Double Take [Sequel to Bound]

16. "I'm your asshole, and I'll always love you."

Chapter 16—"I'm your asshole, and I'll always love you."

Leah’s POV:

          “You’re back! How was the cruise?” I grinned, returning Mum’s hug as she and Dad entered the house, suitcases dragging behind them.

          “It was amazing,” Mum replied with a content sigh and smile as we pulled away. “Oh, thank you girls so much for that. It was fantastic,” she added as she hugged Klara.

          “It was no problem, guys,” Klara chuckled as Dad wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Just glad you two had fun.”

          “We did,” Dad piped up with a grin, kissing my temple as he looked at Klara and then me. “You two girls weren’t up to anything too bad, were you?” he asked teasingly, a dimpled smile on his face.

          Mum nodded, looking at my sister and me with a worrisome expression. “Yeah; we saw pictures and videos of you two getting bombarded with paps the other day. You’re okay though, right?”

          I forced a small smile, trying to make it seem as reassuring as I could. “We’re fine, Mum,” I replied, shooting Klara a glance. “No harm done.”

          But, of course, things between Klara and I were far from fine. She had refused to talk to me for the past couple of days ever since the blowout. Klara left early and came back late, much like she usually did, but didn’t bother texting or informing me of her whereabouts. She was angry, I understood that, but she was overreacting. It wasn’t even that big of a deal!

          Our parents nodded, seeming reassured. “Well,” Mum clapped her hands together once, picking up her bag. “I’m going to take a shower and then a quick nap.”

          “What? You’re tired of partying so much?” Klara questioned teasingly, a grin appearing on her face as she nudged our mother.

          Mum laughed, kissing my sister’s cheek. “You know it,” she said before heading towards the stairs.

          Just when Mum left, I felt my phone buzz in the pocket of my skinny jeans, and I pulled it out to see that it was a text from Talia. “Oh, I gotta go,” I said once reading the text, looking at Dad. “I’m meeting up with Talia and Christy to go shopping.”

          Dad nodded, looking at my sister with knitted eyebrows. “You’re not going with them?” he mused, shrugging off his—most likely—billion dollar St. Laurent coat.

          Klara’s icy eyes flickered to me momentarily before she looked back at Dad. “Nah; I’m just gonna chill and, um, get some homework done. Gotta keep my grades up if I wanna stay on the swim team.”

          Dad chuckled, nodding at her words as I sighed softly and looked away, because I knew Klara didn’t want to hang around me. God, this was getting tiring very fast. “See you all later,” I muttered before walking right out of the house.

*~*~*~*

          “It’s just so frustrating,” I huffed, picking a dress off of a hanger and examining it. “She’s ignoring me as if it’s my fault.”

          Talia sighed, giving me a small smile. “Honestly, Leah, I think both of you are in the wrong.”

          I frowned, looking at her in confusion. “How so?” I demanded, putting the dress back.

          Talia pressed her lips together as both Christy and I looked at her, waiting patiently for her to answer. “Look, Leah, I love both of you a lot, but Klara’s right—you two are so different. Yeah, she was wrong for yelling at you and shit, but she is kind of right. Even though you two work together, yours and Klara’s life styles are so different. You two are twins, yeah, but that doesn’t mean you know what’s going on inside each other’s heads.”