Silent Lies - Chapter 39: Chapter 39

I jump awake to Adrian's alarm, nudging him to turn the annoying ass thing off and he jumps awake next, struggling with the phone. Adrian had spent the night last night, mom only making us just keep the door open.
"Sorry, baby," he says quietly, his voice deep with sleep. Oh lord. "Fuck, I don't wanna go to school," he groans and I laugh, laying right back on top of him again.
"What time is it?" I ask him, appreciating his warmth as he wraps his arms around me.
"Half past six." He groans again. "I've got to go home first too, for clothes." Another groan. "Damnit. People are gonna need to find their own rides today, apart from Noah."
Just as Noah's name is said, he walks past my room and I now see the light coming from the bathroom and his room, others too. "You know we've got to be getting to school soon, right?"
"Yeah, shut up," Adrian grumbles. He pulls his phone out, texting our friends to get other rides to school or they'll all be late.
"At least today is your guy's last day?" I say, trying to cheer him up as Thanksgiving break begins tomorrow.
"True, I guess." He sits up in bed, searching for his shoes that are across the room. He finds his hoodie too, tugging it on. "If you want a ride, Noah, hurry up."
"I'm already ready," he shrugs, coming to stand in my doorway as Binx struts in, jumping up in my bed. "I'm still fucking confused about her liking you."
"What's not to like about Liv?" Adrian walks over to me with a grin, leaning down to kiss my lips.
"Disgusting," Noah and Cassie say at the same time, Cassie now at my doorway.
"That was kind of cringy," I whisper to Adrian but he just keeps grinning-cringy but I love it.
"Go finish getting ready for school." Noah pushes Cassie back to her room and they begin bickering.
"That's what it's like having siblings, huh?" I smile at Adrian, nodding, remembering the bickering me and Hadley had done plenty of times growing up.
"Olive, do you want anything certain for breakfast?" Mom smiles at me, walking into my room and turning the light on. I groan, using Adrian to block the light out as I pull him down to me and he laughs. "I'll take that as a no?"
"No," I shock her when I confirm it for her, as she's just heard me talk for the first time in forever. I don't know where that came from. Please don't make a big deal out of it.
"O-Okay, well, you've got a doctor's appointment at eleven so we'll get lunch after that." I nod at her, annoyed as I now remember the appointment to check on everything.
"You tell me how that goes." I nod at Adrian, happy when everyone else leaves my room, giving me and Adrian privacy. He kisses me again, and I know he's hesitating to leave but he needs to, so I push him away before we can go on anymore. "Fine, I've got to get to school." He groans once again.
"Okay." I drag the word out, watching as he slowly makes his way to my door. "Adrian-" I laugh when he rushes back to me, kissing me again. "You've got to go."
"You guys are disgusting," Noah says as he walks past my door to go downstairs, causing me to laugh more.
"Go," I tell Adrian sternly but it doesn't last long, breaking into a smile when he plants one last kiss to my head.
"Fine, I'll text you in a little bit." I nod with a grin, waving him away so he's not late to school. Now I don't know what to do.
I end up falling asleep for a little bit longer thankfully with no nightmares, waking back up at a little past nine. I didn't have too bad of nightmares last night with Adrian here. I get out of bed, use the bathroom, avoid the mirror, and go downstairs to find mom in the kitchen, sorting through paperwork. She smiles when she sees me.
"Hi, Olive." I force a smile, still trying to just get over everything I've found out even though I know we'll need to talk soon. "Do you want anything to eat now?"
I shake my head, sitting across from her at the table, frowning at how empty and quiet the house is now. I need distractions. I don't want to bother mom as I know she's going through stuff for work, I also just don't really want to bother her at all, knowing I'll probably bring up everything with her leaving.
"What's wrong?" Mom asks me with a frown, watching as I fidget with random things on the table. "You can talk to me about anything, Olivia."
"You and Mason have been together for five years?" I can't stop the words from coming out of my mouth.
"You're talking again." She smiles, a sad but happy at the same time smile.
"Don't change the subject, mom." It's nice to be able to say things like this without the fear of getting beat for it-not that I'd been talking anyways for the last years with dad.
