“Are you sure you don’t want me to try and talk to him for you?” Austin asks me one last time as he drops Leda and me off at Matt’s house. I shake my head.

“I don’t think he’s home anyway. Besides, it’s not a big deal; it’s probably better if I try to talk to him first.” Leda and I share a look; she and I both knew that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

“Alright. Just call me if you need anything, alright?”

“Okay,” Leda calls over her shoulder, feigning annoyance. He sticks his tongue out at her before rolling up his window and driving away.

“He’s so sweet,” I can’t help but say once he’s far enough down the road. She rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, just wait until you get to know him better.” I laugh nervously.

As we walk up the driveway to the front door, I notice out of the corner of my eye that Brian’s car is parked right in front. I frown slightly before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

Immediately, I can hear yelling coming from the kitchen. But instead of hearing only Matt and Val going at it like usual, I can hear another voice in the mix.

“What’s going on?” Leda asks, raising an eyebrow in my direction. I don’t reply; instead I start walking in that direction.

As soon as I step through the kitchen door, everyone seems to fall silent; their eyes first fall on me, before drifting over to Leda questioningly.

“Ah… What is she doing here?” Matt is the first one to speak up.

“I told you she was going to be staying the night,” I remind him, trying hard not to sound too disrespectful. He narrows his eyes at me, but before he can say anything, Val speaks up.

“We were just talking about you, Autumn,” she says, giving me one of the nicest smile I’ve seen on her since we’ve met. Curious, I shift my weight slightly and look up at her. “Brian and Michelle were thinking of bringing you and Gus up to San Francisco with them for the weekend.” I look over at Brian, who is twirling his car-keys nervously around his finger.

“It’s not going to happen,” Matt growls, and Val glares at him.

“This isn’t your call, Matt,” Brian replies angrily. “Michelle and I want to spend some time with them.”

“Did any of you actually bother to ask what Gus or Autumn thought of all this?” Matt demands, gesturing at me. I freeze up; since when was it up to me whether or not we went?

“It’s not up to her,” Val says, as if she’s reading my thoughts. “It’s up to Brian and Michelle.”

Confused, I look over at Leda; she shares the same expression as me, and we both turn our attention over to Brian.

“So it’s settled then,” he says, clapping his hands together. “We’ll leave in about an hour. Which means you two will need to go pack.”

I glance over at Leda with a worried expression. Austin and I had made a deal earlier that she would spend the night at my house, since he would have to be up in L.A. overnight for a quick show. After that, she would, at the very least, be spending the weekend with her god-brother – where it was safe.

“Can Leda come with us, too?” I ask, looking over at Brian hopefully. He gives me a sympathetic smile before shaking his head, which causes my stomach to drop.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. We already made all our reservations for four – it would be too difficult to go back and change them.” I feel panic rise in my chest, knowing that if Leda were to go back to Anthony’s, then he would probably do whatever it is he does to her.

That, and Austin would probably never forgive me.

I feel her grab my hand and tug it in the direction of the living room.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” She pulls me out of there before I can object – which I wouldn’t have done anyway.

“You can’t go back there,” I say almost immediately, once we’re standing alone in the living room, well out of earshot of everyone else.

“Yes, I can, Autumn,” she argues, glaring at me slightly. “I’ll have Hunter to keep an eye on me. I’ll be fine.”

“But what about Austin?”

“He won’t have to find out. Hunter won’t say anything, and Anthony doesn’t even talk to him anyway. And if he does somehow find out, then I’ll just say that I decided to go home because I felt uncomfortable sleeping in such a huge house…” Her voice trails off as her eyes drift around the spacious living room.

“Okay…” I try to sound sure of the plan, but I’m not. She grabs me by the shoulders, forcing me to look her in the eyes. They’re cold and blue, but there’s a small light in the very, very back.

