Stumbling Through

Tongue Tied

The final chapter of Stumbling Through! This hopefully answers more questions than it brings up xD

QUICK NOTE: a lot of people were confused last chapter when Willow admitted that her and Derek had done the deed together, so I thought I should clear up that that happened in the chapter 'A Shared Warmth' I probably should have made it a bit clearer so to clarify and recap:

Derek - 'I should leave'

Willow - 'Please stay'

*Cue the mattress mambo*

Sorry for anyone who got confused by that - but anyway PLEASE ENJOY:: (the final chapter)

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

 

Willow’s P.O.V:

My hands were shaking nervously as I stared openly at the boy in front of me.

My brother.

We were sat alone in the apartment’s sitting room, stuck solidly in an awkward silence, neither of us sure what to say to the other.

He knew.

I could barely string my thoughts together coherently. Knowing I wasn’t helping the situation by staring I tore my eyes away from my brother, staring instead at the arm of the sofa he was sitting on.

Eventually Evan cleared his throat awkwardly. “So…” He started, using the fingers on his right hand to pick at the frayed edge of the tear on the knee of his jeans. “This is weird, right?” He asked in a joking tone, trying to break the ice.

“Tell me about it.” I muttered my agreement with a dry throat. He chuckled throatily, and I allowed my eyes to flicker up to him once again, feeling some of the tense atmosphere leave. “So…um…how did you find out…about me?” I asked him the question that burned on my mind.

He grimaced, looking uncomfortable. “Mum and Dad.” He answered. “After the other day at the field, they kept acting really weird. At first they wouldn’t answer any of my questions…so I said that I’d ask Uncle Charles what was going on. I wasn’t expecting much of a reaction, but they opened up after that.” He took a glance around the room. “I guess I know why now.”

“Oh.” I said weakly.

Evan let out a deep sigh, running a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe they hid the fact I had a sister from me.” He said in airy disbelief as he stared off into the distance.

His eyes turned back to me. “I’m so sorry, Willow.” He blurted out the sudden apology catching me by surprise.

What had he got to be sorry for?

“Why are you sorry?” I asked, tipping my head to the side, not understanding it at all.

“For what they did.” He clenched his hand tightly. “I’ve been living this white-picket fence life this whole time. When they told me everything that happened I thought you might actually hate me.” He admitted.

My eyes widened. “I don’t hate you!” I said in a rush, alarmed that a thought like that had even crossed his mind.

He shot me a grin, and I felt the tight pressure in my chest decrease some.

“That’s good.” He said with relief. “To be honest, I’ve always kind of wanted a brother or sister. Though I did always imagine that they’d be younger than me if I did ever get one….”