Temptations

Chapter Sixteen* - Closet Lovers

The next day felt terrible. It just did. It wasn't even the kind of terrible that made you think that something bad was about to happen. No, it was the kind of terrible that made me feel like it wasn't possible for my life to get worse than it already was.

After skipping school, something I had never done before, I just felt exhausted and worn out. I didn't know how to react to what I had learned and how it was all supposed to make me feel.

It took everything for me to just get out of bed this morning and get ready, but I didn't want to miss another day. I sighed, trudging down the stairs. There was a lot of sighing in my life right now. I swear, everything made me want to sigh. I was tired and frustrated. My mom was sitting on a stool by the counter, like she usually did when she was home.. She looked up at me when I walked in.

I walked past her and opened the fridge, taking out some orange juice and bread, so I could make some toast for myself. Her eyes followed me as I put the bread in the toaster and poured out some juice.

"You can't ignore me forever, Eira." She finally said when I finally sat down on a stool as far away from her as possible.

"Why not?" I asked. I could ignore her now. Why didn't my mom understand that I was upset about this for obvious reasons? Not only did she hide my brother from me for all my life, she planned on doing it for my whole life. "You were planning on lying to me forever."

"Well." She said, taking a breath as if she was unsure as to how to approach me. "I'm going to be going out of town for a couple of days." She finally said. Oh, she was going to change the topic. "I know you missed school yesterday, but I expect you to attend for the rest of the week. I'll be back on Saturday. Reese is going to be here with you, but please, don't interact too much. I don't want you to get hurt." My toast popped out of the toaster and I put it on a plate before I started munching.

Mom sighed again, getting up. She grabbed her keys and walked out of the house. As I finished my breakfast and washed my dishes, I heard someone behind me. I turned around, letting out a small scream only to see it was Reese.

His hair was disheveled and he was only wearing boxers. I'd only seen a handful of shirtless guys in my whole life, but the guys I had seen really had nice bodies. I guess they had to if they had enough confidence to roam around shirtless. But still. It was hard enough seeing Ian shirtless, but now I had another member of the abs club in my own house? "Where are you going, little sister?" He asked, snapping me out of my analytic thoughts. He picked up an apple and took a bite out of it.

"School." I walked around him and picked up my books and bag. I put on my shoes and started walking towards the door.

"You're going to walk?" He asked. I looked at him.

"Well, I don't have a car, so yes, I'm going to walk." I snapped. I was clearly being very bitter lately.

"Okay." He nodded, turning around. Reese vanished up the staircase. I huffed in frustration as I opened the door and slammed it shut behind me. I was sure Reese heard. So much for trying to fix whatever issues we had between us.

The walk to school was rather lonely. I didn't have Ian with me. I didn't have Mom with me. And I really missed Mallory at times like this. I wanted my best friend.

When I reached school, I didn't see Ian, Callie, or even Cole. I went to my locker and took out the books I would need when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Talia. My eyes widened in surprise before I felt suspicious. When I said my life couldn't get any worse, it wasn't a challenge.

"I'm not here for a fight." She said before I could say anything, surprising me. "I just thought that we should talk. Okay look, I know I'm not the nicest person. Nobody has ever spoken to me the way you have and I realized that I was making enemies for no reason. What I said about Mallory was rude and I know I've said some pretty rude things to you, too. I think I need a friend like you who'd tell me reality instead of letting me create my own world where I'm always right. Trust me when I say I thought about it a lot." She paused. "So, what do you say? Want to start over?"