"Olivia..." She sighs, and I know she doesn't want to talk about it but we have too sooner or later.
"And you never told them about me and Hadley? Dad? Not until recently?" Her eyes well up with tears.
"I'm sorry." She blinks away her tears.
"Sorry doesn't mean anything, mom." There's too much I want to say. "Why didn't you just take us with you? If you and dad were getting that bad together?"
"I made a huge mistake leaving you guys like that, with him."
"You did," I say without hesitation, she grimaces but doesn't say anything about it.
"I know sorry doesn't mean anything now... but I truly am sorry, Olivia." Her voice cracks. "Me being here now doesn't mean anything, because I should've been here all those years." I let her go on. "I didn't tell Mason or Noah or Cassie, anyone new I had met, about you guys because... I was ashamed. I knew people would judge and I can't blame them, not at all. I judge myself everyday for it. I couldn't handle that though. Mason wasn't happy with me when I told him about you and Hadley some months ago, but we're working through it." I'm glad to know Mason also judges her for leaving her kids.
"I'm happy you're back, and it's not like you're a bad mom, it just hurts... How you could leave for years and not even mention us to this new family you've got." I'm shocked I'm not crying, yet at least.
"I'm so sorry." She comes over to me, pulling me into a hug and I let her, knowing we both need it. "I'm going to make up for every single thing I've missed and done wrong now, though. I promise I'll never hurt you again, never ever."
"Thank you for coming back," I whisper and she takes a shaky breath, kissing my head.
"Don't thank me for that, Olive." Because that's just the bare minimum, she means, but I still mean it either way.
"I've gotta start getting ready," I say when I see that it's nearing ten, even though there's still so much for us to discuss. I feel a lot better now though, having confronting her and all that.
"Okay." She sniffles when she pulls away and I frown. She wipes her tears before facing me, a huge smile plastered on her face. "You're talking..."
"Yeah," I smile.
"I'm proud of you." The same statement I've been told so many times now but it does mean so much to me. "So proud."
I take a quick shower, the hot water helping my aching body relax more. After I do the usual, brush my hair and teeth, wash my face, all that. I stand in front of my bare closet wrapped in a towel, not really having much else to wear. I throw one of Adrian's hoodies on my bed, settling on leggings too.
"We can go shopping after your doctor's appointment." I jump at mom's voice when she's looking away when she sees just me in the towel, focusing on making my bed when I grab the clothes and head to the bathroom. "If you're up for that, of course."
"Shopping for what?" I ask from the bathroom, quickly pulling on undergarments then the clothes.
"Clothes, shoes, stuff for your room, whatever you want." I smile, liking that idea even if my body might now.
"Sounds fun." Mom smiles when I walk out of the bathroom, tossing my dirty clothes into the laundry basket. "Can you braid my hair?"
"Of course I can," she says the second I finish asking it, seeming excited to do so. I grab my hairbrush and a couple hair ties, sitting on the floor in front of her spot on the bed, just like we did when I was little.
This is really nice.
I text Adrian in the car after my doctor's appointment, telling him everything. Nothing's wrong, everything is healing how it should be, and I can get my cast off next week. I can't fucking wait to get it off.
"What sounds good for lunch, Olive?" Mom asks as she pulls onto the highway, and my stomach growls, really wanting food now.
"Can we get Subway?" A sub sandwich sounds really fucking good right now.
"Of course we can." It goes quiet then, mine and Adrian's texts slowing down as he's in class, and I know mom wants to say something else. I give her the time she needs. "Your sister... I want to go to her g-grave. Tomorrow, maybe. Do you want to come?"
"Yeah." It's been too long since I last snuck out to go, so I really do want to, even if it makes me sad. Dad was at least decent enough to bury Hadley, not leave it all for me to handle when I was just a kid, not let her body be taken by the state to deal with.
It stays quiet for the rest of the drive to Subway, but even when we get our sandwiches, and find a table to eat at, it's still quiet. I open the can of Pepsi I had gotten, breaking our silence.
