Drew

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked. His green eyes widened in shock and before he could respond, I continued. "What the hell makes you think you can show up here, too?"

"Drew," I heard Alison say from the corner.

"What?" I said turning away from Trey's gaze.

"He's my friend," she said. "He's here when you're not. He's...my friend."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "What?" I said with my voice coming out in a rush.

"He's my friend," Alison said again as I returned my attention to the broading blonde. He continued eyeing me cautiously and soon I realized my mistake.

I sighed and apologized, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

He nodded accepting my apology. I stepped away and collected myself.

I had to stop thinking of him as Lauren's Trey and think of him as a past barrier. He should no longer be a problem, right?

Trey shifted and spoke up. "I think I should go."

"Uh, why so soon?" Alison asked genuinely disappointed.

"I, um, I just really need to go. Sorry," he said walking up to Alison and hugging her briefly. She frowned as he pulled away and headed in the direction of the door where I stood.

He paused in front of me and while his body seemed tranquil, his eyes managed to be unrested. Distracted.

"Drew," he said acknowledging me.

I stepped out of the way letting him pass before I was met by Alison's smiling ocean eyes.

Lauren

We pulled up to the house just as the sun was setting. Will parked the car on the curb and turned to look at me.

"What?" I said. "You're not going in?"

"No," he said bluntly. I waited for more of an explanation but when he turned away from me, I scoffed and unbuckled my seatbelt quickly.

I gathered my belongings and headed inside the house where I relieved the weight on me. As I prepared to head upstairs, I heard a knock on the door.

Did Will realize he had no place to be, I thought, and it was an excuse to avoid looking at the sister who apparently was a disgrace. I sighed and hurried to open the door.

The person who greeted me, however, wasn't Will.

"Trey," I said, "what are you doing here?"

His eyes appeared unsettled. Was he high? I thought.

"You can't be here," I said trying to close the door. He wasn't the first person I wanted to see just after Drew and I got back together.

"No, Lauren, wait," he said. "It's about Cat."

I frowned and said, "Then I don't want to hear it."

He sighed impatiently, "She's in danger. She owes people money and--"

"No!" I said stopping him. "I don't want to hear it."

"Lauren."

"No," I said finally. I closed the door without interference and wandered down the hallway.

It's what she deserves, I thought. What do you expect will happen when you continue messing with the money of dealers? She deserves it.

There was another knock on the door. Irritated, I heaved open the door and said, "I don't wanna--"

I stopped before I could continue. Trey stood limply before me solely supporting himself with his hand firmly on the side of the door frame. His labored breathing hit the floor before he looked up at me.

His eyes glistened and flickered while his cheeks were flushed a deep crimson.

"Trey," I gasped.

"Lauren, please. I care about you, but I care about her, too. I just need you to do this one thing for me-- and her. Please. She's still your sister," he said before stumbling into the house.

I led him into the living room and had him lay down on the sofa. He moaned as I examined his sickly pallor.

"I care about you," he mumbled. "I care about you, Lauren." I reached out and placed my hand on his burning cheek.

His jagged breathing became shallow though leveled as he began to settle down. I place a blond lock behind his ear and sighed.

How am I here again? I thought looking down at him. How am I doing this for him again?

I care about you, he had said, I care about you. I shut my eyes tight. It wasn't just the words that were getting to me but its origin. He always used to say it to convince me to do something.

"I care about you," he'd say while caressing my hand. "We'll only be gone for about an hour. She'll never know..."

An hour later I hear my name being called which made me open my eyes.

"Did I..." Trey asked.

I nodded and said, "Yeah."

"God," he said turning away for a second. "How bad? Was it bad?"

"No," I said. "The worst thing you said was that you cared about me." As the words came out, I realized how harsh they sounded.

"Lauren," Trey said concerned.

"No," I said. "This can't keep happening--where I come to you or you come to me. I'm not the old Lauren, okay? I'm not fourteen anymore!"

"I know," he replied. "Can't you see? I know you've change--that you've grown yet you can't see that I've done the same."

He held my wandering gaze with persistence as he continued, "I care about you--"

"Ugh. Stop," I cried out.

"No, I do. I care about you which is why I stopped using. For you," he said.

The silence fell over us like a blanket before he said, "I should go." I nodded as he got up and walked to the entrance. As he opened the door, Cat was just preparing to enter.

She looked from me to him then slid past, not even acknowledging me.

Hello to you, too, I thought grimly while leading Trey out the door.

When he was gone, I eyed the stairwell curiously but then shook it off. I had nothing to say to her.

Drew

"I'm sorry about earlier," I said watching Alison intensely. She was looking out toward the wall, not saying anything.

After hours, her forced smile seemed to droop sadly, reminding of the pain I had caused her.

"I forgive you," she said quietly. "I know the label wrapped around Trey's neck. He's a good person when you get to know him."

"Right," I said, "but that's not what I mean. At the hospital before, when I blew up at you..."

She turned to me and smiled. "I forgive you for that, too."

"I don't want you to hurt yourself, Alison," I said, "not for the past, not because of what we once had. I..."

I searched her cool eyes and wanted to tell her all that I felt. Everything. The child that we once had-- our loss-- still weighed down my heart and no matter how hard I tried, Alison knew me, she'd always be connected to me.

"I..."

"I love you, Drew," Alison said.

I stopped and all my thoughts snapped back. "Alison..."

"I," she said again, "love you. You love me. I--I know you do. It's just like what Trey said."

"Alison, I'm with Lauren," I said.

She sat up straighter and a smile stretched her lips with joy. "That's just it, Drew," she said. "That's just what Trey told me. You love me. Couples go through tough times but if you're persistent-- if I'm persistent then we can be like we were: a family."

"No, we can't," I argued.

"Listen," she said. Though her voice flowed softly it grabbed my attention with might. Her words were dripped in compassion and reflected a fantasy. It was happening again. "We can. We won't have a child, I know, but we'll have each other."

She took my hand and caressed it, her eyes never left mine once. Its fragile touch sent shivers through my nerves.

"Don't you- don't you want to be together?" she asked with her face contorting in confusion. "Don't you want to love me?"

I stared at her at a loss of words. I rose slowly and she tightened her grip on my hand.

"Drew..." she said. "Don't you..."

A sharp ring rang through the room averting my attention to it.

"I need to go," I told Alison when I saw the caller ID: Dad.

She murmured words under her breath before I turned to her again.

She shrank back into the large pillows watching me with distant eyes.

Curled up into fetal position, she seemed more vulnerable than ever. What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? I thought. Something, I answered in my head, I did something to make her like this.

Guilt overtook me as I backed out of the room to answer my call.

"Hello," I said in a rush.

"Drew," I heard, "it's Samantha. She's awake!"