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I balledmy teeth so hard my jaw ached
I shifted frouy, but then Alexis slipped her hand into mine “Berk, I don’t feel so well Can you take me home?”
Grabbing her hand, I hustled her out of there and into hts whipped by as we drove in silence to her apartment
My former foster parents had moved her into a studio apart she’d finallyaround so many students All it had done was open up even et booze until she enty-one So and try to picture what my life would’ve been like if I hadn’t been kicked out of their house Would I have had a place to go back to for Thanksgivings? Christmases with presents under the tree with my name on them? Parents who texted and called to check up onanyone?
Alexis never seeot comfortable there Never believed it was real It wasn’t like I hadn’t been there too But they actually gave a shit and I’d sacrificed so she still didn’t feel she could trust It broke my heart for us both
I usedoverI needed and everything I cared about was in the bag
The light gray walls and coordinated teal accents pulled the space together andOther than the empty pizza boxes, take out containers and half-empty cups on most flat surfaces
Withopen the cabinet under the sink and shoved paper plates and other trash into the garbage can This place looked worse than The Brothel, and there were four guys living there
When the garbage bag was filled to the bri the entire tiift-wrapped box and found the overly large bottle of ibuprofen After filling a glass of water, I checked the time Fuck, I had practice in less than four hours
“Are you mad at me?” She stared up at me as I handed her the pills and shoved the water into her hand
I pinched the bridge of my nose “No”
She downed half the glass “You look irl on her first night in a new placement The first time she’d ended up in the syste a stuffed bunny rabbit rayed ear of that same rabbit peeked out from under her blankets
And the sier at her irresponsibility evaporated She was still just my kid sister “I worry about you This is the second tiet you You disappear all suht around the corner and you keep having meltdowns”
“Good to know football’s more important than eBob T-shirt that ht as well have been a tent
“You’re ’s more important than that”