A/N: I'm a bit late this week, but I have a good excuse: I was travelling all day yesterday and I'm now on holiday in Sardinia! B)
Thank you for the reviews, likes, and favourites - I say it all the time, but this stuff honestly makes my day. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
I promise I'm planning to give voice to Frankie and let her explain in her own words what happened to her. This is just not that chapter, yet. Bear with me a little longer.
Enjoy!
[2. THURSDAY]
...
Miles wakes up at 5:40 a.m. with the feeling of having way overslept, before he realises it's still dark outside. Hunter's asleep right next to him, lying somewhat rigidly on his side facing the opposite way, and Miles tries his best not to disturb him as he gets up and stretches his aching back. The inflatable mattress they shared has lost almost half of its volume overnight under their combined weight, to the point that they might as well have slept on the floor and it wouldn't feel any different. Still, he can't complain, given he and Hunter both insisted Frankie took the bed despite her protests. They're young, anyway; sleeping on the floor for a few nights won't kill them. Careful, Miles moves around the small room as quietly as he can. He quickly collects a clean change of clothes from his bag, reaches into Hunter's wardrobe to borrow some body wash, and makes an exit for the showers.
Fifteen minutes later, his hair still damp, Miles wanders into the empty common room on Hunter's floor. It's still quite dark, at this hour, but he doesn't switch the lights on. It's crazy to think that a mere thirty hours ago he was in his flat in London, and now he's here, crashing in his brother's dorms. Hunter's room is already quite small for one person, with three it's just madness — siblings or not — and Miles feels like he needs a breather, some quiet time to himself. He puts on the kettle to make a cup of tea, and as he waits for the water to boil he moves over to the window.
The sky is quickly turning brighter as the winter sun slowly approaches the horizon and the dim light softly brushes over the campus buildings. On the ground, the lamp posts still flicker, casting shadows on the footpaths, and in the distance Miles can make out the silhouette of a few occasional students walking by — probably just now coming back from a night out. How different would his life be, had he never left for London. Quite different, for sure. Better or worse, he can't really say.
...
By the time he gets back in the room, Hunter is up. He's already pushed the air-mattress back underneath the bed, making some space to move around, and he's busying himself very quietly getting ready.
"Morning," he says in a hushed whisper, "Have you slept at all? You were up early."
Miles shrugs. "Jet-lag. It's, like, noon in London, so…"
"Sucks," Hunter nods. It makes Miles smile.
"Yeah. Just lovely."
Hunter grins back, then glances over to Frankie almost mechanically. He looks at her for a mere second, just enough to check on her, and then he's back to packing his stuff.
He's missed Hunter, Miles finds himself thinking. He's missed them both, having them around, their little familiar gestures. No matter how much they try, they never get to spend enough time together. Especially since he moved across the ocean, and now the twins are off to university and have their own lives, all scattered. It sucks that it took something like this to bring them back together.
"Are you setting off?" asks Miles. Hunter's line of sight is once again directed towards Frankie's sleeping figure, like he can't stop checking on her every few seconds, but he focuses back on Miles at his question.
"Yeah… I have an 8:00 a.m. unfortunately, and I was hoping to grab some breakfast before that. You guys cool staying here? I can bring you something from the caf if I run."
"Nah, we'll be fine, don't sweat it."
"You sure?"
Miles nods back, reassuring.
"Alright. There's some food in the kitchen, Frankie knows which cupboard is mine. In case, you know," he motions towards their sister as an explanation. "Yesterday she didn't want to leave the room at all."
Miles nods in understanding, and Hunter sighs, apologetic. "I have to go to this one, but I can skip the afternoon classes and get back early."
"Just go, don't stress about us. I'm here for this, right?"
Hunter looks him straight in the eyes, just like last night. He breathes out slowly, his shoulders slumping down a little. "Yeah, thanks. I'll probably come back anyway, this whole thing is not very conducive to schoolwork." Tell me about it. "But I'm glad you're here, seriously. And she is, too." An awkward pause follows, but it's only a second. A quick exchange of meaningful looks, then Hunter slings his bag over his shoulder. "Right, I'm off. See you later!"
As soon as the door closes gently behind him, Miles drops down on Hunter's desk chair. He turns to Frankie (maybe it's not just Hunter, with the automatic reflex) and he's surprised to see that all the hustle didn't wake her up. Miles finds himself staring at his sister, almost transfixed; she looks so young, buried underneath the duvet, her face all puffy from sleep and her hair tangled in all directions on the pillow. He feels a punch in the stomach as he wonders how on earth anyone could even think to hurt someone like her, someone so small, and gentle, and kind.
The thing is, Miles has met Max before, once — last Summer, when they were all back home for the holidays and Frankie brought him along to meet the family. Maxence Lafontaine, what a pretentious ass name. Miles remembers venting to Hunter about it as they were waiting for the two of them to arrive. Hunter obviously responded with a pointed look.
"That's a bit rich, coming from Miles Hollingsworth the Third, don't you think?" he asked him, sardonic, and they simply laughed about it after that.
Miles ended up liking the bloke, once Frankie and Max finally arrived. He seemed very confident, a bit cocky, maybe — in that upper-class way of people used to getting what they want; Miles used to be like that too, after all, not so long ago. Max was nice, though. Charming, smart. He was quite overprotective of Frankie, in a very gallant sort of way, and Miles remembers thinking he would have probably found it a little overbearing if he were in her shoes, but Frankie seemed happy. Max clearly adored her, and from what he said it appeared his family was completely smitten with her, too. They were going serious, they'd been dating for about five months at the time and were already planning on moving in together after the summer. A bit rushed, maybe, but Max had just graduated, got a good job in Montreal and a nice apartment close to campus. It made sense.
In hindsight, maybe Miles should have warned her to be cautious, to wait a little longer before committing to such a big step. But at the time he didn't read too much into it.
Hunter never liked Max. Miles suddenly recalls how his brother took him to the side, after that first lunch at their mum's, and confessed he had a bad feeling about the guy, like something wasn't quite right. Miles laughed it off, thought it was just Hunter going all macho-twin over their sister; told him Frankie was an adult woman, she could very well choose with whom to spend her time.
Perhaps, Miles should have remembered how Hunter seemed to always be better attuned to Frankie than he was, he shouldn't have brushed it off so quickly. But again, it didn't seem like a big deal at the time.
Hunter reached out again, later in the year, around November or something, and told him that Frankie was being weird, very elusive. He mentioned something about her cancelling last minute some plans they'd made together, and once again Miles just dismissed it, told him to let her live her life, to stop acting all possessive. Then at Christmas they barely saw her, talking about elusive; she arrived on the Eve and left again on Boxing Day to spend the rest of the Holidays with the Lafontaines.
Still, Miles didn't worry about it. Maybe he should have.
He wonders now if they could have prevented any of this. Maybe if he'd been around, or if he'd just listened to Hunter's concerns, maybe they could have done something, said something. Protected her. But, maybe Frankie wouldn't have listened, or would have dismissed their worries like Miles had done with Hunter's.
Sometimes we have to hit rock-bottom before we can start resurfacing, Miles knows this first hand. And sometimes, despite our best intentions, there's nothing we can do to protect ourselves, or the ones we love. No matter how much it hurts.