"Is anything happening for Thanksgiving?" She smiles, happy for a new subject to talk about.
"Mason's parents are coming up, along with his siblings and their kids. You'll love them." My anxiety rises with the fact that I'll be meeting even more people, but I'm also excited.
"Admira invited me over for their dinner." Mom smiles. "Adrian also told me I could come with him to his family's Thanksgiving."
"I'm so glad you and Divine are still friends, and that you have an amazing boyfriend." My cheeks flush, still not past the fact that I'm actually in a fucking relationship.
"I am too." We start going over Thanksgiving, making plans on what food to buy when we go to the store in a bit.
"You guys are home finally?" Noah calls from the living room when me and mom walk in, both holding more bags than we can really carry, struggling. "Jesus, did you buy the store out?" We're thankful when Noah comes over to take bags from us, Adrian and Divine appearing into the hallway from the living room too to help us.
"Well, we finished getting everything for Thanksgiving," mom starts. "Then we just brought Olivia some things she needed, stuff for her room, all that."
"Seems like you had fun today then." Adrian smiles as he wraps an arm around my waist, I nod happily.
I try to help mom with putting all the food away but she urges me away with all the bags of stuff she had brought me, not letting me thank her anymore, along with Noah, Adrian, and Divine to help.
"Can I help?" Cassie asks from the doorway with a hopeful smile, seeing me pull out some of the stuff mom had got me for my room, the three others ready to help me decorate the plain room. I nod right away, seeing how happy it makes her.
We start with my bed, putting on new sheets and pillow cases then the comforter, a plain purple and white bed set. It looks nice having more than just a thin blanket and one pillow on the bed, like the one I had been sleeping on at dad's house.
Dad.
I've been so distracted today with everything me and mom have done and now decorating my room to even worry about him still being out there.
I won't let myself start worrying now though, todays been a good day, he doesn't get to ruin it. Not anymore.
"Not to ruin the mood," Adrian says as I hang up some clothes in my closet, I look back to see Divine, Noah, and Cassie all laughing at something so I smile. "I grabbed all of you assignments and homework for your classes if you want to start catching up whenever. I can give you a lot of answers, if you want."
I grin. "I need to actually try and learn on my own now, thank you though."
"The offer is always there." He kisses me, thankful when the three others aren't paying attention.
"Where's Danny and Ashton?" I ask, confused when those three always follow each other.
"They didn't know if it was okay to keep coming over, with your mom and step dad now." I roll my eyes, taking my phone out to text the two idiots to come over. Hopefully mom is okay with it, Divine and Adrian are already here so what's the difference?
Cassie leaves us all the second Mason is home from work, Noah only going down for a second then coming right back up. I sit at the desk that mom had in my room for me, organizing all the pens and all that stuff she had got me.
"I finally talked to my mom," I tell them, meaning both in the way of the fact that I had gone back to not talking about also talking about the five years and stuff. Noah's face lights up when he hears me talking again, but doesn't make it a big deal thankfully. Everyone seems to know not to make it a big deal.
"About... her leaving and all that?" I nod at Divine, after catching her up with mom being with Mason for five years and not telling them about me or Hadley. She seems to worry. "How'd it go?"
"Good, actually. Or not at first, but we talked enough and it's not like everything she did and what I went through just disappeared but... We're on leveled grounds now." I smile, feeling content with everything with mom now, even if there's more to talk about and deal with.
"Good." Divine smiles and I know she has a lot more to say, but Adrian and Noah would hear.
"Can you guys give us a minute?" They nod, Adrian kissing my head before leaving my room with Noah. "What is it?"
"I don't know... I'm just still skeptical about your mom being back." I frown. "Mom is too..." Admira texts me many times everyday to check on me, so I knew that. "Even if she seems to be really good, Mason too, and you guys have talked, I still worry."
"You don't need to worry. They're not going to turn out like dad, at all." I know that much for sure. "I know it's hard not to after dad, trust me, but nothing bad will happen. At least not nearly as bad as dad had done to me."
