Chapter 13

What happened before:

"Woah, Tim calm down, I get it. But still, you know I can take care of myself and you know especially after sending the transfer emails, that I would never make you choose between your family or me." Tim looked a little saddened at that but still nodded. 

"Ok, now that's finished... let's talk about what is going on with you?" Tim concluded.

''So you know that today was my last day of school, so I went and got all my stuff from my locker and put it in bags. Now I couldn't carry all of them so I made a deal with Martino, saying that if he helped me carry them I'd buy him ice cream. He kept trying to talk to me and I behaved my usual way with strangers. When we arrived home and Bruce and Clara arrived, I sent them in and just as I was going in Martino told me something about my biological family.'' 

 I took a deep breath calming myself. 

''He announced that my biological father had married and had kids with her. I'm going to live with a bunch of boys and A woman, who is my stepmother.'' 

Tim was shocked, to say the least, and gave me a quick hug before he asked ''Was that really all?''  I defeatedly sighed, of course, he'd notice, after all, nobody knew me as well as he did. 

'*You know when I got that phone call?'' 

He nodded 

''Well, it seems like Mom and Dravik both had wills and Dravik embezzled a certain amount from the will, which was supposed to be for me.''

Tim was furious but kept his anger in check ''But in his will, it stated that I get everything''

Instantly he looked gobsmacked. 'What-how-why would that fuc-'' 

''Ah, ah, ah not going to let you cuss for just that. So I knew he wanted to renew it but he never did, meaning at one time in his life, he actually wanted for me to have everything he owned. The date on the will was damaged and will probably need some restoration work to get back.... and....'' 

''And?''   he urged furrowing his eyebrows. 

His confusion and concern at something else being the matter showing. Looking ashamed at the floor I said ''I forgot about Bruce, I forgot to ask what would happen to him'' 

Even admitting this was like a punch to my gut. What does my forgetting about him even say about me? A horrible, selfish and undeserving women. He seemed shocked for a second before he wore a sympathetic look and hugged me tightly as if to chase my pain away and whispered 

''It's okay to sometimes forget, you are, after all, only a 17-year-old teenager. Especially after today, it's ok.'' 

As he said those words the dam in me broke, and all the tears I was trying to keep in, were flooding out, leaving a sobbing mess in his arms. I didn't know whether I was crying because of my guilt or because of all the things that happened today. I relinquished in his comfort and tried to stop thinking. My current emotions needed to be expressed and my mind would only worsen my crying. Thinking when one is having a breakdown usually only ends up in longer breakdowns. A thing the past has shown clearly.

--------------------------:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Time Skip::::::::::::::::::::::::::-------------------------------

It was around 7 PM when I finally calmed down and felt better after all the crying. The hollow part of my soul finding solace in the warmth of Timmy's hug. I was pretty sure my make-up was smeared all over, having tried to rub the tears away. Luckily  the waterproof eye makeup saved my face from having panda eyes. While I continued to cuddle Tim, I was soaking in every bit of warmth I could until suddenly, a ringing disturbed the pleasant time. It was my phone. I grudgingly backed away from the hug and sent a quick excusing look towards Tim, before accepting the call and putting it near my ear. The head of the California branch wanted to discuss a few logistical matters concerning the informing of the loft there and my introduction. 

Taking a few quick sips of the energy drink I started discussing the details. After 30 minutes of the business talk, we decided to continue tomorrow if needed. I leaned back onto the couch and cuddled once again with Tim, who gladly opened his arms and let me snuggle closer. 

I loved how Tim was a cuddly person. Sadly, the door was suddenly opened and I shot up, put my mask and cap back on, hiding my make-up-smeared face and started to gather my things. I didn't bother to look at who came in and slightly gestured Tim to follow me out. On the way out I got to the barman and asked for the paracetamol and sleeping pills. He gave me two correctly labelled containers and I put them into the bag, just giving him a small nod and going out.

Finally, outside with no interruptions I turned to Tim ''Hey it's 7.45 PM, you sure you don't have to start heading home? I wouldn't want to anger your mom'' 

'Well, I think she will understand that I wanted to spend every free minute with my best friend, who will be leaving'' he responded with a hint of a resolute look in his eyes and continued with 

''Also it's all fine until I come back before 10 PM, so we have plenty of time to pack everything and then spend some quality time with each other''  He cheekily said, to which I only shook my head a small smile on my face.

 ''What are you waiting for then? Let's go! We have to be home in 15 minutes or Clara will have to work overtime!'' 

I grabbed his arm and dragged him with me, while we hurried home. Just as we got to my street I put the mask and cap in my bag and put my hair in a strict low bun, while also grabbing Tim's cap and putting it in there too. I got a napkin and rubbed a little of the dried make-up away, we wouldn't want to give Clara a heart attack now. The poor woman already has too much stress in her life. 

Opening the door to my room I saw Bruce still sleeping and Clara working on some papers, probably some assignments for college. She turned to look at us and gave us a smile which we returned. Mine being a little smaller than Tim's.

Clara gathered her things, murmured a soft goodbye to Bruce and closed the door behind her as she reminded me determinedly ''Now I hope you haven't forgotten about our conversation and will tell them one day, Sof.'' 

Lightly lowering my eyes before picking them up I nodded and suddenly remembered ' 'Clara, you know I will move to California to move with my biological family, so you won't need to babysit Bruce anymore, '' she had a look of realization on her face which turned sad.

