Disclaimer: There are a great deal of pop culture references through out the story that are not mine. Have fun spotting them. I own nothing but Abby.
AN: Screw Finals Week! I had to get this out.
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Chapter 4
The Road to Xanadu
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Eventually days come and go, no matter how much you wish they didn't. Eventually, each breath and each step gets a little less painful. Eventually, everyone stops saying their sorry for your loss and goes back to their own lives. Eventually, people expect you not to be miserable or to at least find a better way of hiding it.
Eventually sucks.
Because "eventually" is just another way the universe gets to rub our noses in one of its favorite principles: Shit happens and you have virtually no say in the matter. And you know people these days want a say on just about everything—I was no exception.
I wanted my extra week of winter, a few more days to lie in bed beside my sister, my hand folded in hers, neither of us saying a word, our heads tucked safely beneath the comforter with the curtains shut and the outside world on mute. I wanted a reprieve from the tingles that had been plaguing the back of my mind ever since Jane Blake had decided we'd be going back to Chance Harbor with her. I wanted more time to pretend the universe was only as big as Cassie and Abigail Blake, and therefore there was no need to miss anyone else, because in that world, our mom didn't exist.
Fate had other intentions.
And like a mother dragging her cavity invested kid to the dentist, Fate would get her way even if it killed you. Kick and scream all you want. It made no difference in the end. I realized this on the fifth day of mine and Cassie's self-imposed isolation, about the same time both of us realized how bad we'd smelled after nearly a week of ignoring the laws of personal hygiene. Girl funk aside, the shower that followed hadn't done much for the turmoil waging war inside of me and, honestly, I was kind of put out. TV melodramas always made it seem like a shower cured everything. Girl finds out she had cancer; crying shower scene. Girl's boyfriend dumped her; crying shower scene. Girl finds out parents are divorcing; crying shower scene. In the TV world, clarity came after the shower. Except in the horror movies...those usually meant busty blonde-girl #2 was about to get butchered. But in every other case mentioned, the girl came to an understanding about her predicament, some life changing realization. Yet there I was, four showers in, still waiting. Where was my epiphany? Where was my cathartic release? Had Meredith Grey been lying to me all this time? If that was the case, my DVR was about to get a lot less crowded.
It wasn't supposed to go this way.
I was meant to get to a point beyond the darkness, where I'd take all the sorrow and pain and grief and holster them onto my back as I readied myself for the leap to the other side, praying the weight wouldn't drag me down. Hoping beyond hope that the grass was greener, the sun brighter, the air clearer; that things were just somehow better on that side.
They called it moving on. Eventually it happened. But then, you already know where I stand on eventually's.
The thing no one tells you is that the longer you wait, the wider the chasm between the two sides would get. Nor did they think to mention that you'd have to make this daring leap of faith alone.
I guess they assumed you'd be smart enough to figure that out on your own. I wasn't.
Grandma had been the first to jump; making peace with the fact that her daughter was lost to her in a way that only someone as experienced and wise as her could hope to do. I was kind of disturbed at how easy she'd made it all look. But really, I shouldn't have been surprised the resilient woman bounced back from the despair so quickly. The old girl had a lot of miles on her. Embarrassingly enough she could probably take me in a fight, she was that spry. And not just for her age either, I'm talking ninja-like reflexes, hearing so sharp she could hear butterflies fart in India, and a second set of eyes in the back of her head. I was convinced she was a mutant or something equally fantastical, but she'd just grinned and said she'd been a mother for nearly half her life and it came with the territory. If mom equaled super powers, I might have to reconsider popping out a few brats of my own one day. I'd just have to get over my phobia of baby poop and jam-hands.
It wasn't until Cassie started showing signs that she too would be trying for that illusive other side that I started to feel the pressure, unattractive flop-sweat and all. Because in this crazy whacked out metaphoric situation I'd created, I was the poor bastard that couldn't even see the other side. My feelings had proven too much for me, and so I'd buried them just like I always did. And waited for them to magically sort themselves out like I always did; which, unfortunately, they never did. So I just shoved them further down knowing that one day I'd run out of room and probably self-combust.
