For on_thecouch - 7.2 What are you thinking...
[Follows THIS. Set the day after.]
She entered his room as quietly as possible. Beth had been out in the main room sleeping on the couch, so she figured Riley must have been in his room. She softly closed the door behind her, and tiptoed over to his bed.
“Riley,” she whispered, “you awake?”
He grunted and shifted in the bed but that was all the response her brother wanted to give. She leaned down to peer at his face, and brushed his hair back from his forehead. Butterflies flitted around in Tab’s stomach and she tried to push back a sudden urge to cry. She wasn’t used to Riley being the one hurting, and not being able to run to him when she was falling apart. She’d spent the night with Walker, and she was beyond grateful to her boyfriend-and boy did that particular word take some getting used to-for coming to Princeton, but it wasn’t the same. It could never be the same and that was the point.
She finally understood that a boyfriend wasn’t going to replace her brother, a thought that had scared her most of her life. A boyfriend was just a separate entity, a different hole. And seeing as how Walker had already made himself a hole in her heart, nothing changed. Riley was still her number one, her brother, her twin.
But he was in pain. He was hurting. His life was in limbo for a little under three months still, and Tab had no idea how to fix it all for him. She had no idea how to take his pain away, and it was something she hated. It was a feeling she wasn’t used to and it was scaring her.
She just hadn’t been able to talk to Riley about it because she kept thinking she was supposed to be the strong one that knew all the answers. She knew nothing except that she didn’t want to lose him.
“Riley?” she said softly, her voice shaking. She crawled onto the bed and curled up next to him with her head on his chest. “Big bro, please… There’s so much I want to say… please wake up?”
There was a grunt and his arm slid across her waist and held her tight. “It must be bad if you keep saying please,” Riley mumbled.
Tabitha London Browne
Original Character
Words: 387
pullmysteth used with mun permission, rckrbybaby referred to with permission. Also written for Riley-mun who wanted to see scared!Tab.
She entered his room as quietly as possible. Beth had been out in the main room sleeping on the couch, so she figured Riley must have been in his room. She softly closed the door behind her, and tiptoed over to his bed.
“Riley,” she whispered, “you awake?”
He grunted and shifted in the bed but that was all the response her brother wanted to give. She leaned down to peer at his face, and brushed his hair back from his forehead. Butterflies flitted around in Tab’s stomach and she tried to push back a sudden urge to cry. She wasn’t used to Riley being the one hurting, and not being able to run to him when she was falling apart. She’d spent the night with Walker, and she was beyond grateful to her boyfriend-and boy did that particular word take some getting used to-for coming to Princeton, but it wasn’t the same. It could never be the same and that was the point.
She finally understood that a boyfriend wasn’t going to replace her brother, a thought that had scared her most of her life. A boyfriend was just a separate entity, a different hole. And seeing as how Walker had already made himself a hole in her heart, nothing changed. Riley was still her number one, her brother, her twin.
But he was in pain. He was hurting. His life was in limbo for a little under three months still, and Tab had no idea how to fix it all for him. She had no idea how to take his pain away, and it was something she hated. It was a feeling she wasn’t used to and it was scaring her.
She just hadn’t been able to talk to Riley about it because she kept thinking she was supposed to be the strong one that knew all the answers. She knew nothing except that she didn’t want to lose him.
“Riley?” she said softly, her voice shaking. She crawled onto the bed and curled up next to him with her head on his chest. “Big bro, please… There’s so much I want to say… please wake up?”
There was a grunt and his arm slid across her waist and held her tight. “It must be bad if you keep saying please,” Riley mumbled.
Tabitha London Browne
Original Character
Words: 387
pullmysteth used with mun permission, rckrbybaby referred to with permission. Also written for Riley-mun who wanted to see scared!Tab.