Bus Stops and Coffee

Chapter 23

When I woke up my fever was almost down all the way. I rubbed the sleep out my eyes and looked at the beanbag where Lucas was previously occupying.
'Had he left?' no, his bag is still in the room. I got up and made my way downstairs.

"Lucas?"

"I'm right here baby." I turned my attention to the living room where he was standing.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking at this picture." I came closer and took it off the mantle.

"That's daddy."

"What happened to him?"

"He left us. Our family couldn't be the way he wanted. We couldn't be perfect." I put the picture back.

"But he told me that I was the closest one. And gave me this bracelet." I reached into a box that was next to the picture and pulled out a silver bracelet with an amethyst stone in the middle. It's my birthstone. Lucas took it gently from my hands and examined it.

"It's beautiful. Why don't you wear it?"

"Cause it'll only remind me of him all the time. This picture is enough for me to at least remember who he is." I explained. He put it back in the box and I closed it. I heard keys jingling in the door and when it opened Darrel was standing there with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Hey." he said to Lucas cautiously; looking back at me with a questioning glance. He was still aggravated about Lucas making me cry. He wanted permission to flip out on him. I smiled and shook my head. Lucas looked at me, and when he looked back to Darrel his cautious expression had been replaced with his signature smirk.

"What brings you to our humble home, besides to see my sister?" he said putting an arm around Lucas' shoulders.

"You of course." Lucas said with a laugh ruffling Darrel's hair. I laughed at the two.

"Staying long enough for dinner?" Darrel asked.

"We'll see." he said; looking at me to see my reaction. I smiled to let him know it was okay if he had to leave. I decided not to tell Darrel that I had passed out in school. I had worried him enough before when i fell in the lake. The fact that i passed put was my fault because i procrastinated and pushed myself too hard. I had some homework to do so I decided to do that. I had an essay to write that was due soon.

I puffed out my cheeks in annoyance. I hate essays. There was only one solution to this. I went back to my room while the boys were talking. Rummaging through my stack of cd's I found my vocaloid one and put it into my radio. I let it load as I set up my laptop and spread out my worksheets messily on the desk. The cd started with my favorite song so I turned it up, and started typing.
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Darrel's POV

"She's gonna go deaf like that." I could hear Riley's music blasting from her room.

"Does she blast it like that all the time?" Lucas asked me.

"Only when she has to type an essay. She says it helps her to not get bored and give up while typing it."

"Oh, okay." he said.

"So come on and tell me."

"Huh?" I said rather unintelligently.

"I know you're mad at me for making Riley feel the way she did. So you can go ahead and lash out."

"As long as you know that I was mad because what you did was wrong, I'm alright." I was telling the truth. As long as Riley was happy, so was I.
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Lucas' POV

It's been about a week and half, christmas being only days away. I would spend the morning with the family and then it'd be Riley time. I have been stressing over what to get her. But thinking of her crazy awesome personality had me stuck.