Repression was a beautiful thing…or it would've been if I wasn't so afraid of being left behind.
The house was all packed up, everything Cassie and I wouldn't be taking with us placed in storage. But my careless confession in the car still weighed on me. Four weeks after the funeral, and I still felt like the crud you'd scrape off the bottom of a garbage mans work boot for what I'd said to Cassie; like I'd kicked Tiny Tim in his only shin the night before Christmas and then run away with his crutch so he couldn't get up.
Yeah, I felt that bad. And unfortunately, when it concerned Cassie's feelings, guilt was not something I could easily repress.
There was no excuse for what I'd done. No "sorry, my bad" or "the pill made me do it" would've sufficed. I'd kicked a girl when she was down, but more importantly, I'd kicked a girl on the worst day of her life; poking at a wound I'd known good and well hadn't even been close to healing.
As the oldest, my sister Cassie was well versed in the art of ripping me a new one when the situation called for it. And who was I to deny her of that? So in the spirit of giving, I'd sheepishly confessed to swiping one of Grandmas' Valium pills when no one had been looking. Even at the time, I knew it was a dumb idea. Dumber even than the time I'd tried to keep mom away from parent/teacher night by telling her Cassie might've been pregnant because I'd accidentally implied—in a round about sort of way—that my French teacher Ms. Lore had a preference for hairy busty women. In my defense, I'd been preoccupied with eavesdropping on the conversation between two girls in front of me...and I was pretty sure it was true either way.
I only wish Cassie's lecture had been as tame as the 'hugs not drugs' route our school counselor's bumper sticker advertised. And now that I think about it, I'm not even sure a hard knock to the back of my head and a threat to shave off my hair while I slept would technically be called a lecture. Though she did cover for me by telling our grandmother I'd taken too much cold medicine before we left which had to say something about the bonds of sisterhood.
Honestly, I would've been prouder of the fact that I'd gotten Cassie to display an emotion other than sadness if I wasn't so terrified of her wrath, or that I'd wake up without my pretty, pretty hair. Call me shallow, but the prospect of waking up bald scared me worse than any slideshow my health teacher had shown of your-brain-on-drugs.
Cassie and I found ourselves in sort of a blah phase after that week we spent mourning together. And whether it was her silent ire or my nagging conscience, I'd been forced to do the unthinkable...seek outside help. This was a first for me, since my sister and I had always been able to work our problems out by ourselves.
Either way, it was enough to force me into forming a tentative alliance with my grandmother as she made preparations for our transfer to Chance Harbor. I'm currently attempting to convince her that letting two underage teenage girls drive ten hours unsupervised was a good idea.
You can imagine how well that was going.
"No."
"But, Jane-"
My grandmother cleared her throat pointedly, peeking at me over the rim of the reading glasses she'd been using to look through some legal documents at the little coffee table of her hotel room.
That look was scary.
"I-I mean—Grandmother...?" I said stiffly, the formal title leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I'd been mentally sampling all the things I could possibly call her, trying to see which one I was most comfortable with. Apparently I'd also have to take into account which ones she'd let me use. Go figure.
"Grams..." Seeing that it was better received than the last, I went on. "It's just, umm, you know...you've got your own car to drive back and we've still got the SUV so I just thought it'd make sense for Cassie and I to drive it up there." I reasoned for the second time since we'd started this battle of wills, glancing over my shoulder to make sure Cassie was still preoccupied blow drying her hair.
"Yes, you mentioned that already." She snarked lightly, and I would've glared if it wasn't for what she'd said next. "What you haven't mentioned is the real reason you want to drive up there by yourself. Now, if you want to try this again, without talking out of your ass, I'll be more than happy to listen, otherwise..." She trailed off, making a move to get up.
"All right, all right..." I whispered fiercely, motioning her back into her seat before her movement could catch my sister's attention. The old bird smiled triumphantly, and I have to admit I might have liked her more because of it. "Cassie and I aren't exactly 'vibing' right now—"
"On account of you self-medicating with my pills at the funeral?" She interrupted.
