What Walks Among Us (book one)

You Stink

I blew out a sigh, and grabbed up some clothes to throw into the wash, before heading downstairs. The boys were no longer in the living room, or the kitchen, and when I rounded into the laundry room I found Chester turning on the washer.

"Chester?"

He looked over at me, spotting my clothes, "Ugh, Cupcake, how do you have so much dirty crap?" he asked, moving a basket over to me, "and sorry, I just threw in the guys' clothes, you can throw in a few things if you want?" he didn't wait for me to reply before swiping a few articles of clothes from the top of my pile and tossing them into the washer.

He shut it and took the pile from my hands, putting it into a basket. I watched him, wondering what had just been mixed with the guys' clothes, but shrugging inwardly, as it didn't matter much now.

"I don't. I mean, I didn't... Mabel's been wearing my stuff I guess," I said, backing out of the laundry room.

Chester made a face, "That girl. I swear, lazy as a bum, doesn't get up until someone is making food, wears different clothes every day.. she's so ..." he fought to find the word he was looking for.

I nodded, understanding what he meant, "She takes advantage of everything around her," I said, leaning against the counter and pressing my hand flat on the cool surface.

I could practically feel Chester's eyes on me, "She does Kodi. Everything and everyone," he paused, and while I didn't look up at him, I knew his eyes were still trained on me, "I wish you would see that. I haven't known your sister for very long, but it's hard to see her in any other light when she makes you sleep on the floor, and tries to drown you in the bathtub."

I sighed and turned to face him, "I know," I said, not denying it.

Chester didn't smile at having been right, nor did he say anything else, he just let me think it over.

The back door opened and fell shut, Beck and Cody walked through, the looked curious when they spotted me, but Beck kept walking towards me. Cody shook his head slightly, pausing next to Chester to cross his arms over his chest.

"I thought you were showering?" Cody said.

I heard him, but my eyes were trained on Beck who walked right up to me, his blue eyes dancing with laughter as he opened the drawer right next to me. I shook my head, smiling as I slid away to give him and myself some space. My eyes flickered over to Cody.

"I was going to, but there's nothing clean to change into, and I don't want to waste a nice hot shower to just change into dirty clothes. So I've got to wait until some are clean," I said.

Chester tilted his head, "Oh damn, I just thought you came down to do laundry for no reason," he said, shaking his head.

He walked over to the living room, where there was a pile of clean clothes waiting to be washing, and started grabbing the first things he saw, before throwing them at me. The act was so unexpected that I just stood there, lucky me though, Beck reached out and caught the bundle of clothes before dropping them into my arms.

"There," Chester said, "You've got some clothes, now go shower... you stink."

I rolled my eyes at him, and offered the clothes back to Beck, "These aren't mine, I can't wear them," I said.

Beck rolled his eyes and set the knife he had retrieved on the counter, he set his hands on my shoulders and steered me towards the stairs, "I know, that's because they're mine. I give you permission to wear them, now go take a shower, and then sleep."

He gave me a nudge towards the stairs, before turning around and going back to the kitchen, not bothering to turn back to me as he called over his shoulder, "Then I'll make you a sandwich, and if you're lucky we'll get Cody to read you a bedtime story."

Chester threw a plastic cup at him, which he easily caught. I went up the stairs, having no real arguments. Well, that and the fact that I was super drained. Inside my room, I walked straight to the shower, and let the water run over me for a good ten minutes before I even bothered to start shampooing my hair.

I let my mind wander while I scrubbed away the trip, taking extra care with my hair, and deciding that it would no longer ever be allowed to flow free while out of the compound. There were knots everywhere, and I have no doubt that when Chester told me I smelled, he meant it, and then some.

When I finished with the shower, I got dressed in Beck's clothes, too tired to care that I had also been given a pair of his boxers. I knew they were clean, that was good enough for me at this point. After I brushed out my hair, I pulled it into a french braid, and then tied it off with one of my few hair ties.

I brushed my teeth at least five times, and when I finally emerged from the shower, I was practically ready to fall asleep without bothering to make myself a bed. So, that's what I did, at least, until I woke up to Mabel stepping on my stomach.