Chapter 21

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|| Chapter 21 ||

The drive home is slow and tedious. Not a word is spoken between Harry and I. The line of cars following us slowly tapers off the closer to home we get until it's just Charlotte's car, Sebastian's car and Harry's. Drew's car follows us all the way to our driveway before he does a U-turn and heads back down the street towards his own neighborhood.

A headache is starting to form in the back of my head. Harry parks his car next to my mom's and Charlotte parks next to his. I climb out of the car, holding onto the door with shaky hands, praying that my parents are asleep.

Charlotte's friends are still with us as well as Cole and they're quick to walk straight into the house, not willing to deal with anymore drama for the night.

Olivia is slower to go inside, since she's practically a member of this family but a few facial expression exchanges between her and Charlotte leads her to kiss the corner of Sebastian's mouth quickly before walking into the house.

My siblings don't speak to me as we all walk up the front steps. Thankfully I'm not longer dripping wet and my clothes are just damp now, sticking to my skin.

They brush past me into the house and up the stairs, Sophie lingers for a second, squeezing my shoulder gently before following them.

The lock clicks shut quietly behind me and I lock the door, bracing myself, knowing the drill after all the times my siblings have been caught coming home overly drunk or past curfew. This however, is so much worse.

My mother is not sitting in her favorite arm chair that she usually sits in ready to bust us as we walk in the house. No, she's standing with folded arms five feet away from my face. I gulp in a breath.

She looks disheveled, I mean why wouldn't she? Her youngest broke her arm today and then her almost seventeen year old disappeared without a word or a phone for nearly five hours. She hasn't changed out of her scrubs from the hospital and her usually professionally done bun is barely being held up by the hair-tie.

I run my tongue along my teeth, not wanting to be the first one to speak.

"You got in a car with strangers." Her voice is devoid of any emotion. "Without your phone."

Another gulp of breath on my side.

"I get that you were pissed at us, really I do. Maddie explained everything to your father and I before we found out that you were missing," her voice is tight.

"Mom-."

"I'm not finished. When I am done you can tell me everything but please let me get this out before I break down, cool?" I put my hands behind my back, nervous. "Your siblings spent the last five hours looking for you. Do you know how worried we were? Your father nearly had a melt down and I couldn't do my surgery because I was deemed unfit."

I grit my teeth. She walks up to me and places her hands on each cheek. "I am sorry for not listening to you when we should've, that's my fault and I was wrong. But, you don't disappear for hours without any form of communication because you're upset, that isn't safe Tess and I need you to be safe because you are my baby."

My arms cross over my chest, "Maddie's your baby, how is she, by the way?"

"She's fine, she's been a little restless but that's to be expected." Her hands squish my cheeks a little, giving me fish lips, "I gave birth to you therefore you are my baby. Hell, you could be fifty years old and I will still call you my baby."

"I'm sorry mom," I say to her once she's let go of my face. "I didn't think of anyone else's feelings but my own. I just got so angry."

She holds onto my arm and pulls me with her towards the kitchen. "Honey," she gestures for me to sit at the island while she digs around in the pantry. "We fucked up. I was prepping for surgery when I got a message from one of the front desk nurses that one of my daughters was just rushed into the hospital. Thankfully Dr Branson was the second surgeon on hand for my patient and I was put in distress and unable to perform the surgery so he took over." She walks out of the pantry with a bag of chocolate chips, "None of us were thinking, all we knew was that Maddie was hurt and it was bad."

"I understood the anger from you and dad, I just didn't expect it which is why I snapped back," she nods her head in understanding. "But what really threw me was Bass, like I know we have that sibling rivalry thing but that's just us messing around and it's fun but his reaction genuinely freaked me out."

"Tessy," she pauses for dramatic effect, "Sebastian is one of the most protective people I know. The fact that he wasn't with Maddie when she got hurt killed him. And then when we found out that you were missing, oh my god don't even get me started, he wanted to call the police and make them send out an Amber Alert for you. Charlotte had to talk him off the ledge."

"Yeah he taped my phone to my arm when he found me," I tell her, holding up my phone which still has the duct tape on it.

Her head whips to my phone before she lets out a surprised laugh, "Of course he did. Man I love that boy, he's not the brightest but he's the best." She shakes her head with a grin, walking back into the pantry.

She walks out of the pantry with a bunch of supplies in her arms. I recognize all the ingredients and smile, "Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies?"

"I may have six kids but I know what each of you like," she stands on her tiptoes to try and reach the mixing bowl. She looks over her shoulder with a pout, "Honey, please."

I grin widely and get off the stool, moving to grab the mixing bowl for her, placing it on the counter. "Now, talk to me about tonight."