My eyes widened. "How'd you—I mean...what?"
"Super powers, remember. Best you get acquainted with them now."
Well, I thought, mentally straightening my clothes, its official. I'd have to be CIA level sneaky to get anything passed this woman, and even then it was a 50/50 chance.
"Right well, I just want to make things right with her before we have to start over in a new school, with new people and I just...don't like fighting with her." I mumbled, scratching the back of my neck.
The look she gave me was a hard one.
A beat passed.
"Okay."
I blinked. "Really?"
She grinned at me. "I swear you teenagers are daunting creatures...so surprised when the truth actually gets you somewhere."
"Well, yeah."
"For future reference, the truth always gets you somewhere with me Abigail."
"Noted." I said happily, patting myself on the back for a job well done. And I didn't even cringe at my full name.
She laughed at the giddy look on my face, going back to her documents. I made to get up before sitting back down quickly as a thought struck me. "Just out of curiosity, how much trouble would I be in for the pill thing if I couldn't pull the dead-mommy card?"
I may have liked Grandma Jane a bit more now, but that didn't mean I'd be willing to completely forego the apathetic veneer I'd fashioned myself the minute I learned we'd be moving into a town smaller than a thumb tack. There would be plenty of strangers in Chance Harbor who wouldn't care that our mother had died, and the last thing I wanted to do was come off as the overly sensitive girl that needed to be held every time someone even thought the word mom. No, that side of myself I reserved just for my sister, and only in the most dire of circumstances would it make an appearance.
My bravado only went so far, and make no mistake, I held my breath for the entire time it took her to respond. Her face had been quick to recover from the shock of the question, and now it looked, dare I say, soft. She sat up, reaching out a tentative hand to smooth down my hair. The sensation was familiar yet foreign as I'd never experienced it with her. We'd both been far too leery to move passed the 'supportive-hand-on-shoulder' level of our new relationship to attempt anything that affectionate before now. I closed my eyes, allowing myself this small comfort as her soothing words drifted up to my ears. "Everybody's allowed to screw-up, Abigail. That is the beauty of youth. I won't fault you for your mistakes so long as you learn from them."
I smiled then, thinking that I might have just found my new 'Yoda.' She'd probably prove to be a lot more useful than the fortune cookie's I'd always turned to for advice.
{_}
About twenty minutes into the drive, I was seriously rethinking the whole road-trip Ya-Ya sisterhood bonding.
The trip I'd envisioned was supposed to be an opportunity to try and renew our faith in the dwindling family unit we'd forged away from any and all reminders of my mothers past; separate from the likes of her quaint little hometown of Chance Harbor and Jane Blake. As awesome as I was finding her now that I'd stopped actively trying to hate the woman, our grandmother was virtually a stranger to us, and I could count on my hand the number of times we'd actually seen her throughout our lives.
To be fair, I didn't know if that was her fault or mom's.
In the past, people had always accused me of watching too much television, but I swear I never saw that as a problem until now. Because the reality of this little adventure most definitely was not living up to the fantasy, nor would it inspire a heartwarming episode of Gilmore Girls like I'd imagined. Partly because I'd grossly overestimated the appeal of being stuck in a moving vehicle for ten hours; but mostly because Cassie and I weren't so much bonding as we were sitting in uncomfortable silence, switching seats every other stop, and systematically bursting into tears every time the radio played a halfway depressing song, which apparently for my sister was all of them. Though how the likes of Bieber and Britney reduced my sister into crying jags that could rival an overly hormonal pregnant woman was a complete mystery to me.
Drumming my hands against the steering wheel uneasily, I was at a loss for what to say. Cassie was busy messing with the volume knob on the stereo. The way her jaw was tensing and her lips were puckering I knew she could feel me staring even as she actively chose to ignore me, turning her gaze out the passenger window. That felt great by the way. The billboards advertising cures for male-pattern baldness, deodorant, and erectile disfunction were more appealing than holding a simple conversation with me. I would've taken more offense if the Axel body spray model's abs hadn't made me swerve into the neighboring lane. Those ad execs really needed to find uglier dudes to advertise or at least clothe them for god sakes. They were a hazard on the road.
