"Devyn?"
Poke.
"Baby?"
Poke.
"Princess, get up." I faintly heard someone say in my groggy state.
Poke.
I felt someone poke my cheek. I opened my eyes and smiled. Kyle sat in front of me smiling at me like I was the most beautiful thing in the world.
"Good morning." He whispered to me, still smiling.
"How long have you been up?" I asked sitting up.
"Not long. Just long enough to stare at a while and gain the sudden urge to want to take you out." He said and I couldn't help but feel my heart melt at his actions.
"You don't have to do that." I told him. He got off the bed and grabbed some clothes for him.
"Do you prefer skinny jeans or boot-cut jeans?" he asked me with his back facing me.
"For you?" I asked curiously because I hope not for him.
"No, Princess, for you. I raided Sara's closet since you two are about the same size. I figured you and I can go get you some new clothes to keep over here since you'll be staying here for a while." He stated and I knew what he did was sweet but I couldn't help but remember what happened between Aunt Valery and me that day I made it home.
"DEVYN NICOLE WATERS! GET YOUR ASS IN THIS HOUSE IMMEDIATELY!" My aunt yelled and I knew I was about to get slaughtered because she hardly ever cusses.
"That doesn't sound good." Kyle muttered under his breath.
"I better go." I whispered. I opened the door to get out when Kyle grabbed my arm.
"Princess, do you want me to come in with you? I could say I'm here for Erik." He asked and I thought about it and nodded. We both got out and walked to the house. We made it inside and Kyle went to Erik's room while I faced a pretty ticked off Aunt.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I HAVE BEEN?! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" She immediately started yelling at me. She was pacing the floor, moving her hands around like she was demonstrating something.
"I'm sorry." I said looking down at my feet.
"YOU'RE SORRY?! YOU LEFT FOR WEEKS AND YOU'RE SORRY?!" She turned to me and exploded. "You don't get it do you? I almost lost my job because I was so worried about you! I can't risk my job again for you!" She said, her voice getting lower but my anger getting worse.
"Well maybe you won't have to risk it again. Tell me now. Do you want me gone? Say the words and I'll find a new place to stay so you won't have to risk your precious job over your own flesh and blood!" I yelled at her.
"Devyn, I want you out. You have until the end of summer to find somewhere else to stay. If you have nowhere by then, then I'm putting you back into foster care." She said so calm, so normal and I stormed into my room. Not even two minutes later Erik and Kyle came in. I was too busy packing to talk to either of them.
"Dev, stop!" Erik said grabbing my wrists and making me look at him. "You can't be seriously leaving again! We'll find you somewhere here just give us time." He said.
"She can stay with me." Kyle suggested and Erik gave him a death glare.
"No. She can't. That's absurd. And if this was thought out beforehand and you asked her first—," He started but I cut him off in order to save their friendship.
"I asked him." I said. Kyle and Erik both looked at me with wide eyes. I looked at Kyle and he finally got what I was doing.
"Is this true?" Erik asked, looking at Kyle and Kyle nodded, still not taking his eyes off mine. "Well you still should have asked me before you said yes." He muttered.
"Erik, it happened. It's done. Get off your high horse and open your eyes. Do I have somewhere else you can trust me to go?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Fine, but you do anything to hurt her, and God help me, I'll hurt you." He said to Kyle.
"I get it." Kyle said. "Ready to go?" He asked me to gesture to my bag, I grabbed a few more things and nodded. Erik, Kyle, and I left out the window so I wouldn't have to pass Valery.
"Princess, you okay?" Kyle asked, coming up beside me. I nodded my head. "You nod your head when you're not okay. What were you thinking about?" he asked me.
"That day I got back. The fight with Valery." I said and he went quiet.
"Skinny jeans?" He suddenly asked and I nodded my head. He threw me a pair of jeans and a tank top from American Eagle. "We're going out. I have a surprise for you." He said when I put on the clothes.
"But I don't like surprises!" I whined but grabbed Kyle's outstretched hand anyway.
"Don't whine, Princess. You'll like this surprise." He said as he led me to his truck. On the way to this mystery date that Kyle was taking me to, I started to sing to the radio. I sang along to the sound of Centuries by Fall Out Boy and Kyle just looked at me weird.
"What?" I asked him when the song ended.
"I didn't think you listened to bands like them." He stated. I opened my mouth to respond but he cut me off. "We're here." He said as he cut the truck off. I looked around and saw we were at a graveyard. Kyle came and opened my door.
"Why are we here?" I asked him and he just looked over at me with a sad face.
"I figured you'd want to meet my mom." He said. As we walked I looked at the gravestones and as I looked I saw one headstone that stuck out to me. I stopped walking and read the engravings on the headstone.
R.I.P
MARIE ANNALISE ROBERTS
1968-2003
LOVING MOTHER, SISTER, WIFE
"YOUR BIGGEST RISK WILL BE THE ONE YOU DON'T TAKE."
"Princess, what's wro-," He started but when he saw the headstone he immediately understood. "I had no idea she was buried here." He whispered.
"Why wouldn't she be? This is where she grew up. She left here and went to NYU and met my father. From there, when his apparent company fell and when she got pregnant, she and John fled to Arizona." I explained and then I realized something. "Kyle, Jenny and Kasen are buried here too." I whispered.
"We can go if you want." He said and I nodded my head.