''This would be the last time you'd babysit, but I will text you the time when we will leave so you can properly say goodbye to Bruce. You are after all his godmother'' 

I enthusiastically said to her, well as enthusiastic as I could after the day I had, to get that sad expression off her face. Said sad expression turned happy and a proud smile formed on her face. ''Of course, I wouldn't want my godson to forget how great his godmother is!'' 

She had a big teasing smile on her face as Tim said ''Well not as great as his godfather'', which led to the current battle between the both as to who the better godparent is. I shook my head smiling at their antics. I will miss this.

''Oh Clara I'll send you the severance pay to your bank account tonight'' 

I informed her, to what she seemed annoyed '' Sofia I thought I made myself clear already, You don't have to pay me! I love to watch the little one and being paid for watching him is something I don't want.'' 

''I know but we both know, that over the years, he has stayed so often with you that you deserve to be paid, also in the time you watched him, you could have worked, so all I'm doing is paying you what you would have received already. Also, this is the only way I get to support contribute to your college fees.'' 

This discussion existed since the first time I paid her. The discussion always prolonged and continued until she'd drop off Bruce. Carla rolled her eyes and was going to say something just to be interrupted by Tim ''Carls just accept it, you know how she is. Sof will find one way or another to give you the money'' 

Shaking her head with a sigh leaving her mouth, "Fine, but I want you to know that I'll spend half of the money to get Bruce things.'' she defiantly said. 

Hiding a mischievous smile I nodded, to which 2 pairs of doubtful eyes were on me, making me only shrug my shoulders innocently. Or well as innocent as I can be...

I chose to close off Dravik's rooms and just focus on our stuff. Mom's stuff I had mostly already bunkered away from Dravik as soon as I noticed his change. I will have to do a deeper in-depth sweep of the place, just in case I overlooked something or something was behind a counter or the wardrobe (or hidden intentionally). The keys to my room were rather new due to Bruce's birth and quite enforced. In comparison, the door to Dravik's room was rather rusty, probably due to its poor handling. I don't even plan on trying to imagine what and how many illegal substances he has in there, but do plan on installing a few cameras in case. 

Enforcing the outer doors and the windows will be essential. Should I just clean out Dravik's room now? Or leave it and get it done later?... The logistics of the move were pushing my overworked brain rather harshly.

It was around 10 PM in the evening when we finished half of the packing and Tim suggested watching a short movie. During the whole movie, we all cuddled and Tim made a few jokes to which I quietly chuckled slightly. Their warmth once again fills the remaining hollowness in my soul. We noticed too late that it was already 11 PM, making us rush to Tim's place with the car, dropping him off and waiting till he closed the door behind him. Despite Carla's and mine rush to get him back soon, he seemed unusually happy to get home late. His upset only appeared when he had to leave us.

I drove back home and entered the room to see Bruce still peacefully asleep on the bed. After washing away the makeup from my face I went over to Bruce and cuddled him while kissing his forehead. I contemplated whether I should take the pill or not, I didn't want to risk accidentally hurting Bruce, but I was sure that Tim would notice that I was tired. I sighed and got the sleeping pill, this time drinking it with a sip of the water bottle, that stood beside my bed.

 I secured Bruce in the middle, or what can be described as the middle of the slim bed, and surrounded him with a blanket, making it seem like a little wall. I got up, took a few blankets and cushions and layered them on the floor next to the bed. The small makeshift mattress was barely cushioning the floor but I didn't care, as I lay on my side and curled up on myself while holding the blanket close to me. 

The flooring bothering my bruises and cuts, but not too bad. I probably should have showered before going to sleep but the exhaustion was too great. I'll need to do that first thing in the morning, the water incident in school can be washed off tomorrow.

Sleep never came easy to me and my semi-'dependence' on sleeping pills didn't help, so I opted to rest and think of something else for a while, yet I was slowly slipping into a much-needed sleep luckily. Grateful that it came so easy today I left my thoughts and focused on the strong pull of sleep.

Heeeeyyyyy, I'm back, kinda. So this chapter has been in my drafts since Octobre 2021 and I had a few paragraphs written on here. but life got In the way and I was really busy and then my mental health suffered a bit and it still is- I actually should be doing way more important things in real life so that my mental health wouldn't get too bad,.. but this chapter was quite filled and I had it and it seemed like a bad choice to just never publish it. I also have the plot kinda summarised for the next few days in the story but haven't gotten to write full paragraphs yet. The sentences and certain logistical things filling up several pages on my Word Document. 

It may be important to mention that half of the sentences (more like bullet point sentences) were written in 2021 the rest mostly in 2022 and some added in 2023... So you could say i have been really passively working on this, kinda...

I will try to do better, but then again with my mental health and real-life situation and the overwhelming important life-changing things I currently am ignoring, I fear they will end up biting me in the ass, so no promises this time. every time I promised real life my mental health suffered so badly that I was in no position to write a thing, which resulted in me suffering even more because I felt so bad...

Anyway, I had to rewrite the paragraphs I had in this chapter due to my growing as and writer and my writing style slightly changing (hopefully evolving). so there might be a kinda of harsh distinction from ch1 to this chapter, but hey! that's just an attest to my writing journey....

I do hope you enjoyed the chapter and will end up leaving me some comments and reviews so far! I hope you have a great day and know that you are loved and that everything may be shit, but at least you know that you are NEVER alone!

ReareShootingstar❤⭐🌠