Hey sorry it took so long~!

XOXO HaLeY

Chapter 7: "So instead of wishing that it'd just get better…"

"What kind of decisions?" Jessie asked him

"Well what are we going to do with… Ethan." Eli asked

"Well he IS our brother." Jessie pointed out.

"But Lily and Dad are gone, can we really take care of him?" Eli said.

"YES!" Jessie said without a second thought.

"Jessie I think that this is a really big responsibility. Especially when it is just the two of us." Eli said pulling a chair up to his little sister


"Well there is Grace!" Jessie said

"Who is leaving for college next year." Eli pointed out.

"I don't care. This is my little brother. I just lost my father who means more than the world to me, I will not give up anymore!" Jessie said becoming angry.

Eli leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin on his fist and thought for a moment… That was what he and the doctor had discussed. He was over 18, he had the option to be Ethan's legal guardian… But still, were they ready?

"… We don't have to give a decision until tomorrow. Let's sleep on it?" Eli suggests.

Jessie nods silently… Katie squeezes her hand, and rests her head on her shoulder…

~ That night Jessie and Katie went back to Lilys house…They could not stay all night with Ethan because they are minors, so Jessie made Eli do so.

It was strange to find the house empty. Jessie had never noticed how big it was until she did… She expected to see her dad on the couch, or Zoe running around somewhere without a care in the world, or Grace arguing about something… nothing…

Jessie led Katie by the hand up to her room. She switched on the attic light.

"Wow." Katie said as she stepped inside.

"Yeah." Jessie said

They lay down on the bed in silence.

"What are you thinking about?" Katie asked Jessie turning over on her side to face her..

"Ethan." Jessie said in a long drawn out breath…

"What about him." Katie asked

"Nothing, he just looks so much like my dad." Jessie smiled "And his hands, they are so little." Her eyes watered… "I've just never looked at anyone and loved them right off like that…" She explained

"Well he is your brother." Katie joked

"Yeah… I just don't want to give him up. I can't." Jessie said

"Eli was right though?"

"So what you agree with him?" Jessie asked getting defensive.

"I'm not saying that!"

"Then what are you saying!" Jessie asked, furrowing her brow…

"I am saying your 16 years old! And Eli, well he is hardly ever in the right mind to take care of himself…" Katie said trying to reason with her stubborn friend…

Jessie took a deep breath attempting to calm down.

"You ever just know when something feels so wrong that it has to be right?" Jessie asked

Katie thought for a moment and then looked Jessie in the eye…

"What do you mean?" Katie asked

"I never wanted any younger siblings… I never expected my dad to have any kids younger than me. I mean, I am 16... But then my dad…" She couldn't bring herself to say it, "… and then Ethan happened… and it is like everything that I never wanted became what I need." She said seemingly more to herself than anyone else.

"I guess that makes sense…" Katie said…

"… and with you and I…"

Katie blushed and looked away from the girls striking blue eyes which were focusing only on her…

"I never thought that I would have feeling for another girl until…" Jessie thought back to that day in the bathroom… "you were sitting there in that window on the sink… and I you before I saw you… and when… when I actually looked up and saw you there it was like something clicked…"

"… so what are you trying to say…" Katie asked looking now at Jessie, meeting her eyes…

"I am saying that… I guess I have never felt this way about anyone before…"

And so it went things changed…………