My mouth shuts quickly. "Um..."

She gives me a knowing look, "Tess, come on this is a no judgement zone and trust me whatever you did I've done it worse."

I roll my eyes. She pulls out the peanut butter and the measuring cups. I stand next to her and start measuring out the dry ingredients. I end up telling her all about my day, from Maddie falling off the skateboard to Harry throwing me in the pool.

"I was wondering why you looked a little damp," she teases, bumping her hip next to mine as she scoops out the cookie dough and places them on the baking sheet. I twist a few locks of hair over her and let a few droplets hit her. "Hey! Not cool." I laugh and hug her side. "But seriously, how do you feel? From what I recall, you've never come home drunk before so this is new territory."

"My head hurts a little, not too bad though. And I only felt I was gonna chunder once and that was after the backflip," I explain, opening the oven door for her to slide the baking sheets in.

"Backflip?" he oven door slams shut as she looks at me in shock.

"Um yeah, turns out drunk Tessa can do backflips off of stair railings and land perfectly," I shrug, grabbing a few pieces of paper towel to start wiping up the counters.

My mother shake her head and mumbles to herself, "Oh my god." She hands me a glass of water and two Advil, "Take these, it'll help in the morning."

"Thanks mom," she kisses my cheek and walks towards the oven door, peeking through the glass.

"Okay, now tell me about these new friends you made, they didn't pressure you into anything, did they?" She asks, pointing her wooden spoon at me.

I shake my head quickly, "Nope, if anything they were the ones telling me it was okay if I didn't do anything."

"Well that's positive."

"I didn't really get to know them, Loretta was making out with a guy and the rest were, everywhere."

"What about that Addison girl, seemed like she hung out with you for most of the night?" she queries, packing up the ingredients and putting them away.

"She was, she kept me company so that I wasn't a loner."

"That was nice of her," she smiles leaning on the counter, looking at me. "Look at you, making new friends."

"I know right?" my sarcasm is obvious, "Who would have thought?" The timer goes off and she jumps like a little kid as she opens the oven door to inspect them. "But then Brianna showed up."

"Brianna? Wait Brianna, Brianna?" She asks emphasizing the name, her eyebrow raised.

"Oh yeah, she saw me and realized I didn't have my usual entourage," my mother snorts at that, "so she decided to intervene. God she's annoying."

"True, but she helped us find you," my mother tilts her head at me, shutting the oven door with the baking sheets filled with cookies in her oven mitt covered hands.

"I would have come home! You make it sound like I ran to Mexico," I exclaim, lowering my voice to try not wake up everyone else.

She gives me a flat look, "Tess, if there's one thing everyone can agree on in this family it's that you are unpredictable. Remember the time you sold Sebastian's stuff on eBay because he threw out your doll collection when you were nine?"

"You promised never to talk about the Bratz dolls again!" I argue, a slight whine coming out.

"Honey, chill. My point is, did I know that you could work a computer? Yes, I taught you all how to use the computer. Did I think that you would actually sell his stuff? No, what nine-year-old know how to work eBay of all websites?" I nod my head in understanding. "But did I think you would make over a thousand dollars from it? Hell no!" She starts picking up the cookies with a spatula, placing them on a cookie tray. "My point is, you have this ability to do what you want. Every other child I have either: goes by peer pressure or thinks about how it will effect everyone else. You do it and think about it when it blows up."

"Well might as well have fun and get trouble after than be too scared to do anything," I say, picking up a cookie and breaking it in half and handing a piece to my mom.

"And that was why we were so worried," she gives me a knowing smile.

"Where's dad anyway?" I ask, thinking about how I haven't seen him. Although I'm not upset that I had mom's wrath to deal with.

"You think that your father would leave the hospital knowing that one of his kids is in there? When Charlotte needed surgery on her knee a few years ago he slept on the couch in her room, this time they let him have a pullout," she smiles, pouring herself a cup of milk.

"Thank you, for tonight mom," the crumbs fall onto the counter.

"Honey, if you ever need attention just throw a shoe at me and tell me to pay attention, it's really not that hard. And don't think you're getting out of trouble for what you did," she warns, pointing a finger at me.

"Figured," I mutter.

"Yup, have fun cleaning your father's office floor this weekend because that's what you're going to do every month until you graduate," she puts her hands on her hips.

"You're making me get a job?" I ask in confusion, knowing my parents aren't big on us getting jobs.

She shakes her head with a smug smile on her face, "Oh no, I'm talking free child labor."

I point a finger at her, horrified, "That's illegal."

"No it isn't 14 to 17, your father owns a law firm, look it up!" She folds her arms over her chest victoriously before placing a cover over the cookies. "All right, now that we got that out of the way, time for bed."

