It's you I'm thinking of > Patrick Feely

17 || ? ?????? ????

"Hey, Osc." Ruby smiled, bending down to embrace her brother.

It was late, probably past a six year olds bed time.  I could tell Ruby thought so too when she peered around the corner to the sitting room.

"Are you home alone, Oscar?" She asked, taking his small hand in hers.

"Nope." He grinned, popping the p, "Dad is asleep on the couch."

I hadn't been there when Oscar saw Anthony for the first time, Ruby said she'd hadn't seen him that happy since before Rian.

Ruby walked over to the double doors and poked her head in, she reappeared a second later with an unsure look on her face. "Did dad buy you chocolate?" She asked, pulling Oscar over to the sink, where she grabbed a paper towel and began wiping the chocolate off of his lips.

"Yep, we went to centra and he got me three crunchies." Oscar said, clearly delighted with himself.

"And did you have any dinner?" Ruby questioned, knitting her brows together in concern.

I was shell shocked, I just stood frozen in the middle of the room while Ruby questioned whether or not her little brother had been fed dinner by her dad.

This guy was as bad as I thought.

"Yeah, I had a ham sandwich." He replied, bouncing a bouncy ball up into the air that he had just found on the floor, not bothered by the conversation anymore.

"That's hardly a dinner, Osc." Ruby sighed. Oscar only shrugged in response and hit the ball away where it bounced under the dining table.

"Come on, let's get you to bed." She whispered, taking his hand again and pulling him out of the kitchen and into the hall where his bedroom is.

I followed and stood in the doorway, still sort of shocked. Was this what it had always been like? I knew it was Ruby taking care of Oscar in the past few months but could her dad really be so thick as to not know how to make the child a proper dinner. Ruby is fifteen years old, she's still a child herself. That's not a responsibility she should bear, especially not since Anthony's come back.

"Now," Ruby exhaled a breath, as she pulled the covers up to Oscar's chest, "If you need anything during the night or if you can't sleep, you come get me, okay? Don't get mam and don't get dad. Come get me, okay, can you do that?"

He nodded, "uh-huh."

"Okay." Ruby hummed, "Good night."

Oscar didn't reply, he just rolled over in his bed and buried himself under the covers.

Ruby was still for a few moments before she stood up and turned to me. Her eyes were dreary, her nose still stained with blood. She just bit her lip and flicked the light off.

I followed her down to the end of the hall and into her room, where she shrugged off her jacket and collapsed onto the bed.

I pulled off my hoodie and T-shirt so I was shirtless and then followed suit by crawling onto the other side of the bed.

"I should do something about it." She admitted, though muffled through the fabric of the pillow she had her head buried into. "Should I?"

She peaked her head out just a little so I could see the look of pure helplessness on her face.

But, I didn't have the answers for her this time. I felt like as the days went on, I found out more and more about what had been going on in this house.

I still can't forgive myself for letting her go in alone all those times I dropped her home.

"I don't know, Ruby. But I know you deserve a lot better." I told her.

I would give her the whole world, but this is all I have.

She smiled one of those rare smiles I see only every once in a while, "Well, I already have you, Patrick Feely. And I think that's pretty unfair considering my track record."

Just give her your words, Patrick. Use your words for once in your goddamn life.

"I meant it when I said you're my only girl." I blurted out.

Ruby fully lifted her head from the pillow and looked right at me. But she didn't say anything, she just leaned over and placed a soft kiss on my left cheek.

"You're one of a kind, Patrick Feely."