Page 69 of Honest With You

“Mom… what’s going on?”

She ignores my question as she pulls open the door and wordlessly gestures for me to get in. She doesn’t wait for me to follow her, instead going around my dad’s car and getting in the front at the same time as him. I follow them in, a sinking feeling stirring deep in my gut when my dad shoots me a glare from the rearview mirror before he starts the car.

It’s five minutes into the drive when I recognize the path we’re taking.

“Mom… why are we going to Ava’s house?”

Mom flicks a glance over her shoulder and I take in her face. Her cheeks are wet with tears and she’s struggling to not make a sound as she sucks her lips in, shaking her head at me and asking me with her eyes to not push.

I don’t like it but I fight against the rock in my throat and turn to my dad.

“Dad?”

My father shoots me another glare. I can see his knuckles turn almost white as his hands tighten around the steering wheel. My mom reaches out to squeeze his arm in warning before she turns back to me.

“Your Uncle Luke has asked us to come. We’re almost there. We-we’ll talk then.”

Ava’s dad? The sinking feeling nearly drowns me as thought after thought of every single, possible reason dances around my head.

I pull my phone out and check to see if Ava texted me a heads up but since she’s obviously blocked me, I take a chance and text Stephen instead.

Isniff, trying to calm myself down after spending the last few hours bawling on and off. I wrap my arms tighter around my body pillow that’s soaked with my tears.

The nausea and vertigo went away after the doctor gave me medication, but the fatigue remained. I’m exhausted to my bones but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get myself to fall asleep after the doctor left.

A knock, followed by my door opening, shakes me out of my reverie and Reese walks in, looking as scared as I feel.

She got home around the same time I did and was with Vanessa and me throughout the whole examination with the doctor. Afterwards we had to force Vanessa to go home after she admitted it was herAbuela’sbirthday. She wanted to skip it because she didn’t want to leave me, especially after I begged the both of them not to tell Stephen anything. He had finals today, and the last thing I want is for him to miss it.

Reese climbs into bed opposite my pillow and strokes my hair.

I look up and force a smile on my face but the tears pooling around her eyes catch me off guard and before I know it, we’re both crying again.

She squeezes in between my pillow and me, hugging me tightly. I rest my forehead against her tummy while she strokes my back.

“I’m so sorry this is happening to you, Ava.”

I lift my head attempting another smile, “At least you’ll learn from my mistakes, right?”

She shakes her head and hugs me closer to her. “Ava, you don’t see what we see when we look at you. You’re the strongest and smartest person I know. I don’t think anything you do is a mistake and just like you’ve always been there for me and Stephen, we’ll be there for you too.” She kisses the top of my head and for the first time in my life, I feel a sense of pride knowing I had a part in raising such an incredible human. “You’re not alone in this. Everything is going to be okay. We’ve got your back.”

I raise my head again, a smile lifting the corner of my lips as I gaze up at this thirteen year old who I’m so damn proud to call my sister.

“When did you get so wise, Riri?”

She sniffs, her knuckles rubbing her face. “Learned it from you, Ava.”

My eyes slide over to the picture behind her of us at that zoo all those years ago. I raised a kid when I was still one, and now–

Reese’s phone rings and her eyebrows rise in alarm after checking who is calling.

“Hey, Stephen.” She nods when I grip her wrist, hoping she remembers not to tell Stephen anything. At least not until he’s home and his finals are over.

Suddenly, her eyes bulge and she pulls on my arm. “Wait, what?”

She turns to me. “Where’s your phone?”

I look around, suddenly wondering the same thing. Then I remember the last time I saw it was when Vanessa used it to call security. I get off the bed, trudge to my desk and unzip my backpack from where Van left it. It’s sitting right in the front pocket where she slipped it in earlier. I wave it around so Reese can see my phone’s dead. I barely remember to charge it these days.

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