All The Little Lights // c.b

39

I stepped forward and hugged him around his middle. He instantly wraps his arms around my small body and leans his head on mine. He let me cry into his hoodie, and I realized how much smaller I had gotten in the past 3 weeks. I step back and wipe a sleeve across my eyes.

"Sorry," I mumble, seeing as I had soaked his grey hoodie with my tears.

"Don't be sorry, I'm sorry. For everything," he says, and I just nod.

"I-I accept your apology," I say, and he brings me back in for a hug.

"Thank you," he whispers, and I just nod into his hoodie.

***

Colby's POV

She came home. She really came home. Hell, she even gave me a hug! God, I missed her. She was so small though, and her whole body looked frail and thinner than normal. It worried me, so I went over to Sam who was in the kitchen eating Oreos out of the box.

"Hey man," I start, not knowing how to start the conversation.

"She hugged you, dude!" He says, and hands me a cookie,. I laugh and take it, and sit down at one of the bar stools.

"She did, but I had really hurt her, man," I say, and Sam nods solemnly.

"You did. And Kat and I are willing to help you make it right, but it won't be in a split second," he says and I nod.

"We should all go to dinner tonight. When I hugged her she was so, bony. I'm worried," I say finally, dropping my head, "I am the cause of that."

"Damn right you are, but you have to fix it. Kat and I can't do all the work, but we can probably make a dinner work. I'll invite Corey and Devyn as well, and how about we call it your guys anniversary dinner," Sam says, and I nod graciously.

***

That evening, two hours before we planned to leave, I heard Sam and Josie talking in Devyn's room. Her voice was small, but she agreed to it. Sam exited the room and gave me a thumbs up as Josie followed. Her expression was blank and her eyes were red, and she skirted past me and into the bathroom. I felt my heart break once again, she was confident when she came back but it seems the confidence fell and she was lost. She was lost, and it is all my fault. I went back into my room to get ready, worrying about her the whole time even though she was no more than five feet away from me in the next room.

Josie's POV

I take my time getting ready. I wash my face and moisturize, and frown at myself. I was really nervous for this dinner, I didn't want to eat anything. Nothing sounded good to me. I hated it. I was such a foodie before but now .... I sighed, and braided my hair to the side per usual. I exited the bathroom and went into Devyn's room, where she was changing.

"Is that what you are wearing?" She asks me, and I nod. I was wearing leggings and a flowy tee.

"No way, girl," Devyn says, and goes into her closet. She comes out with a simple black dress, that would probably hit about knee length.

"No," I say flatly, out of all things I would never wear a dress.

"Uh, Yes. We are are going to a nice restaurant, not Tender Greens," she says and tosses the dress at me. I change reluctantly, and then Dev pulls me over to her vanity.

"Makeup," she says, and I shake my head.

"No, dev," I say, but she only pulls out a tube of mascara and an eyebrow pencil. She does my brows and then I do my mascara, and she hands me a tinted sunscreen for my face.

"Don't worry, it's basically just sunscreen," she says and I nod, applying it. It gave my face a nice glow, and I didn't feel as dead as I did. We were then both ready, and we both walked downstairs. Sam, Colby, Corey, and Kat were already waiting downstairs, and looked up when I came walking down behind Dev. Dev smiled and walked over to Corey, giving him a hug. Kat was sitting next to Sam, and Colby had stood up and walked over to me. I took a small step back and he stopped walking a few feet away from me.

"You look beautiful," he whispers, and I let a small smile form on my lips.

"Alright folks, let's go," Sam says, and we go to Sam's car as well as Colby's since Sam didn't have enough room. Kat went with Sam as well as Corey, then Dev joined me with Colby in his car. He gets in the drivers side and Dev quickly jumps in the backseat, pointing at the passenger seat. I slid in reluctantly, and smoothed my dress down.