You Want Brothers? Take. That. Back.

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By the end of dinner, I'm exhausted from the days' events. Justin blowing up on me and my parents returning home took its toll, and my social battery is absolutely gone. I toy around with my last bites of chowmein, tuning out the conversations happening around me.

That is until someone jabs their fingers into my side, tasering me, "Oy, I'm talking to you."

I grab my side, shifting away from him, "what Cole."

"Whoa what's with that tone?" He questions loudly, bringing all the attention to me.

You just tasered me. I know there are intentional secrets that everyone's in on but me. I'm tired. Tired and probably pmsing. 

"What tone?" I mutter, my attention on the fork in my hand that's pushing my noodles around. 

"Ella..." Kyle warns from across the table.

"You know what tone, cut the attitude Ella. I was just asking if you were going to eat your food." Cole reprimands, and I wince at his scolding tone on me. 

"No."

"No what?" He asks.

"Cole. She's obviously not in the mood, quit riling her up  and just eat what's left on her plate." My dad saves me, well aware of how quickly the situation could escalate.

He sighs, listening to dad, and eats my noodles in a swift forkful. 

"Anyway," Nathan shifts the conversation, "are you guys here to stay for a good bit now? How was the trip?"

Oh yeah. If their trip went well then that means they'll be gone as soon as they came.

"Well..." My mom starts, sharing a glance with her husband, "firstly, the trip went really well. We have a great team out in New York, but unfortunately this trip was the beginning of a long project." 

Oh just what I fucking needed to hear.

My shoulders sulk, but I bite my cheek to keep to keep a neutral expression. If I get emotional or act like a baby things will definitely end horribly for me. Just shut up and be happy for your parents. 

"We're in the awkward first stages of extending our business to another state, so it will take up a lot of our time at first." My dad explains carefully.

Yeah, until you find a new project to work on. A new excuse to leave.

I do appreciate that they are being straight forward and include me in these harder conversations. They treat me like my brothers in that sense, equal. Because we are. But I can't help but feel betrayed. They just came back and, without considering how things could've gone for me, have plans to leave again. It hasn't even been a full day. 

"When are you leaving again?" I ask, cutting right to the chase. 

My mom catches my gaze, a remorseful look in her eyes, "we were getting to that."

I bite my cheek harder, this can't be good. There's just so much, too much, I need to share with them. Like seeing Brynn again. And Camden. Being grounded and not having a phone for majority of the time they were gone. The incident with Nathan.

"We plan to fly out tomorrow evening."

Fuck. 

My resolve breaks down, "tomorrow evening?"

My dad winces at the betrayal in my voice, "I know honey. But I promise we'll be back before you know it."

"That's what you said last time." I mutter, exposing how awful life without them here has been.