I snorted when the old lady in the station wagon behind me flipped me off, turning to Cassie to share the hilarity of the moment but all she gave me was an irritated glare. So things were looking up. At least she'd looked at me this time. But at this rate, we wouldn't make it to whole sentences before we ran out of road.
I'd like to reiterate that however evolved and eloquent I may seem, and trust me I've got the verbal PSAT's scores to prove that I'm capable of making the English language my bitch, I was still first and foremost, a teenage girl—prone to bouts of idiocy the likes of which no rational person can comprehend post adolescence. I also passed desperate about two exits back so my mouth had pretty much stopped taking its cues from my brain at this point. Which, sadly, is my only defense.
"Soooooo…how bout that Taylor Swift?"
"…" I didn't have to see Cassie's face to know she was rolling her eyes, pushing herself closer to the passenger-side door. Not discouraging at all.
"Why guys keep dating her, I'll never know." I tried again, waiting a beat, giving her ample time to come up with a retort.
"…"
Okay, I'd give her two more minutes to use the silent treatment before I started the hair pulling.
"She calls them out in every song…Drew, John, Joe, pretty soon we'll be hearing about the dude that messed up her order at Starbucks. Its like 'girl get a filter already'…" I laughed awkwardly, so much so that even though this is my sister, who's seen me in absolutely every ugly/pimply/awkward phase imaginable and yet is required to love me regardless, I want to shoot myself in the foot just to focus on something other than how red my face must be. The uncomfortable tightening in my chest was always the cherry on top of these fits of verbal diarrhea.
Cassie barely spared me a glance as she dug through the purse at her feet for a few seconds, pulling out my inhaler in a move so quick it really shouldn't surprise me anymore. I take it from her gratefully as the shortness of breath comes just as she predicted and take a few deep breaths from the inhaler before handing it back to her and placing both of my hands back on the wheel. The care she's shown, even as she's been trying to ignore me all this time, warms me, and yet it's not enough to stave off the heaviness in the car.
This silence, this inability to connect at a time we so obviously needed to was killing me.
But it wasn't until after we'd passed the Welcome to Chance Harbor sign that I'd decided subtle wasn't working. I swerved off the highway abruptly, jerking us in our seats and earning a few honks from the cars behind.
"Abby, what the hell!" Cassie panted, catching her breath from the jarring transition.
"Sorry!" I huffed, climbing out of the car, frustratingly grabbing the length of my hair before viciously twisting it into a sloppy topknot. It was my version of war paint. Hair up meant game on.
"I can't have this…hanging over us for the next twenty-seven miles! It's gonna drive me bat-shit, ok?" My arms flailed wildly.
"I think it already has." My sister snorted, and I could have wept I was so happy.
"That's it," I encouraged, "keep it coming. I'll take you dumping on me over this pretending I don't exist thing any day."
"Abby-"
"No, okay, It's me. I get why you're mad. I know I never say the right thing, and if I do its at the wrong time. But I am sorry, for being stupid, for hurting you, for being insensitive..." At Cassie's incredulous look I amended, "Okay, more insensitive then usual."
She ran a hand through her hair tiredly, her shoulders slumping as she came around to join me at the hood of the car, leaning beside me. If I hadn't known her my whole life I might have missed the calculated way she propped herself up, trying to make up for the glaringly obvious height difference, an action that would've had me cackling like an idiot any other day. Turns out I wasn't the only Blake with a complex.
"I mean it Cass, I'm really, really sorry." I took a minute to steady my heart rate before I could work myself into a very real panic attack. This was it, this was my last ditch effort to salvage the wreckage of my family. This was where sixteen years of being a sister, one half of a whole, amounts to something useful.
"I get that you're sad. I get that the angst-factor here is off the charts. But I need you to realize that right here, right now, we're all we've got." Knuckles cracking, I took to pacing in front of Cassie, catching her clear-blue eyes mid-rant. "Grandma Jane is great, she is. But we've known our mail man longer than we've known this woman."
Which was true.
