The Choice (a Painful Past)

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I watched, as my nephews, their wives, and their kids piled out of their cars. They were followed by my sister, her boyfriend, and one of her friends. In all, there was probably about 13 people that had just showed up. 

I sighed, and walked forwards to greet them. Randy, the oldest and the largest, wrapped his arms around me, and lifted me off the ground. "What's up, sis? It feels like it's been forever. We've been calling you, but you never answer."

"Um, yeah," I mumbled. He set me back down on my feet, just for his brother Daniel to do the same thing. "My phone isn't acting right," I lied. I couldn't really tell them that I was ignoring their calls, because I knew they would ask me to do something for them. 

"Well, this is my buddy's car. Ours broke down, so he let me borrow this one for the night, if I brought him with us. Callie, this is John," Daniel said, as a guy I had never seen before came out of nowhere. 

"Hey, nice to meet you, Callie," the guy said, as he stuck his hand out to me. I shook it, as I took in his appearance. He had the same look that I had come to associate with addicts. While my nephews didn't look like they were on drugs, I knew they were. It just seemed like they were handling it, for now. 

John was skinny, almost bony, with hollowed out cheeks, and dark circles under his eyes. When he smiled, I saw that some of his teeth were broken. He was tanned, but somehow his skin still had a sickly pale look. He was on something bad. 

"She's cute, right?" Daniel said, as he clapped John on the back. I closed my eyes for a second, realizing what he had probably done. He had been trying to set me up with people, since I had left Will. He wouldn't understand that I wasn't ready for a relationship, or sex, or anything. 

There was only one person that had even made me think that maybe I was ready for something more and he was leaving soon. 

"Yeah, she's pretty cute," John replied, grinning at me. I gave him a quick, subdued smile, then turned to look for Sam and Colby. Might as well get this part over with. 

God, I hoped that we would be leaving soon. 

My brothers walked over to greet everyone so, after I acknowledged my sister, I walked back to my previous seat. I was already so stressed from everyone showing up, that I didn't even realize that I had walked right past Sam and Colby.

I put my head in my hands and took a deep breath. I already had an almost overwhelming feeling of dread of what was to come. I'm sure that most people wouldn't understand that. I mean, it was just a family gathering, a cook out. An activity that was supposed to bring us together and be fun to attend. 

On the outside, for now, it was just that. But, I knew the hostility that lay underneath the fake smiles and hugs. I knew that there was bound to be arguments later. Bad ones, if the past was any indication as to how things would go. 

"Hey, you okay?" I heard Colby's soft voice and let it wrap around me, soothing my nerves a little. I looked up and felt my breath hitch in my throat. Those damn eyes always caught me off guard. "Yeah. No. I don't know," I sighed, as he sat down next to me. 

His eyes shone with hesitancy and worry. "I'll be okay," I reassured him. This wasn't his problem. My life wasn't his problem.

"Come here," he murmured, as he put his arm around me and pulled me against his side. I lay my head over onto his shoulder, relaxing into him. We sat silently for just a moment. All of the noise fell away, leaving me in this quiet, peaceful bubble that I never wanted to leave. 

It ended too soon.

"Yo, what's up? I'm Randy." I glanced up to see the family gathering around us. Randy was introducing himself to Sam. I could see that Sam was a little unnerved, probably from my nephew's appearance. Hell, if I didn't know them, I would've been too.