Lavender

6

I clear my throat and look back up at Elijah. "I'll start then. Sage and I have to start dinner so I will see you tomorrow."

As I reach for the doorknob, he says my name and I face him again. "Feel free to come over anytime you need some more pace." He pauses when I raise my eyebrows. "Not just for painting or math homework."

I throw my head back and groan. "That was one time. To be fair, I had a 103-degree fever and didn't go for the notes."

"Yeah." He walks closer to me. "You got me sick."

"You deserved it." I shrug.

He sucks his teeth. "Did I?"

Elijah leans towards me and it looks like he's coming in for a kiss. I don't pull back but subconsciously mirror his actions. My gaze drops to his lips and I realize I haven't answered his question.

"Y- yeah," I breathe.

I stuttered.

I stuttered?

I never stutter.

Pull yourself together, Lav, what the fuck?

I clear my throat and meet his honey-brown eyes, "You know, that was actually a really low point in my life, and the fact that you—"

He leans forward even more but I hear the door open. Elijah pulls it all the way and I look back to see the hallway. I face him again to see his arm still holding onto the doorknob so it's right beside my torso. I'm going to chop off his arm.

"Goodbye, Quinn," he says as he gives me a half smile.

I eye his arm then his face then his arm again without moving my head. I furrow my eyebrows. Not at him, but at myself, I think.

"Goodbye, Rivera," I mumble as I turn around and rush away from his presence.

I speed-walk downstairs and call out for my brother, "Sage, let's go."

He gives me a guilty look as he stops chewing his food to look at me. He and the Rivera family are all sitting on the floor and couch eating pizza they must've ordered.

"Lavender, honey! Come join us," Elijah's mom offered as she covered her mouth with one hand as she chewed.

Sage gives me a look as he wipes his hands and stands.

"Um, no thank you. I have some homework I have to finish before I start to relax," I lie with a shy smile.

"Are you sure? At least take some to go. I insist."

"I won't pass up that offer," Sage praises as he kneels back down. He fills his plate with at least five slices of pizza.

"Thank you so much for all your help, kids. Elijah told me you agreed to paint the nursery! How exciting!" Mrs. Rivera claps.

"Yes ma'am."

"You are such an angel. We'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye, guys!" my brother and I say in unison as we walk out the door.

After we leave their driveway and say bye to the movers, Sage knocks into my shoulder with his. "Are you alright? I thought you were getting better with eating?"

"Don't talk about it like that." I sigh. "Some days are better than others."

I've had an eating disorder since my last year of middle school. I've gotten better with it, I'd like to say. I still refuse to eat in public, am obsessed with weighing myself, and count my calories but I haven't made myself throw up in a while. I count that as progress.

He unlocks the front door and heads straight for the couch. I close it behind us and follow him. He turns on 'Modern Family' and I take a slice of pizza from his plate, use a napkin to take some grease off, and take some bites.

———

"Goodbye, Quinn," I say as I give her a half smile.

"Goodbye, Rivera," She mumbles as she turns around and rushes away from me.

I accidentally glance at her ass and smile. Once I realize what I'm doing, I groan and run a hand over my face. Great, now I really do feel like a perv.

She speed-walks down the hall and through the stairs.

I break out into a wide smile and walk to my room. I change into sweats and a hoodie and walk downstairs to see my family devouring pizza on the floor.

"Hey honey, come grab a slice," my mom says.

I do as she says and take a seat next to Daphne.

"When's Lavender going to start painting?" Dad questions.

"Tomorrow. She has a very clear idea of what she wants and where to put the crib."

"I invited them for pizza but they needed to get home so they just took some to go." Mom smiles.

I nod and we all eat and talk about our days.

-
After we all finished eating, I went up to my room to set it up. My mom helped me build my bed frame then I made up my bed with light gray sheets and hung up posters.

I went over to my window and started attaching the curtain to the rod. As I'm hanging them up, I look down and catch a glimpse of Lavender moving throughout her room.

She pulls down her pants and I immediately pull my new curtains over my face. After a few seconds, I peek one eye out and see her putting a hoodie on over her pink lace bra. She then leans down and grabs some gray sweat-shorts. Standing straight, she pulls her hair out of her hoodie and throws herself on her bed, stomach first. Her feet are covered with light purple fuzzy socks and she's swinging them in the air.

Daphne knocks once then walks right in. I jump and try to act as normal as possible.

"I didn't say come in!" I yell in a whisper as if Lavender could hear me.

"Relax, pal, I—"

My face twists in disgust. "Don't call me that."

"I just wanted to say," she ignores me, "Sage brought over brownies. They're so good. So, you better come down before we eat them all, especially Pregzilla."

"Yeah, sure, I'll be down in a minute." I wave her off and she leaves. I look back out the window to check if she saw me but Lavender isn't in her room anymore.

I straighten out my curtains once more and go downstairs for brownies.

***