“Hey,” she says more quietly now. “I’ll be okay. None of this is your fault.” I force a nod before she gives me a quick hug. “I should get going, then.” She pulls away and waves at me as she leaves.

Brian must have heard the door close behind her, because as soon as it does, he emerges from the kitchen, looking at me expectantly.

“You should go start packing,” he tells me, smiling slightly. “Let your brother know we’ll be leaving in about an hour.” I nod, trying to mask my annoyance at having to talk to my brother, who I still have not said a word to since I found out he was keeping secrets from me.

I run upstairs, hesitating at his door. I am slightly tempted to “forget” to tell him, but I decide to try and be mature for once; I knock on his door lightly before stepping in.

He straightens up immediately from his relaxed position on his bed, as soon as he sees it’s me. He smiles at me brightly, clearly glad that I was finally about to talk to him. He sets his laptop, which was resting on his legs, swinging them over the side of the bed nearest to the door.

“What’s up?” he asks me kindly. Then, he nods past me. “Did they finally stop arguing?”

“Um… yeah.” I clear my throat slightly. “They decided that we’ll be going with Brian and Michelle to San Francisco. We’re leaving in an hour.” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“Really? Matt’s letting them?”

“It wasn’t ‘Matt’s call’ – or at least that’s what Brian said.” He frowns.

“I’m not so sure this is a good idea…” he mutters.

“What do you mean? What’s so bad about Brian and Michelle?” He freezes for a moment, his eyes trained on me.

“Nothing,” he finally says, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure everything will be fine.” I don’t quite believe him, but I don’t say anything.

“Alright then. Well, we’re leaving in an hour…”

“Yeah, yeah; I heard you.” I take the annoyance in his tone as a sign that it’s time for me to leave. “Autumn?” I pause before I can close the door behind me. “I’m glad you’re talking to me again.”

I don’t have the heart to tell him that wasn’t the case.

~

A little more than an hour later, while we’re up thousands of feet in the air on Brian’s private jet (yes; a private jet – I may or may not have freaked out a little when I found out), my mind was still back in Huntington Beach, worrying about Leda.

Brian seems to notice that my mind is elsewhere. He moves across the aisle, from where he and Michelle are sitting, and back a seat to where I’m sitting alone – I was still refusing to interact with Gus, and he seemed to realize that.

“What’s up, kiddo?” he asks quietly, as both Gus and Michelle appeared to have fallen asleep. I look at him questioningly. “You look kind of sad – like whatever you’re thinking about is bringing you down. What, did you not want to come to San Francisco with us, or something?”

I smile at him. He was probably the first person since we got to California to come right out and ask me if I was okay. Already he was being more of a father than Matt was – instead of pressuring me to tell him what was going on inside my head, and then giving up and asking someone who would know, he was being patient with me – he seemed to genuinely care, instead of giving off the impression that he only cared because he had to. Because that’s what the job description for “father” called for him to do.

“No, I don’t mind coming up to San Francisco with you guys,” I reply quietly. “I just… I have a lot of things on my mind right now.”

“Missing home?” I nod.

“Yeah, that’s definitely part of it.” And it was. Even though I hadn’t had much time to think about it the last couple of days, it was definitely hot on my mind whenever I got a moment to myself, and the last half-hour was certainly no exception.

He brushes a few strand of auburn hair out of my face before kissing the top of my head. “Don’t worry, honey; the summer will go by so fast – before you know it, you’ll be on a plane back home!” Though the thought brings me comfort, it also makes me realize that maybe I wasn’t quite ready to go home – not until I at least had all the answers I was looking for.

He squeezes my shoulder, before standing up and moving back towards his seat. He grabs Michelle’s sleeping hand, as if he never left her side. He then sends one last reassuring glance over his shoulder at me. It’s enough to leave a smile on my face for the remaining forty-five minute plane ride.

Notes

A/N: I will be updating "Lost Broken and Shattered" as well today.

Hope you enjoyed =)

~WOLFY~