Despite the months spent with Ricky, his instinctive welcoming still took her slightly by surprise. It wasn’t something she was used to seeing people have towards her. For a moment she stood in the embrace, with no words. She pulled away as he asked what she needs. That was a simple answer; what she needs is for her brother to be okay. But she doubted that he would be able to make that happen. So, besides that, she just showed a small smile as she told him; “Nothing.”
Her answer was honoured by the duration of the night being spent on the couch - as it was closest to the door in case of a call - and with only the small distracted conversation that she could get out. Annie stayed awake, leaning against the opposite arm of the couch from him, with her phone in her hand waiting for messages or calls that didn’t seem to be coming. She thought about Jezebel; and hoped she would be okay, she didn’t know much about her but losing her son she didn’t deserve. And then of the two daughters, worrying about them growing up with a loss already. Maybe Annie should have fought to stay overnight more. She should have stayed.
But occasionally Annie looked up at and thought about Ricky. She had wasted many weeks of wondering why he had been here when it had felt like no one else had, but now all she could do was appreciate that he had. It scared her to think he might be different from other guys in the past. It scared her to realise how she felt about him.
𝄞 I thought the plane was going down, how’d you turn it right around?
Annie rested her head against the arm of the couch, and looked up at the ceiling, where she stayed when she broke the silence; “You know, with Quinn…” Her voice quietly started, her eyes refusing to look back down at him, being the first time she had spoken to him about this. “I really, like, felt things for him,” She said slowly; then the slightest tone of disgust came through as she continued, “And then he, like, fvcked all of Beryl Heights in one night. And now, just in case my life wasn’t fvcked up enough, he might be sending me to prison,” The mention of which reminded her of what she had been facing earlier that night. It had been a long night.
“I thought that maybe meant that… falling for someone… wasn’t something that would happen for me again,” She said as her eyes slowly closed and voice got quieter. “I think maybe I was wrong about that.”
@/benitz786 Ricky Montoya