For all I knew, this whole supportive grandma thing could be a smoke screen. She could be the kind old maid who lured gullible twits like Hansel and Gretel into her cottage only to eat their livers, or even worse...she could be a cat lady.
"So what are you saying exactly? Act like some sarcastic unfeeling robot…because I think you've pretty much got that covered!" She shouted, rubbing stubbornly at the moisture on her face. I swallowed thickly at her crude assessment of my coping method, finding fault in nothing she'd said.
I will admit that Cassie's way of dealing with her grief was probably a heck of a lot healthier than mine. While she desperately strived to purge herself of the overwhelming back-breaking sadness, I was doing everything in my power to forget about the hollow feeling in my chest.
Looking at the bright side, at least my way meant my mascara lasted twice as long as hers.
Unlike Cassie, I drew great comfort from just being around my sister. There was a familiar warmth to her, a presence I associated only with her and mom. And I'd convinced myself that so long as I stayed beside that warmth that I'd be fine. I used the feeling to assure myself that Cassie was still here, alive and well, a piece of my family fate hadn't taken, a piece I could cling to with both hands now that our mom was gone.
It didn't escape my notice the way my hands shook when Cassie wasn't with me, and I sat anxiously counting the seconds until she was within my sight. This new dependency left me feeling ashamed and childish, but I was too far gone and too accustomed to the numb contentment she brought me now.
"I'm not like you Abby, I can't pretend like everything is okay…like never being able to see mom again isn't…isn't killing me…I just want it to get better." Cassie hiccuped as strong sobs rattled through her body, and I can't even put into words what seeing her like that did to me.
Mentally, I sent a small prayer up high, before quickly bringing my hands to either side of Cassie's flushed face, forcing her to look at me. "I'm not saying don't cry—that only looks good on me." I joked lightly, happy when it earned me an eye-roll, "I'm not saying don't be sad. All I'm saying is…don't shut me out." Even to my ears it sounds like begging.
"The last thing I want to be is the ball and chain that holds you back, but...I'm not ready to start over yet. But you are. School's gonna start and you'll bury yourself in the newness of it all, and somewhere along the way, you'll leave me behind. I'm just asking for baby steps here, Cass. You know...test the waters a bit before we dive in." I cleared my throat, counting backwards to ten when I felt the emotions burning the back of my throat. Cassie took all this in, like a sponge and I could practically feel the relief pouring from her body, that I wasn't completely unaffected, that I wasn't completely lost.
I knew she could hear the utter desperation in my voice. Her eyes widened and her back straightened, bracing herself. "I need you to tell me I'm enough, that this isn't any less of a family just because mom's not here. It's the only way I'm gonna make it through any of this halfway sane." By the end, I'm whispering like this was a secret I couldn't bare to share, feeling more exposed then I'd ever been in my life.
It took awhile for her mouth to form coherent sentences, and it had given me plenty of time to second guess myself. Maybe I'd said to much? Or perhaps I'd waited too long to fix the damage? Or maybe—my train of thought was abruptly stopped when the deceptively delicate looking blonde sucker punched me in the arm.
"OWW!" I rubbed my throbbing arm, flinching back when the little devil made to reach for me again, only this time with far less violent intentions.
Which was lucky...for her.
"You're insane, you know that?" Cassie said after she'd pulled back from the impromptu hug.
"Am not, mom had me tested after the whole Tinkerbell obsession." I defended hotly.
Cassie shook her head laughingly at the familiar protest. "You'd have to be to think I could ever leave you behind. We're a team Abbs, win or lose, we do it together."
Oh. "Well—all right then. Glad we...umm...cleared that up." I chirped at a loss for words, letting her pull me into another embrace, this one more welcomed now that I knew she wouldn't hit me. Smiling secretly into the crown of her hair, I wrapped my arms around her neck pressing her head further into my shoulder, squeezing hard enough to make her squeal in protest. Times like this, I really felt bad for the only children of the world.
Of course, a passing motorists vulgar gestures and leering voice broke the moment. "Whooooo, take your shirts off!"
