The truth was, I admired Ingram. To have that much strength and will at that young of an age was beyond impressive.
“Anyway,” Chris said going on. “Mouse found this place for kids like her. There’s therapy. Oh, and help for her with Chry. She wanted to learn how to do things for herself and…”
“Being here with suddenly like twenty new brotherly types was suffocating?” I finished for him with a laugh.
I had seen how the guys could be. Not only with Ingram but with Cami as well. Once you were in, they all treated you like family.
Again, I felt a sharp stab in my heart.
Sure they had all been good to me. They had helped me move. And when I saw them around they didn’t treat me like an outsider. But they weren’t always around like I had seen them be with Cami.
Chris laughed and nodded while I tried to keep the smile from slipping off my face.
“Exactly,” he said. “And Ky is just very overprotective. I think if he had his way she would have never left the house.”
The conversation moved on. I ate my taco and drank a strawberry margarita that Chris ordered for me. We laughed and joked. Not once did he ask me if I was doing alright, which I loved because I didn’t want to be seen as the broken girl. The pathetic, sad princess that had lost it all. I was really grateful that Chris never looked at me or treated me as anything other than a friend. When we hung out, I was Laurel. I wasn’t a Benson. I wasn’t Cami’s older sister. I wasn’t that girl that had been humiliated and cheated on. Or the one that had nothing now. I was just me.
By the end of our dinner, I felt lighter. Chris drove me home, then sent me on my way with a tight hug and promised to call me soon.
Hanging out with him had been the thing I needed. The day had kind of been a little crappy. Between Bryan’s surprise little visit and Chris, I ended it on a good note.
I just had to keep focusing on the positive. That was the only way I knew how to keep my head above water.
