Do You Love Me?

Wiping away the last of my tears, I let out a sigh. Two weeks had passed now- it was pretty hard for me to believe. This so called ‘family’ of mine were treating me as if though I was an outsider and not their own blood. Their treatment of me was killing me inside. Yes, I couldn’t care less- however, at some point in life, you need someone’s reassurance that you are loved.

I didn’t seem to understand their strange behaviour towards me. If they didn’t want me then why did they bring me back in the first place?

“Jai?” I heard a familiar voice coming from behind me.

It was Joe, the only one who had made some effort and acknowledged my very existence.

“Hello,” I greeted him with a huge sigh.

“Me and the rest of the guys are heading off to the park, want to join us?” Joe asked rather politely. “It’s going to be me, Nick, Kevin, John and Garbo.”

“I don’t think Kevin and Nick would like it if I came along,” I answered quietly.

“Who cares what they think?” moaned Joe. “They’re just plain idiots Jai, believe me- I’ve known them longer.” He sighed. “You can’t just sit in this room for the rest of your life Jai, come on out today. I promise to stick up for you.” He began to pout. I couldn’t help myself laughing at this gesture of his.

“Listen Joe, I don’t need anyone to stick up for me. I am capable of doing that myself.” I bit my bottom lip. “I am thankful to you, I really am, but please just leave me be.”

Within a spilt second, I felt Joe’s hand grabbing mine as he began dragging me out of my bedroom. “I don’t care who you think you are missy! But I’m going to force you out of this house today. Even if it kills me!” he yelled at the top of his voice.

Feeling rather defeated and at a loss, I lazily followed him out of the house. The walk to the park took us about fifteen minutes at the most, where I was confronted by someone who certainly was not happy to see me at all.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Nick asked me angrily.

Before I could say anything, Joe came to my rescue. “I invited her,” he told our younger brother and pushed him out of the way.

“Hey,” Kevin greeted me with a smile for the first time in two weeks. “Look, I just wanted to say I am truly very sorry for the way I have been treating you. You didn’t deserve any of it. You’ve been through a lot already and I’m sorry for trying to make it worse,” he finished.

I opened my mouth to reply back but to no avail- no words had managed to escape.

“No need to say anything Jai,” Kevin continued. “Joe gave me a lecture last night,” he sighed, “and trust me, it was not nice,” he laughed.

I mouthed a ‘thanks’ to Joe.

We were soon joined by Gregory Garbowsky and John Taylor. John was very excited to finally see me. However, Garbo kept his distance. Our day at the park consisted of playing football, cricket and rounders which, might I add, was very tiring.

“Who wants a drink?” Joe asked myself and Garbo whilst we took a short break.

“Coke please,” Garbo answered.

“Same here,” I replied.

Joe went off to get us some drinks, leaving me alone with the guy who seemed to be scared of me. Garbo stood up immediately as soon as Joe was out of sight. “Where are you going?” I asked him out of curiosity.

“Err, to help Joe,” he quickly answered my question.

I shook my head. “Seriously, am I that scary to you?”

He laughed nervously. “No, of course not.”

“I think that you are scared of me,” I laughed as he sat back down, “because all day you didn’t say a word to me. You’ve kept your distance. Is it because I’m ugly?” I questioned.

He shook his head violently. “Hell no!” he managed to scream at the top of his voice. “I mean, you’re not ugly at all, in fact, you’re beau-“ He didn’t get to finish his sentence as my phone began to ring.

“Drew!” I yelled down the phone. “Hello! I haven’t heard your voice in years!” I complained. “How’s my Drew holding up?”

I heard Drew laugh slightly. “I’m good, though the thoughts of you not being in my arms is killing me every second of the day,” he breathed. “I love you Smithers.”

“I love you too Drew, I miss you so much darling. I’ve never taken off the necklace you gave me. Hopefully this is all a dream and I’ll wake up one day and see you by my side.” I smiled delighted at the very thought of it.

“I hope for that every single day. Jai-”

Silence.

“Hello? Drew, are you there?” I sighed angrily. “Stupid, stupid phone!” I moaned and turned my attention towards Garbo. “Sorry about that.” I stood up as it had begun to rain heavily.

“It’s okay,” he got up too. “Here, take my jacket,” he offered. I accepted it, I wasn’t going to say no, I was freezing.

“Thanks,” I smiled. “We should do this again some time,” I suggested, “so your fear of me can slowly fade away!” I laughed as we both made our way back to the others.

“So, I see that you are settling in well,” Garbo mentioned.

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you think,” I sighed. “I try to settle in, but when nobody wants to cooperate, there’s not much you can do.”

“I’m sure that this is all in your head,” Garbo replied. “It’s not that hard.”

We had now reached the park gates. “It’s not that hard,” I sniffed, “and it’s not that easy for me either.”

“Sorry,” he apologised.

“It’s okay."