"I want to see where they're buried since I missed their funerals." I said which was true. I was in Arizona when they had their double funerals.
"Okay, Princess. Let's go." He said as he led me to where they were. I felt my eyes fill with tears when I saw that they were buried beside each other. I read both their headstones.
KASEN JAMES HORTON
1997-2014
LOVED BY MANY. MISSED BY ALL
"I HAVE FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT, I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE, I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH."
2 TIMOTHY 4:7
JENNY JESSAMINE CROSS
1998-2014
TOO YOUNG, TOO MUCH PAIN, MISSED BY ALL
"SUICIDE DOESN'T KILL PEOPLE. SADNESS KILLS PEOPLE."
"I could have saved both of them, Kyle." I said sobbing. Kyle tried to wrap his arms around me but I knew I couldn't be comforted for this. I needed to let this out and I needed to do it alone. "Just leave me alone for 10 minutes. Please." I whispered so my voice wouldn't crack as bad. I heard him walk away and I sat on the ground between the gravestones.
"I could have saved you both. I could have stopped you Kasen. I could have done so much. I missed both of your funerals. I missed saying goodbye to you." I said, sobbing and my voice wavering. "Kasen." I whispered looking over at his gravestone. "I promised I wouldn't forget you. That's a promise I don't plan on breaking. Thank you for making Kyle see how he felt. I wish it didn't take you dying for him to see that, but it did. I miss you Kase. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about what could have been if I had saved you. I'm sorry." I whispered the last part and then I turned to Jenny's grave and started crying even more.
"I didn't even know you for a day. My half-sister and I lost you in a day. But on that day I knew I loved you. I knew I wanted to get to know you better. I could have saved you. I just want you to know your mom misses you. I won't let you slip from our memory ever. Just like Kasen I won't forget you. I miss you, Sis. I love you. Goodbye." I said as I got up to find Kyle. He was standing in front of a gravestone who I assumed was his mom. I went to walk back to the truck to give him time but he turned around before I could. I walked over and gave him a hug. I could tell he was crying. We stayed there for a long while before his phone rang.
He pulled his phone out and his eyes got huge.
"Hello?" he said.
"This is him."
"Okay, I'm on my way." He said and hung up. He looked at me and before I could even ask he was already explaining.
"That was the hospital. It's Sara. She's awake." He said and the next thing I knew was we were on our way to see Sara. I knew we'd have a lot of explaining to do but for now, I am just happy Kyle's happy.
====
In the weeks that followed Sara's waking up, I found out just about as much as she did. Apparently Christina and Sara had been best friends which explains how Christina and Erik knew each other so much. I remember the night Kyle got the call about Sara. He was excited more than anything. I, on the other hand, had been so scared. Scared for Kyle's sake, scared that Sara wouldn't remember anything. I remember being afraid of Sara hating me when we met. I remember the conversation Kyle and I had on the way to the hospital.
"What's going on in that head of yours? You're too quiet." Kyle said to me. I was playing with my hands when I spoke.
"What if she doesn't like me?" I said. I glanced over at Kyle and I could see his mouth in a thin line. He was thinking.
"What would she dislike about you, Princess?" he asked after a moment.
"Everything? She might dislike how I dress. Or how I look because I'm not pretty. Or how I stole her older brother's heart? Just everything."
"Baby, you and she have so much of the same style that if she disliked your style, she'd dislike hers too. You're right, you're not pretty. You're beautiful. Think of it this way, Princess, if she dislikes the fact that I love you then she'll just have to get over it." He said to me and I felt a little bit better.
I remembered it all like it was yesterday.
"Hey, Princess, you okay?" Kyle asked me pulling me out of my thoughts.
"What? Oh yeah. Just thinking." I said scooting closer to him. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I rested my head on his chest.
"What were you thinking about?" he asked.
"The night Sara woke up." I said.
"What about it? " He asked a little too quickly.
"I was thinking of the conversation we had about Sara on the way to the hospital."
"How wrong you were about me huh?" Sara asked, coming into the room. Christina followed in after her. I smiled and rolled my eyes. Kyle held me tighter and I snuggled close to him, enjoying his body heat.
"Why don't we all go out to lunch?" Sara asked, sitting down at the table. That sounded like a good idea to me. I looked back at Kyle and he shrugged. I stood to go change clothes while Christina texted Erik.
We all agreed on a small cafe in town. As we sat down, a boy no older than Sara came up to take our orders.
"Hi my name's Camden. I'll be your server today— oh hey Sara. How's it going?" He greeted. All eyes were suddenly on Sara. Her face turned bloodshot at the sudden attention.
"Sara, have you eaten here before?" Kyle growled.
"Uh well maybe once or twice?" She squeaked out. "But uh really uh Kyle.. Cam is—,"
"Sir, Sara is a dear friend of mine and we actually met outside of my workplace. I'd take it you are her brother, Kyle?"Camden asked. Kyle nodded. "She has spoken very highly of you. I asked her to bring you here so that i may make a good impression on you before I may do this." He explained before turning to Sara. "Sara, I really like you. Would you accompany me on a date to the movies and then out to dinner?" Sara's jaw dropped and Kyle stood, red faced and angry.
"I am sorry, but Sara does not date. Period. If she told you otherwise she was sorely mistaken." He stated and then walked out. I glanced at Sara who now had tears in her eyes before running after Kyle, who by now I'm sure was already halfway home.