The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

87

"I agree with Cameron," I glanced at Klarise, who avoided my eyes. "There's a good chance this is just a sudden hot-topic that won't matter in a few days. We shouldn't overthink it." I also wanted to mention the fact that this was just like the last time. I didn't, seeing that the two of them were already so strained. When actually, on most sites that wrote about this, I was the one shamed and called out for. The anger in me is compressed down by the alcohol I had taken before this, which I knew I needed even before they said they wanted to talk. I can't exactly predict how all of this could go wrong if I hadn't done so ahead of time. I might as well have pushed them toward easily-shatterable-glass like I had done to Mason the last time.

"I'm not overthinking," Klarise said, her expression flustered. "I'm just worried, alright? We also shouldn't underestimate stuff like this, because they can get really big. Small stuff gets big."

Cameron looked to Klarise, and then at last, a little more carefully at me. I could tell, before he opened his mouth, that he was planning out his words cautiously, as if walking on thin ice.

"So Klarise, what are you going to do with Juno?"

Maybe he wasn't walking on thin ice with me. Maybe it was Klarise.

She shot him a glare, and even I wanted to somehow escape; glad I wasn't the one who asked the question.

"What about Juno?"

Cameron, in front of family, was a terrible actor. "Well, I was just wondering what you'll say to him about all of this."

"What does he have to do with this?" She looked angrier by the second, and I felt a bit confused at why. Cameron seemed so too, if not so consumed by the regret and fear of bringing this topic up. "For the record, why are we always bringing him up anyways?"

"We don't always—" Klarise cuts him off.

"Just leave him alone. He doesn't know anything, and it'd be best he just stays out of all of it. I don't want to drag him into it." She sighed, loud enough for the both of us to hear.

Except Cameron didn't exactly seem to take that as a hint. Curiosity killed the cat. "I think he should have a small idea of what's going on, Klarise." He looks to me for agreement, but I just look down at the table. I don't see him, but I can sense the disappointment in him that I wasn't sticking up with him for Juno. "I know we're all thinking it, for Christ's sake, I'll just say it for all of us to hear."

Though I didn't say anything, I was praying and hoping he wouldn't keep going. And then yet—

"You're just using Juno, that poor guy. He's so clueless of what's happening right in front of his eyes. Is that fair? Nope. But none of us questioned it, did we?" And he pushed it, just the furthest bit needed. And it seemed like Cameron was more angry than scared right now. I sat there in the middle, between two people who had rage rising inside each of them, about to slaughter the others' throat open.

"Shut up, Cam, this isn't any of your business to talk about."

I had a bad feeling about where this was going as I looked from Klarise to Cameron. "It kind of is, isn't it? Anyone of us that gets into trouble, we pull the other down. This family is tied together now."

Klarise looked like she wanted to bite off Cameron's face. But instead, she sat down in her chair, and then all of a sudden, she was deadly calm. She let her eyes submerge deeply into Cameron with a smooth sharpness. It's a tiny movement, but I noticed him flinch.

"It's not like you haven't done the same."

Cameron looked taken aback. "What?" I can see him start to fidget with his hands under the table.