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“I can’t get a hold of Maybelle. I think something mightbe wrong.” He admitted.
Williams let out a deep relieved breath, “Ok good. I thought I pissed her off. Good to know she is ignoring you too.”
Trey side eyed his best friend.
“Do we need to go find her?” Bear asked softly, “We can all go make sure she is alright.”
Larson scoffed, “No, no! We agreed it was a guys’ only night! You all have seriously neglected me. Maybelle is a big girl; she will be alright. She probably just wanted some time to herself.” He argued making his way for the door.
“No more talk about any of your girls, guys’ night starts now, and no girls are going to come between us and—” Larson halted completely, with one hand on the front door, holding it slightly ajar but only open wide enough for Larson, alone to see what stood on the other side.
“You good, Chad?” Trey asked.
Larson’s shoulders slumped, “Give me a second.” He muttered and he was outside, shutting the door behind him.
“What the hell was even that?” Williams asked. Bear shrugged and Trey checked his phone to see if Maybelle had answered him yet.Williams stalked up to the front door and put his face against it to look out the minuscule peep hole.
“Can you see him?” Bear inquired; he too was now nearing the door. Williams didn’t respond, but he did swear as he quickly backed away from the door that swung open revealing Larson, and a puffy-eyed Maybelle under his arm.
Trey’s heart dropped into his stomach. Maybelle kept her eyes down; her hair was in a tangled knot on the top of her head, and she was still wearing her work uniform. A white shirt stained with what looked to be coffee, tan pants and a black half apron tied around her waist.
“You’re off the hook tonight, Turner.” Larson said, his tone a lot gentler as he guided Maybelle in. She sniffled andwalked from Larson’s embrace straight into Trey’s arms. Trey had to make a conscious effort to keep his limbs from holding her so tight they crushed her little frame.
“You two,” Larson said, the bite in his voice returned as he faced Williams and Bear, “guys’ night, now!” And he shooed them out until it was only Trey, Maybelle and her drenching tears left in the apartment.
Now that they were alone Maybelle’s cries broke into a heavier sob, her hands shook, and her knees buckled. Trey immediately picked her up, cradling her in his arms as she sobbed into the crook of his neck. He didn’t speak, only let her cry even though it went against every instinct he had screaming at him to demand what happened from her.
Trey wanted, no, needed to fix it but he had to know what to fix first. He also knew that when Maybelle was ready to talk, she would talk and right now was not the time. Trey carried her to his bed where he sat, still holding her in his arms and there they remained, Maybelle curled up and crying into him as he reminded himself to keep breathing.
Only moments like that passed before Maybelle finally spoke, “I’m sorry.” She coughed out and Trey gripped her tighter.
“Don’t.” Was all he managed as he began to rock and kiss the top of her hair.
It must have been almost a half hour by the time Maybelle was finally quiet. Trey thought she might have fallen asleep but when he finally looked down at her cradled in his arms her blue, green eyes were open and vibrant. They were also red and swollen but they were open as she stared absently at a spot on the ceiling, blinking slowly.
“May.” Trey whispered. Her gaze didn’t focus on him, she only blinked, continuing to stare blankly ahead.
“Maybelle, are you ready to talk to me and tell me whathappened?” She eventually looked up at him. Licking her dry lips, she swiped at a raw, flushed cheek before finally nodding.
Trey adjusted them so they both sat and faced one another on the bed, he undid her apron and set it off to the side, trying to give her as much comfort as possible. Maybelle looked exhausted, depleted. He had never seen her look like this, not even in those first days when she couldn’t stay awake.
Now that they faced one another Trey finally noticed the small, leather-bound journal she had been clutching onto in one hand. Maybelle’s eyes fell on the journal and her fingers fidgeted with a corner of the cover.
Right then, Trey had an idea of what was wrong, and it pained him that he hadn’t thought about this before. That somethings in the book would be too much for her to read alone. He wanted to fume and be angry with himself, but he choked down on his rising hackles, waiting for her to speak.
This was about Maybelle, not him.
“Can you tell me what I was like before the accident?” She finally asked, her voice hoarse with emotion. Trey admittedly didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t expecting her to ask that, but he said the first thing that came to his mind.
“Quiet— I think you preferred books over people, but while I and many others had mistaken it for shyness, I think it was heaviness.” He didn’t think that exactly made sense, but Maybelle nodded, seeming to understand.
“You read the whole book, right?” She asked gesturing to the journal that lay on her lap.
Trey nodded, “So you know— you know what happened?” Her question came out on a hiccup, like the sobs were crawling back up her throat but she was trying desperately to keep them at bay.
Trey nodded, his gut twisting with the memory of reading the pages in reference. It had been only a few weeks afterhe started school that he was sitting by Maybelle’s sleeping side in the hospital, reading through that part of the book.
Previously in the journal Maybelle had mentioned her mom’s boyfriend only a few times. She had written nothing kind about the man but nothing damning either. Maybelle honestly seemed to keep far away from the topic of her mom’s boyfriend for the majority, never even recorded his name. It wasn’t until part way through what would have been her sophomore year of high school Maybelle wrote everything worth note about the man.