My sister and I stumbled away from each other as if we'd been burnt. We glanced at each other as we both busted out laughing, no doubt thinking the same thing. Say hello to our new neighbor.
"That's probably our cue..." Cassie motioned towards the car after we'd caught our breath.
"Yeah, but you drive though..." I said, tossing the keys as I leisurely made my way to the passenger side door.
"Why?"
I smirked. "My arm hurts."
"Oh god, you're really gonna milk this aren't you?"
The innocent smile I gave her as I rested my feet on the dashboard pretty much said it all.
{_}
Grandma Jane was waiting on the steps when Cassie and I pulled up to 321 Humboldt Lane. I gave her a discreet thumbs-up sign as my sister rounded the SUV and we shared a smirk before she shifted it into a less devious expression to greet Cassie.
"How was the drive girls?"
"Fine." Cassie smiled softly, hugging our grandma gently before stepping back so I could do the same. I made a big show of it, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "best. plan. ever." The curly haired woman laughed conspiringly as she pulled back.
"Well, come on inside and let's get you two settled in."
"Just as soon as Cassie here grabs the bags." I grinned patting my sister on the back, before taking the steps two at a time. "I would help, but my arm..."
My sister huffed, walking towards the trunk as she mumbled under her breath. "Should've hit you in your face...least I could still make you carry stuff then."
Our grandma raised a brow in confusion. "What's wrong with your arm?"
"She beats me. It's her new thing." I offered helpfully, brushing a few strands of hair away from my face.
"Shut up, Abby." Cassie grumbled, teetering back and forth from the weight of both our suitcases.
"I'm so glad you both are here. It will definitely bring some life back into these old bones."
My taunting smile fell as she turned away from us to open the front door, and I whispered out the side of my mouth when Cassie finally made it up the front steps beside me. "Is it just me or did that sound creepy?"
"What, you still think she's gonna grind our bones to make her bread? Maybe sacrifice a few virgins while she's at it, huh?" Cassie smiled, an amused lilt to her voice as she crab-walked over the threshold with our bags. I made a mocking face at the back of her head before following.
"Whoa...welcome to Halliwell Manner." I took in my surroundings, eyes wide as saucers no doubt, turning in a full circle, looking back at my sister incredulously, OMG clearly written all over my face.
But Cassie was in a world all her own. "So this is where mom grew up?"
I nodded at that. It definitely was a weird place to imagine our mom growing up in, very traditional looking and our mother had been anything but traditional.
"Come on, I'll show you the rooms." Our grandmother beckoned us up the stairs.
Glancing around once more, both my sister and I paused on the landing. The short imp took this opportunity to shove one of the bags she was carrying into my gut. "Oomph!" I grunted, the breath literally knocked out of me. I could see our grandmother from her position down the hall fighting to keep the grin off her face.
"Kids today," I sniffed, taking the rest of the stairs with my head held high,"so rude."
Grandma Jane nodded her head in mock sympathy as I walked passed her, and I knew she and Cassie were silently laughing at my expense. Good riddance to them both!
"This was your mother's room, I'll let you two decide who gets it." Grandma offered, stepping aside to let both of us enter. It had real charm, and little touches of our mother everywhere. The walls were a pale shade of mint, pictures and shiny trinkets spilled over the tops of the antique dressers and side tables, and it had the cutest little window seat lined with pillows in varying shades of green that would be perfect for curling up to watch the rain.
Me and Cassie perused the room for all of five seconds before we turned towards each other, arms crossed, ready for battle. Good thing I'd put my hair up earlier.
"I'm older." Cassie started.
I snorted at that. "I'm taller."
"I forgave you." Cassie tried.
"And I forgave you for mauling my arm." I offered cheekily, brushing lent off the sleeve of my t-shirt. "Mighty big of me wouldn't you say?"
Her eyes flashed, and I mentally counted it as a point in my favor. It wasn't like I wouldn't let her have the room anyway, but I might as well have my fun while I'm at it. Right?
I pointedly took a step back from our starring match to have a few whispered words with Grandma Jane before turning back to my sister. "Tell you what...I'll be the bigger person here. The room is yours, okay?" I smiled, hefting my bad onto my shoulder before turning on my heel to make a quick exit when Cassie held up a hand to stop me.