"I'm just not over her leaving you and Hadley and I know if it's not bothering you, at least not as much now, it shouldn't be bothering me either but I can't help it." I get up to sit next to her on my bed. "But I'm trying, especially now I see that Lauren and Mason seem to be great."
"Thank you." I pull her into a hug. "Plus, even if something were to happen, which I doubt anything bad will happen, I've got Noah."
"True, thank god he's your step brother now and not some random like we thought. Who knows who could've been your step brother then." I laugh, still thankful about that. I pull away from her, and she pushes back my hair. "How're you feeling? In every way? Mentally and physically."
"Right now, mentally, I'm really good." Because I have a lot of distractions. "Physically still needs a lot of work, though."
She frowns. "I am always here to talk, okay?" I nod and we hear more than the regular voices downstairs now-Danny and Ashton. "Shall we go downstairs?"
"Yes, we shall." We stand together, Divine holding my good hand and dragging me downstairs, gently still.
"Hi, Liv!" Danny sees me first, rushing over to give me a hug. Ashton notices me next, coming over for a hug of his own shockingly.
I still keep wondering about what he was going to tell me in the hospital, but I don't want to pry on him.
"Hi guys," I say and everyone's faces light up, happy to hear me talking to everyone now-well, apart from Mason and Cassie. I still only just recently met them.
"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!" Danny shouts, struggling after Adrian had tackled him to the ground after Danny decided to dump snow all over him.
We'd only gotten a little bit of snow, barely covering the ground, but now we're all outside playing in it like kids, enjoying the little bit of snow we get. Or at least I was, my body needed a break.
"Your friends are silly," Cassie giggles beside me, covering her cold red cheeks with her mitten covered hands.
"Yeah, they are," Ashton says, now also sitting beside me. Cassie gets back up from her break, going to play in the snow with Divine. "How're you feeling, Liv?"
"I'm okay." Even though the question is getting old, I keep reminding myself that they all just care about me, telling myself to not get annoyed over it.
A comfortable silence comes over us as we watch our friends throw snow at each other, playing carefully with Cassie too. I debate on asking about what he was going to tell me for a few minutes, deciding to ask but not pry, not too much at least.
"Hey... When I first woke up in the hospital..." The small smile he had before slowly disappears once he realizes what I'm going to ask, so I pause. "You said you wanted to tell me something..."
"I did, and still do." He trails off though, so I can't tell if he actually does want to.
"You can tell me anything, Ashton. But if you're not ready or don't want to, you don't need to tell me. Take your time." He smiles, mumbling a few thank you's.
Divine looks over at us, her and Ashton's eyes communicating a thousand words. She smiles, looking proud of something, going back to teaming up with Adrian and Cassie to throw snowballs at Noah and Danny. Divine must already know what he was going to tell me, which would make sense as they're the closest-clearly as they're dating.
"You're like a little sister to me, Liv." I smile, knowing he feels like a brother I never had. "When we found you back at your dad's house, almost..." dead, he doesn't finish. "I was fucking terrified." I frown, remembering how lost he looked when I first woke up, all of that. "My little sister died a few years ago."
I hadn't expected that, my worrying going right up. "Ash-"
"I-we-almost lost you. You..." almost lost yourself, he also doesn't finish. "Yeah... it scared me, I felt like going through the five stages of grief again, my real little sister is dead, and you're like a little sister to me too now." He rushes the words out and I can tell he doesn't want to talk about it anymore as he seems more uncomfortable than anything.
"I-I'm so sorry, Ashton." Here I go, being terrible at comforting or whatever. "I-"
"Don't," is all he says and I go quiet. He looks down at me with a smile, confusing me. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore now."
"Okay." I respect what he wants, relating a little too much to losing a sister, literally. "Then we don't have to, not if you don't want to."
"Thank you." I shush him from thanking me anymore, as it's the bare minimum to respect someone's boundaries. "So..." He tosses some snow he'd been hiding from me at me, snow covering my head and making me shiver even more than I already was.
"Oh, so that's how it's going to be?" He stands right up after seeing me dig my freezing hands into the snow, rolling it into a ball to throw at him next.
"Yes." Now everyone joins my side in this snowball fight, going against Ashton.