.

    I took a deep breath and walked up to him. When I enter the room everyone was looking at me in silence. I bit my lip, thinking about every reaction Conor act. This could end badly or it could turn out great.

    "Conor," I say softly as my finger taps his shoulder.

     He turns his head extremely fast, eyes wide. "C-Chloe."