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“I think it’s a great idea,” Sebastian assured him as he went to buy the book, only to realize that he didn’t have anything left on the gift card that his parents gave him for his birthday.
“You need my help,” Jonathan pointed out while Sebastian lay there, determined to ignore him and-
“Is Mikey sick?” Jonathan asked, making him frown.
“Not that I know of,” Sebastian said, wondering what the hell his brother was talking about, only to remember that she ate his mother’s meatloaf for dinner and-
“Her mother takes her to the doctor a lot,” Jonathan said, sounding thoughtful as everything in Sebastian went still.
“She has another doctor’s appointment?” Sebastian asked, biting back a curse as he shoved the covers aside to go check on her, only to find himself watching as their bedroom window was shoved open and the teenage girl who was about to go quiet on him climbed inside.
Every few months, her mother scheduled her for another doctor’s appointment, and every time it happened, Mikey would go quiet. She didn’t smile as much, tease him, or make his life a living hell and he hated it. He didn’t know what the appointments were for, and he didn’t ask her, afraid that it would push her away and he couldn’t stomach the idea of her going through this alone.
For the next week, she’d do anything to avoid going home. She’d hang out at his house, the batting cages, Uncle Jason and Aunt Haley’s house, and even school if that meant that she could avoid going home. When she was home, Mikey stayed in her room, skipped meals, and barely said a word to anyone.
He hated those appointments.
Mikey didn’t say anything as she made her way across their bedroom and neither did he. As soon as she toed off her shoes, Sebastian was holding the covers up for her. Without a word, Mikey crawled in bed with him and curled up on her side facing him. Sebastian tucked her in before wrapping his arm around her and pulled her closer.
“Dad’s not going to like this,” Jonathan pointed out with a resigned sigh as Sebastian shifted to get more comfortable.
“It’s fine,” Sebastian said, kissing the top of Mikey’s head as she pressed her forehead against his chest. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he whispered as he closed his eyes.
He was tempted to ask her about the appointment, but…
He knew the stubborn pain in the ass well enough to know that she would either ignore him or grumble something as she shoved the covers aside, climbed back out of his bed, stole his new sweatshirt, and disappeared through the window so that she could be miserable alone and that was the last thing that he wanted.
So, instead, Sebastian pressed his lips against the top of her head one last time, pulled her closer, and-
Bit back a wince when the little brat took that as an invitation to get more comfortable by placing her cold feet over his before releasing a heartfelt sigh moments before he felt her relax in his arms. Telling himself that everything was fine, Sebastian closed his eyes and fell asleep with the girl who meant the world to him in his arms.
* * *
Friday
“I’m gonna fail,”Mikey mumbled weakly as she sat there, unable to look away from the worksheet covered in red pen.
“Probably,” Sebastian said, not really sounding all that concerned that she just got every problem wrong.
“How is this being supportive?” Mikey mumbled absently as she took in all that red covering her answers and-
“I would have at least given you a smiley face,” Jonathan said, shoving the rest of the brownie that he stole from her in his mouth before plucking the red pen out of Sebastian’s hand and drawing the saddest smiley face that Mikey had ever seen on her paper. “There, isn’t that better?”
“I really hate you,” Mikey said with a sniffle as she sent a hopeful look at Sebastian to find him staring at the band-aid on her arm.
“It’s getting late, guys. Why don’t you call it a night?” Reese said, drawing her attention to find him staring at the band-aid with the same worried expression that her mother got every time she got her blood drawn before he cleared his throat and forced himself to look away.
With a mumbled, “Goodnight,” Mikey grabbed the worksheet that was making her even more depressed and made her way upstairs where she took one last look at her worksheet before tossing it on her desk and headed to the bathroom. Ten minutes later, she was dressed in her pajamas, checked on her baby brothers, and headed back to her room, past her bed, and straight for her window.
From there, she climbed onto her roof and closed the window behind her as quietly as humanly possible before she made her way to the edge of the roof, carefully lowered herself onto the stack of pallets below, and after making sure that the coast was clear, she made her way across the street. That was followed by climbing onto the porch roof and making her way across it before she pulled herself up onto the small roof above it.
A minute later, she was crawling into the dark bedroom, closing the window behind her, and quickly making her way across the room. After making sure that Uncle Trevor wasn’t coming, Mikey toed off her shoes, climbed into the small bed by the far wall and curled up next to the teenage boy who always made everything better.
* * *
Saturday
“What did we talk about?”came the heavily sighed question that had Sebastian’s life flashing before his eyes as he lay there, really hoping that his father was in a good mood as he opened his eyes and-
