Some People Stay

Amelia hated being in the same house as Bridget. She had done that for eighteen years, and while she loved her sister dearly, she loved her even more when they weren’t living in the same place. Amelia had thought it had been bad when Bridget was constantly over at her house, trying to make sure she was okay. But, she never could have imagined it could get even worse by living with her.

Bridget was constantly all over Amelia, trying to make sure she was okay and that she wasn’t going to commit suicide. Amelia had tried to tell her that she wasn’t going to kill herself, but Bridget was still worried, and she was becoming almost overbearing with her.

Amelia’s only saving grace had been Jonathan. Bridget was still angry at him and would refuse to talk to him, so when he was around Amelia, Bridget would back off a little bit. Amelia used this to her advantage, trying to stay near Jonathan as much as possible.

She walked across the hallway to Jonathan’s room, knocking on the door, which he opened up moments later. “Hey, come on in,” he told her, stepping out of the way so she could get inside. “I actually need to talk to you.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Amelia said softly, sitting down on the bed that he had just made. “What is it?” she asked, refusing to look up at him. Instead, she dragged her big toe across the carpet, paying attention to it instead of Jonathan.

“Preseason starts next week,” he told her, and Amelia continued to play with the carpet with her toe. She already knew what that meant, but she was waiting to hear the words from him. “I’m leaving to go back home tomorrow,” he announced, and Amelia did all that she could to show no emotion with that statement.

“Gotcha,” she stated.

“Amelia,” Jonathan said softly, sitting down next to her. “I’m sorry. I really wish I could stay, but this is my job, it’s my life. I can’t just not go back,” he tried explaining.

“I get it, Jon,” she told him. “That’s your life. This was just a vacation for you, coming here to Nashville. And, now you get to go back to the real world. Well, I hope you have a fan-fucking-tastic time in the real world,” she said loudly before walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She quickly made her way back to her room, which subsequently used to be her childhood room, and she locked the door behind her before either Jonathan or Bridget had the chance to come in after her.

She threw herself on the bed, not understanding why she was so upset right now. She knew Jonathan would have to go back to Chicago eventually. It wasn’t like he was moving to Nashville and going to create a life there working at some convenience store. His life was in Chicago, playing hockey. But, he had been the one person consistently there for her, and she appreciated that.. He didn’t try to make her talk when she didn’t want to or constantly keep checking on her like she was a five year old. He let her deal with her husband’s death how she wanted to, and he didn’t criticize her for doing so. And, now he was just leaving.

She heard a knock on her door, but she ignored it, not wanting to deal with anyone right now, whether that be Jonathan or Bridget. “Amelia, come on, unlock the door,” she heard Jonathan’s voice call from the other side of the door. “I want to talk to you, and it’s kinda hard to do that through a door,” he added. But, Amelia didn’t move from the bed. Eventually, the knocking and talking stopped, as he apparently got her hint and left. She flipped over onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. She used to do the exact same thing when she was mad at her parents. She would run into her room, lock the door, and just stare at the ceiling.

She laid there for hours, not moving, just contemplating everything that had happened to her over the past couple of months, from her husband dying to her relationship weakening with Bridget to her suicide attempts to Jonathan coming to Nashville. So much had changed in such a short period of time.

She heard a knock on the door, and she waited to see if anybody was going to say anything. “Amelia,” she heard her sister say softly. “I made some dinner, if you want some. I’ll just leave it in the kitchen and you can get it whenever you want it, if you want it.”

Amelia waited for her to begin begging for her to open the door and talk to her, but she never did. She heard her walk away from the door, and Amelia was absolutely shocked. Where was her overbearing sister? Had she finally realized that that wasn’t helping Amelia?

She laid for another hour or so before looking over at her clock on her nightstand to see that it was past midnight. She made her way downstairs, hoping that both Jonathan and Bridget had gone to bed already. She had just walked into the kitchen when she saw Bridget sitting there. She thought about turning around and heading back up to her room, but she decided against it, walking over to the refrigerator.

When Bridget didn’t say anything to her right away, Amelia turned around to look at her. “Hey,” she said, not really knowing what else to say.

“Hey,” Bridget said, smiling at her a little.

“Is everything okay?” Amelia finally asked, wondering why her sister was so quiet.

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know, you’re just acting a little differently. You’re usually always talking to me. You’re just quiet today,” Amelia told her, opening up the refrigerator and getting the leftover barbecue pork that Bridget had cooked earlier that day out and putting it into the microwave to heat back up.

“I just thought I’d try a different approach,” Bridget shrugged her shoulders. “Me always talking to you wasn’t working out. And, I know you don’t want to be here. So, if you want me to stay quiet while you’re here, then that’s what I’m going to do. Whatever is going to be best for you,” she explained.

The microwave beeped, indicating it was finished, and Amelia carefully took the hot bowl out of it, moving it to the kitchen table and sitting down next to Bridget with a fork in her hand. “It’s not that I don’t want you to talk to me,” Amelia began, and Bridget looked over at her curiously. “I just want you to cool it with always asking me how I’m doing or trying to force me to talk about David,” she told her sister. “Bridge, you’re my sister, and I love you, but you’ve been making it worse when you ask me to talk about the death. But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to talk to me at all,” she added.

Bridget stared at Amelia, surprised that she was saying all of this. This was probably the most she had spoken to her since the funeral. “I was just trying to help,” Bridget said quietly.

“I know you were,” Amelia told her. “And, I appreciate that, but talk to me like I’m your sister, not some random victim.”

“I can try to do that,” Bridget said with a smile, happy that they were finally talking again. Even if it wasn’t going to be the same as before, both sisters knew that them communicating was the best for everybody. “So...would you like to talk about anything?”

Amelia faltered for a moment over her question. That was the first time since David’s death that Bridget had asked her what she wanted to talk about. It had always been Bridget coming up with what they were talking about, and now she was really asking Amelia what she wanted. Maybe things really were making a turn for the better. “Jon’s leaving,” Amelia said, not really knowing what else to talk about.

Bridget nodded her head. “Yeah, he has to go back for preseason,” she said. “I know he’s kinda been there for you, and I know this can’t be okay for you.”

Amelia shrugged, not wanting to tell Bridget just how much it was hurting her. “It’s fine,” she told her.

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way,” Bridget began, and Amelia was curious as to what she was going to say next. Every time Bridget began a sentence that way, Amelia always took it the wrong way. There was no way not to. “Is something going on between you two?”

“Huh?” Amelia asked, legitimately confused by her question.

“Between you and Jon,” Bridget clarified. “Is anything going on? You two have just been awfully close, and obviously neither of you were really talking to me, so I don’t know,” she trailed off.

“Bridge, nothing’s going on between me and Jon,” Amelia assured her, and she could swear that she saw a look of relief briefly rush across her face. “He was just there to help me when I needed it. That’s it.”

“Okay,” Bridget said with a smile on her face.

“Why? Would you have been upset if there was?” Amelia asked. “Do you have a thing for him or something?” she asked.

“What?” Bridget asked. “No,” she shook her head. “I was just curious.”

“Okay,” Amelia said, though she wasn’t entirely sure that Bridget was telling her the truth. If Bridget had a thing for Jonathan, then that would explain a lot. That would be why she was so upset about Amelia and Jonathan spending so much time together. And why Amelia had seen relief in Bridget’s eyes when she told her nothing was going on. But, for some reason, deep down inside, Amelia was praying that Bridget was telling her the truth when she said she didn’t have a thing for Jonathan. But, Amelia couldn’t figure out why she hoped that so much.