"Mom! That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair," she replies, looking over her shoulder as she starts walking up the stairs to her and dad's room. She turns around at the top of the stairs. "I love you."

|| ✨ ||

The next morning a loud bang is heard from outside my door. I sit up, startled and look around my room. Ah fuck. My head feels heavy and I drop it back onto the pillow with a groan. My tongue feels like sand paper against the roof of my mouth and I suddenly crave water, then think about throwing up at the thought of drinking water.

A sudden hush is heard along the hallway making me feel suspicious. I slowly get up from my bed and practically crawl to my bedroom door. The hallway is empty when I poke my head out, looking up and down. Every bedroom door is open, including my parents' room, indicating that everyone is awake.

The walk down the stairs makes me wonder how I managed to do it all these years because the stairs just won't fucking end.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in," A smug asshole-y voice greets me as I stumble into the kitchen.

I hold my middle finger up at Sebastian, walking up to the fridge. "No need Tess, we made waffles."

I gag internally and shut the door, moving towards the bread box. "Oh hush all of you," my mother reprimands the people in the room, whom I have yet to notice. "You weren't any better the first time you were hungover in this house." She presses a light kiss against my head, "How are you feeling, Honey?"

"Like death," I rasp out, putting in effort to place the bread in the toaster.

"Understandable," Charlotte comments, pouring a glass of water and sliding it over to me. I bow my head in thanks, taking baby sips.

"Go sit down, I'll finish it up for you," my mother gently pushes me towards the stools where I had been sitting not eight hours ago baking cookies.

There's one stool empty and I take a second to look around the kitchen. Surprisingly, it's only my family sitting around the room and not any of their friends. "Where is everyone?"

"I sent them home after actual breakfast which was," she looks at the bare wrist, "Like two hours ago."

"Why?" She places the dry toast in front of me and a separate plate with eggs next to it.

"We're having a family day before we go get Maddie and your father from the hospital," she informs me.

I glance around the room, taking a bite of dry toast. Charlotte is standing next to my mom, looking like her twin but with less gray hairs. Sebastian is sitting on one side of me, shoveling a Pop Tart in his mouth and Sophie is on the other side of me watching me with a smile on her face and her head propped up in her hand. Harry is standing next to the stove cooking up some bacon.

We're all quiet, the tension thick in the air. My mother huffs, "Okay, someone start talking before I make you."

Sebastian shifts in his seat to face and holds up a hand signaling to wait while he chews the food in his mouth. We all sit staring at him for another thirty seconds while he struggles to swallow. Once he's finished he clears his throat. He opens his mouth, "Char, take it away."

My mother scoffs, leaning over the island to smack him upside the head.

"I'm sorry for throwing you in the pool," Harry speaks up, turning his back on the stove.

I shrug, chewing my toast, "S'okay."

"It's not, you were...fragile," I death glare him, "Incapacitated, and it wasn't the brightest idea to throw you in."

"I'm sorry for running away. It was selfish, and I let my anger take control." My head slowly starts clearing as I eat small pieces of my eggs.

"It was our fault for not listening to you in the first place," Sophie reminds me, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"Can we stop apologizing, it feels weird," I comment, seeing them all nodding their heads.

"One last thing, I'm sorry for duct taping your phone to your arm," Sebastian smiles sheepishly, "and ripping it off your arm less than a minute later."

"Yeah that was just stupid," my mother says placing the bacon on the counter. Sebastian grabs a strip and shoves it in his mouth.

"You ripped my arm hairs off, it fucking hurt," the hairless patch on my arm is in his face before he can blink.

"Ooo that looks bad, yeah that ones on me guys," he raises an arm in the air, taking the blame. I throw a piece of bacon at his face and it flops onto the floor. His gasp is comical, "What is the matter with you? That is a perfectly good piece of bacon!" He slips off the stool and bends down to pick it up, immediately shoving it in his mouth. "It's a good thing we don't have a dog."

"Yeah we just have you," Harry remarks a grin on his face.

"Dude!" Sebastian yells out, running over to tackle Harry.

Harry holds his hands out in front of him, a smirk on his face, "Come at me bro."

"Not in my kitchen!" My mother yells at them as Sebastian jumps onto Harry. Harry steps back, bracing for the blow.

"My money's on Harry," Charlotte says with a laugh as Harry shoves Sebastian's face away.

I groan, putting my hands over my ears and lightly thumping my head onto the island top in agony, "Please shut up."

|| ✨ ||

Hey Everyone! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, make sure you read that little piece I put at the top!

I'm going to make it my mission to reply to every comment on this chapter!

See you soon,

Sammipott xx


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