Don't Give up on Me

"Dee," I hear a little voice whispering into my ear. "Dee?"

I laugh quietly as I roll over and look at Desiree on the pillow next to mine, her brown curls in total disarray. She rubs her brown eyes and yawns while saying, "Awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," I yawn as well, looking at the clock. 8 am. Not bad, little one, I think as I sit up. "Is Mommy awake?"

She shakes her head. "Here, let's get you changed then," I say, laying her down on the comforter and changing her diaper. If you had told me two months ago that I'd willingly change my half-sister's diaper, I would have laughed in your face. But times change, I guess.

Picking her up, I carry her into the kitchen, where my Grandma was sipping coffee at the kitchen table and reading the morning paper. "Morning," I greet her as I sit at the table, my sister settling onto my lap, her head on my chest.

"You can go lay back down, Andria, I've got the baby," my grandmother says, though I stop her from getting up.

"Your hands are already full, Grams, its alright," I assure her instantly. "Plus, she's a pretty good kid. I need to spend more time with her."

"I'm glad you think so. Your mother and I were both so afraid that you weren't going to take any of this well, and you've proved us wrong."

"I'm not the stubborn 14 year old anymore. I mean, I'm still stubborn, but I've grown up since we were all together last."

She groans. "Don't remind me, Ryan's about to be 21 and you're almost 17. You kids grew up too fast."

"Damn right they did," a rough voice says from the doorway. I look up and see my grandfather's grin and feel immediate relief. His skin had paled from sickness, and there were bags underneath his eyes that weren't there before, but he was still the gray-haired man I remembered. He was always tall and slender, but he'd lost weight due to the chemotherapy he's been receiving, and it showed.

"Hey, Gramps," I say as he hugs me, then sits beside my grandmother and kisses her temple.

"Is this really our granddaughter?" he asks my Grandma, making her laugh. "I don't remember her looking this grown up."

"Es muy bonita, ¿verdad?"my Grandma asks him in Spanish as she prepares him a cup of coffee.

"Si, estoy de acuerdo," he answers, making me smile.

"The little one likes you, eh?" he asks, referring to Desiree, who was nodding off against my chest.

"She told Ryan that I was her favorite," I grin, shifting her slightly so she was more comfortable.

"I'm so glad you're here, Andria," he says genuinely. "Its been so long, mija, I missed you."

"I missed you, too," I reply quietly, trying my hardest to control my emotions. He smiles when he recieves the coffee from my grandmother, then takes her newspaper and reads it for himself.

Eventually, everyone in the house wakes up and breakfast is quickly made, energizing my little sister especially. I watched her help my Grandpa feed the chickens in the back from the porch, a fond smile on his face as he watched her carefully toss the feed to them. He soon grew tired, however, and made his way back inside. It saddened me to see him this way; simple tasks like these were impossible for him due to his sickness, and it was just hard to watch.

I follow them back inside, passing my older brother and mother whisper arguing on the way. I walked back in curiosity, almost laughing at the stern look on my mother's face; Ryan towered over her, making it hard to take her serious.

"Ryan, something bad could happen if we drive to the island, and I don't want to have to rush your grandfather to the hospital down there, because they aren't aware of his condition," she says quietly, her fierce eyes locked with his.

"He hasn't gone fishing in years, and he looks so unhappy, Mom. He and Grandma both are cooped up in this house, and I hate it. Just one day, Mom, please?" my brother pleads with her. "Help me out, Andi?"

My eyes widen as he drags me into this. "Wait, what?"

"He wants to take your grandfather to the island tomorrow to go fishing," my mother explains.

"What's the big deal? Let's go! We haven't gone in years!" I say with a grin, only to have daggers shot at me by my mother for losing this fight.

"Andi, he isn't supposed to be outside for long periods of time, the sun can hurt him," she says desparately.

"I'm not supposed to be in the sun for long periods of time, either, yet here I am," I reply, referring to my fair skin. "C'mon, Mom. We'll take the boat out and make sure Gramps has plenty of shade and water if nessescary."

"I'll talk to them both about it tonight," she finally sighs in defeat, walking past the both of us.

"Yes," my brother fist pumps in victory, making me roll my eyes.

**************************************************************

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," I mumble as I pace around on the front porch. I finally settled on the edge of the warm wood, and let my legs dangle off the edge.

"Hello?" I heard the smooth voice I'd missed answer, making me feel like sighing.

"Hey," I say, trying to not sound overly-excited.

"How are you, babe?" Zacky asks.

"Good. I'm really... good," I say, fumbling over my words.

"Good, eh?"

"Yeah, my mom and I talked and we're on good terms again, and I met my little sister finally-"

"You have a sister?!"

"Yep. She's two. Her name's Desiree," I tell him, completely forgetting that he knew a handful of imformation regarding my mother's affair; he just knew that she and I weren't speaking. "And she said I'm her favorite, but I'm not surprised."

He laughs. "And you said cockiness wasn't attractive."

"Yes, well, I'm full of contradictions, my dear," I reply, grinning. "How are you? Everything okay on your end?"

"Yeah, yeah. Its quiet without you yelling at me about kicking your ass at Halo, but what can you do?" he says, making me laugh.

"Gee, thanks, babe," I mutter sarcastically.

"Kidding. Sort of. Anyways, you've actually been missing a few things since you left," he says, sparking my curiosity.

"Such as...?"

"Can I tell her?" I hear him ask another person in the room.

"Well, she's gonna find out sooner or later," I hear Violet's voice drift towards the phone.

"Tell me what?! Don't leave me in the dark!" I plead.

"Cara's, uh, 'talking' to Michael again," he says slowly. "Ow! God damn it, Violet, what the hell is your problem?"

"Give me the phone," I hear her say before she greets me happily. "Cara and Michael are fucking again."

"What?!? How do you know?" I ask in shock; I could have sworn Cara had said not even four days ago that she was glad they'd broken up. Then again, I knew how she felt. Desparate loneliness after a breakup gets the best of us, and maybe he's just the first person she found.

"Jimmy and I may or may not have walked in on them," she says casually. "Ow, Zacky, I will make sure you never get the chance to sleep with Andi if you touch me again!"

"Then give me back my phone," he says. I roll my eyes and sigh. Not even three days away and they're fighting... typical.

After hearing them threaten one another and a shriek from Violet, Zacky is back on the phone. "Thanks, Jimmy," he says before returning his attention to me.

"Did they really walk in on them?" I ask.

"Yeah. They went to go do what Violet does best and wake her up for the day, but uh-"

"She was plenty awake," I finish for him, frowning. "Poor Jimmy..."

"I know," he sighs too. Jimmy's liked the girl since middle school, according to Brian and Matt, and he just couldn't catch a break with her. "But you know he'll be fine. Give him a few drinks and he'll forget all about it."

"Sad but true," I sigh. "I miss you guys."

"We miss you, too," Zacky says as Jimmy shouts, "Come back to me, Ariel!" in the background.

"I'll be back on Sunday afternoon, guys. I'm going to the beach with my family tomorrow, though, so I'll talk to y'all later."

"Bye! Love you!" Violet calls.

"Love you too, Vi."

"Bye Andi."

"Bye, Z," I say softly before hanging up, the sun almost fully set as I went back inside.