Chapter 21

       My boss had given me a few days off of work because of what I was going through after finding out Cassidy was the one who caused the explosion all in a sick plan to hurt, and possibly kill, my brothers.

       It wasn't the first time I needed to take time off. I was just happy my boss actually granted me a few days off. Then again, she knew at times, it was hard for me to keep a firm grasp on my emotions so it was best for me to just take a breather.

       And I was definitely able to while I was babysitting Guinevere and Celeste. I loved both of them with all my heart, and I really loved how Guinevere treated Celeste as her baby sister. She even referred to her as her sister all the time.

       Cleo had a shift at work and as soon as she came home, I gave her a smile. "Hey," I said.

       "Hi," she said, sitting down beside me on the couch. "Have you spoken to your brother at all today?"

       "Which one?" I asked.

       "Holden," Cleo said.

       "No, why?" I asked. "Is everything okay?"

       "To be honest, I'm not sure," Cleo said. "He came into the diner and I'm not a hundred percent sure, but he seemed a bit tipsy."

       "Just recently?" I asked and Cleo nodded. Holden was supposed to be at school right now, not roaming around the village. "Are you fine watching the girls? I should probably go check up on him."

       "Yeah, of course," Cleo said.

       I thanked her before kissing her check, then leaving the house. I headed to Shaw's home, really hoping Holden was there.

       In fact, I was really hoping Holden wasn't actually tipsy. Our family didn't have the best history with drinking and a lot of us, admittedly me included, turned to alcohol whenever we were too stressed.

       I stopped, thankfully, before I got in too deep. 

       And I didn't want my teenage brother, who already suffered from brain injuries, to get in too deep.

       I knocked on the front door to Shaw's house and shortly after, Shaw answered. "Is Holden here?" I asked.

       "No? Shouldn't he be at school?" Shaw asked.

       I sighed. "Yes, he should, but Cleo told me that not too long ago while she was working, Holden went into the cafe and he seemed a bit tipsy. She's not a hundred percent sure that he actually was and even if he wasn't, it still means that he's skipping school."

       "Wait, he might have been tipsy?" Shaw asked and I nodded. "Do you need help finding him?"

       "I'm going to call him first but if he doesn't answer, then yeah, I would really need the help," I said.

       I did try to call Holden, but like I thought, he didn't answer at all.

       So Shaw and I started walking around the village in an attempt to find Holden. We checked all the places we think he could be, but we couldn't find him at all.

       The last place we checked was the one place I didn't want him to be at.

       And he was there.

       As soon as Shaw and I walked into the bar, we saw Holden sitting at the counter drinking something he really shouldn't be drinking.

       Shaw and I went over to where Holden was, and Shaw took the bottle out of Holden's hands and placed it on the counter away from him. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Shaw asked.

       "Uh, drinking, of course," Holden said with a small smile on his face. "I thought it was obvious."

       "You're not even allowed to be drinking for various reasons," I said. "For one thing, your brain injury."

       Holden scoffed. "Brain, shmain. Who cares?"

       "We all do," Shaw said. "And how did you get your hands on alcohol in the first place? You're not even nineteen."

       "It's a miracle what you can do with a few extra dollars and a nice smile," Holden said. "And why do you two of all people mad at me for drinking?"

       "Excuse me?" I asked.

       "Yeah, you turn to alcohol as soon as the going gets rough," Holden said. "And don't even get me started with everything Shaw has done with alcohol."

       "I'm standing right here, you know," Shaw said.

       "I'm aware," Holden said.

       "Okay, normally I would get mad, but you're lucky I know that it's just the alcohol talking," Shaw said. "And being the best boyfriend I am, I'm going to make sure you don't go anywhere near alcohol."

       "You can't stop me," Holden said.

       "I can, and I will," Shaw said. "Because I know exactly the type of damage drinking can bring, especially if you use it to escape from all the stress in your life. It tore my life apart, Holden. You should know. Your parents were the ones that helped me when I was down."

       "Yet they're turning back on you now," Holden said.

       "Is that why you're drinking?" I asked. "Because of Mom and Dad?"

       Holden sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It's like they completely hate my guts just because I fell for someone seven years older than me. I still don't even understand why they're so against it."

       "Honestly, I don't even know," I said. "But whatever issues they have shouldn't mean that you can just skip school to go out drinking. And I know you don't want to hear this because you got enough crap from Mom and Dad about your brain injury, but drinking can actually make things worse."

       "Says who?" Holden asked.

       "Uh, me? A doctor?"

       "That means nothing."

       Shaw sighed and looked at me. "I'll talk to him when the alcohol is out of his system because right now, it's just making him a stubborn know-it-all."

       "I can hear you," Holden said.

       "Oh, good," Shaw said. "Then hear this; we're going home."

       Holden didn't even protest as Shaw got him to stand up before leading him out of the bar.

       Watching my brother in this state was starting to make me a bit angry because it was my parents that was causing this.

       And as stubborn as they were, I needed to convince them to get over what issues they had before they tore our family apart even more.

________________

I just made a bunch of Sholden gifs so I had to use one mid-chapter woo.

Just wait until their book because they get a lot of gifs mid-chapter woo.