"Wait a minute. That's it?"
"Yup! Don't ever say I never gave you anything." I made to leave again, only getting a few steps further.
"The other room has a bigger closet doesn't it?"
A beat passed.
"...Maybe...but...NO TAKE BACKS!" I threw over my shoulder, hoofing it to the spare guest room down the hall and slamming the door before she could get any fancy ideas. I considered the resounding slam my version of peeing on my territory.
I could hear Cassie and my Grandma laughing even through the door, but hey...I could definitely tune them out to stare in silent reverence at my brand new walk in closet.
{_}
After a quick dinner that consisted of pizza and poptarts since Grandma had been too exhausted from her own drive to cook, both Cassie and I decided to call it a night, retreating to our new bedrooms, though mine was decidedly less cozy than Cassie's. I hadn't been in my bed long before I realized I wasn't going to get any sleep. So I snuck down the hall, Snoopy pjs and all, slipping into Cassie's room just as she dropped her bathrobe. Timing was everything.
"My eyes!" I slapped a hand over my face, blindly searching for her bed so I could stick my head under the pillows.
"Abby! Knock much?" Cassie screeched, scrambling to pull the shirt she'd laid out previously over her head.
My free hand groped the air in front of me, and I inched forward a bit more every time I came up empty. "Oh god, I'll knock every day for the rest of my life just put the headlights away before you blind me!" I cheered silently when my outstretched hand met the comforter, crawling into it and under the covers to safety.
"All clear, and this goes in the vault." My sister said stiffly as I poked my head out from beneath her blankets, waiting for my nod confirming that this would join the topics we'd never discuss in front of company, before shutting the lights off. That's when I noticed her window.
"Jeez, what are you some kind of voyeur now?" I griped, getting up from the comfy haven of her bed to shut her curtains, sparing a fleeting glance at the window that looked straight into her room.
She glanced back at her curtains oddly, as we both slipped back into her bed. "But I could have sworn I..."
"Ooh, looky...stars!"
"You're a child. And you have the attention span of a goldfish." My sister huffed, shaking her head as she settled back to gaze up at them with me. "Why are you in here anyways?"
I shrugged, never taking my eyes off the glow in the dark sky above me. "Couldn't sleep."
"Abby." The way she said my name, I didn't have to look at her to know she was frowning.
"I got lonely." I muttered, turning on my side to face her and tucking myself into her side before she could over analyze what I'd said. "Can I stay?" I even threw in a few pathetic whimpers while trying to pout irresistibly.
"Alright...but just for tonight."
"Oh we can talk specifics later."
"I mean it Abby. Just tonight and then you'll put on your big girl panties and sleep in your own bed."
"Sure, sure." I waved her off easily, enjoying the hum of our connection too much to fight her. For whatever reason, the warmth I'd always associated with her presence seemed more intense, fiercer than usual.
I'd be lying if I said this new feeling didn't scare me a little, but I tried to ignore the unease I felt, letting Cassie's even breaths lull me to sleep.
::
AN: So there's a bit of the first episode. I could've kept going, but I felt like shoving the whole episode along with all the changes I made would've been a little much. I'm trying to coax you people into liking Abby. I don't want to shove her down your throat.
It's a balancing act.
All of your reviews really pushed me to give you this update. I feel like I've made you wait long enough, and once I get my first final out of the way tomorrow, I'll have more free time to finish chapter five.
Some of you asked if I could do chapters from Cassie POV's as well and while I am seriously entertaining the idea, I wanted to ask how you guys felt about me switching over to third person narrative in general. That way you'd get more insight into what everyone's thinking as opposed to just what Abby thinks they're thinking since most of the story is told from her point of view. Let me know guys. Also I made some changes to chapter 2 and 3 on May 7th, so if you read them before that date, there is a bit of a difference and a couple key story elements I added for plot points that will unravel down the line.
Hope you enjoy the update, but feel free to let me know either way. Don't have a beta-reader so any mistakes you see are my own.