Justin’s face broke into a smile as he spotted Trace coming through the arrivals gate two days later. He gave him a hug when his friend reached him.

“It’s so good to see you,” he said.

“Yeah, you too. I really needed this break,” Trace replied. “I didn’t bring any luggage so we can just go.”

“Cool.”

“So happy early birthday,” Trace said as they left the airport.

“Thanks.”

“We’re going to Mike’s tomorrow night for the party?”

“Yeah.”

They got into Justin’s car and he started the engine.

“So how are things going at home?”

Justin shook his head and was silent for a minute. “Not good. It’s gotten worse since I talked to you on Wednesday.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t even know what to do anymore. I’m starting to think that maybe Brenna should just be in Shelby Forest like she was before. I shouldn’t have brought her back here.”

“Really?”

“I’m not doing anything for her and neither is being in LA. I don’t think I’m making it any better.”

“Has she started talking to you yet?”

“Nope. Doesn’t talk, doesn’t come out of her room unless she’s going to the bathroom.”

“Eating?”

“Just enough to keep herself from passing out. She looks like shit.”

“Maybe you should get to her to talk to someone. Like a therapist or something. It sounds like she’s depressed.”

“I’ve actually been considering that a lot the past couple days. I’m gonna give it a few more days and if nothing changes, I’m calling that therapist I went to a couple times last year. This really isn’t healthy.”

“How’s Kate being your PA working out?”

Justin rolled his eyes. “How does Kate being my PA ever work out? We just end up annoying each other. But I’m taking the next few weeks easy so we don’t have to work together much.”

“Hey let me see those scratches you were talking about.”

Justin pushed up his sleeve and held his arm out to Trace. Trace whistled.

“Ouch. She’s got some claws.”

He pulled his sleeve back down. “Yeah.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I just want the old Brenna back. I don’t know how to deal with her right now.”

“Maybe she wants to talk to a girl. Why don’t you get Kate to talk to her?”

“Kate’s tried. She never gets a lot out of her either.” He sighed again. “The therapist thing seems to be like the only good idea at this point.”

“But do you think she’d go?”

“That I don’t know. I’d like to think she would but at this point it’s like she’s closed off into herself. I don’t see her wanting to go talk to some stranger. I’ll ask her though.”

“You can talk her into anything.”

“I used to be able to. Now I’m not so sure. I’ll ask her though.”

The rest of the drive was pent talking about other things but Justin’s mind immediately went back to Brenna when they stepped into the silent house.

“I’m gonna go tell Bren that we’re going golfing,” he said, taking off his shoes.

“Sure.”

He went up the stairs two at a time and then went and knocked on Brenna’s closed door before opening it. It wasn’t like she came to the door anyways.

He was surprised to see that she wasn’t in bed but instead staring out the window, her back to him.

“Hey, you’re out of bed,” he said as he went over to her. He stopped behind her and slid his arms around he waist “I thought you’d be asleep.”

She silently shook her head.

He leaned his head down and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Me and Trace just got here. Want to go say hello to him?”

Again, she shook her head.

He silently sighed and closed his eyes. As he stood there, he realized how little she felt against him. She had always been small but it seemed even more pronounced now. With her not eating though, he wasn’t surprised.

“You know,” he finally said. “I know this really great guy I used to talk to when I’d get stressed out. He’s really good at helping you see things from a different angle. I could call him if you want and you could talk to him and-”

“A therapist, Justin? You want me to talk to a therapist?”

He bit his lip. “It’s not like that, Bren. I just thought that maybe you wanted to talk to someone with an outside opinion.”

“A therapist,” she repeated in a quiet voice.

“Going to therapy isn’t a bad thing. I have. Kate has. Actually, I think she still does.”

“I don’t need therapy.”

“You need to talk to someone, Bren.”

“What I need is to be left alone.”

He let his arms drop. “Fine.” He walked to the door. “Me and Trace are going to go golfing. We’ll be back in a few hours if you care.” He watched her nod and then left her room, closing the door with a quiet click behind him.

Justin looked over at Trace and laughed at his friend slurring off some story about some girls at his dorm house. Trace was completely trashed and had been entertaining Justin the whole drive back to the house.

Somehow it always ended up like this. Trace got drunk on Justin’s birthday and Justin got drunk on Trace’s birthday. It should be the other way around but it never was.

It was close to two in the morning and they had just left Mike’s house. It had been a fun birthday party. All his friends had been there and he had hardly noticed the time passing. Once people had started to filter out, he and Trace left.

Trace’s story made less and less sense the longer it went on and by time they reached the house, even he had seemed to have lost track of it. One hand still clutching the bottle of Jack Daniels he had taken from Mike’s, Trace waved goodnight and stumbled down the hallways to his room, leaving Justin in the front entrance.

Justin took off his shoes and then slowly made his way upstairs. He thought about going to see Brenna but then decided against it, figuring she was asleep. He was proven wrong when he went into his room and found it lightened by a lamp and saw Brenna laying on her back on his bed.

This is new…

“Hey,” he said, going over to his bed.

She turned her head to look at him. “Hi,” she whispered. “How was the party.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled off his jacket. “Good. Really good.”

“Sorry I didn’t come.”

“That’s okay.” He stood up and went over to his closet. “I’m just gonna change. My clothes smell like smoke.” He grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt and went into his bathroom and changed. When he went back into the room, Brenna was still on the bed. She was in her pajamas and he decided to assume she was staying there for the night.

“Lift up,” he said, pulling at the blankets she was laying on. She lifted her lower body and he pulled the covers over her. He shut off the lamp, sending the room into darkness and then climbed into the other side of the bed. It was quiet for a minute.

“So,” he finally said. “Does you being in here mean you’re willing to talk?”

He heard her sniff and looked at her in the dark to see a couple tears rolling down her face. “I think this might not just be about my aunt.”

“Yeah, Bren, I think so too.” He moved over a little closer to her. “I know you’re really hurting but you’ve got to talk to someone.”

“I don’t want to talk, Justin,” she whispered.

“Then why are you here, Bren?” he asked gently.

“Because I feel horrible for missing your birthday. And I’m lonely. I don’t want to sleep all alone tonight.”

He wanted to push her to talk because he was getting tired of now knowing what was going through her mind. But this was a step. She wasn’t completely ignoring him and at least she had admitted to this being about more than just her aunt.

He felt her inching towards him and took her hint and put his arms around her, pulling her against him. He laid there staring at her face.

“I really think you should think about a therapist.”

She shut her eyes tightly. “I’m fine. I can deal with things on my own. I always have.”

“You’re not dealing with things well though. I don’t get why you don’t see that. Let’s just ignore your mental well being for a minute and look at how you’re hurting yourself physically. You’re hardly eating and you always look so pale. You’re always sleeping but you still look so tired.”

She opened her eyes. “I didn’t come in here for a lecture, Justin.”

He shut his mouth and sighed. “Fine.”

A tear fell from her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” He smiled a bit to let her know he wasn’t mad and rubbed his hand over her back. “I still love you though,” he said with a teasing tone.

Her lips began to curve up a bit and when she smiled it made him feel good. It had been a while since he saw her smile.

“I love you too,” she said softly.

He leaned forward and kissed her softly. “Well at least we got that under control,” he sighed when he pulled back and then rested his head on his pillow and stared at her in the dark.