I stayed completely still for a second.
But then I reacted.
Tingles shot through my whole body, starting in my lips, making their way down to my toes. My lips felt as though they were on fire. Lifting my uncasted hand, I wrap it around his neck, my fingers brushing his bare neck softly.
Connor's hands cup my face, and he leans in further, letting our lips melt together.
We break apart, I bite my lip nervously, and Connor presses his forehead against mine, forcing me to look at him.
"You have nothing to be sorry for Dani." He says softly.
"I have to pack everything up." I pull back from Connors comforting hold.
"I'll help." Connor says, picking up the papers carefully from my bed.
We pack up my stuff quickly, in silence.
As I place one of my jumpers into my bag, I catch a glimpse of the beautiful drawing on my cast.
"I don't want to go Connor." I say simply.
"I don't want you to leave." He says back.
"I'm just going to grab the notes for today. Okay?"
"Okay." Connor walks out of the room, leaving me alone in my thoughts.
Except I was never alone.
"Danielle? If you can hear me young lady then we are leaving." Another round of tears start to develop. Connor comes back in quickly, holding a large pile of notes. He slips them into the bag, along with all my other notes, zipping it up.
"All done." I whisper quietly to myself.
Connor comes over, sitting next to me on the bed. He wipes the spilling tears from my face.
My head hurts.
My arm hurts.
But mostly, my heart hurts.
I am confused.
"Call me when you get home, okay?"
"They will probably take my phone away."
"Skype me. Please just talk to me when you get home?" Connor looks pleadingly at me.
"I promise." A small smile tweaks on my lips. Connor's eyebrows soften, and he smiles as well.
"Okay." We both stand up, I sling my bags over my shoulder, and follow Connor out the door, down the stairs, to where my parents are waiting, still not having stepped into the threshold of the Marklin residence.
"Here you go Dani." Melissa hands me a bag filled with my medication.
"Thank you Melissa. For everything." My parents look at me, their stone cold faces eagerly waiting for me to leave.
"My pleasure Dani. I will see you soon." Melissa comes in and gives me a tight hug.
"It's time to go Danielle." My parents walk down the driveway without a second glance, towards my father's sleek black BMW.
Connor steps towards me, leaning and giving me a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"I'll talk to you soon." I nod at him, but follow my impatient parents out the door, turning my face to stone.
The Norm family trick.
I dump my bags in the backseat, and slide in beside them. Before I can even spare one last glance at Connor, my dad speeds off.
"Your behaviour today was unacceptable Danielle." My mother doesn't even turn to look at me as she speaks.
"There is no excuse for you and your brothers actions over the past week. You have completely disregarded me and your father-"
"Disregarded you?!" I question. "No mum. I never disregarded you. It's like I don't exist to you." The words suddenly tumbles out. No tears escaped, but all my emotions spilled over.
"I had to have SURGERY. You didn't even come back to look after your own daughter! You promised me that you would make it to my showcase. But you didn't even call and tell me yourself you couldn't come, no. Instead you make Joel tell me. And then you gave me a gift to say sorry. A freaking handbag and sunglasses. That's not something I would ever want. That's something TAYLOR would want."
"We got some for Taylor and some loved them, so we thought you would like it as well."
"That's the point! You thought! It's like you don't even know me. I try so hard to impress you. I get perfect grades, I am polite, I always help out when needed, never do anything wrong. But you hardly ever notice how much effort I put in."
My father's hands were turning white on the wheel. We turn into our street.
It's lucky I only had one more thing to say.
"It feels as though I always have to compete with Taylor. And Taylor always wins."
"Don't bring your sister into this!" My mother warns. We turn into the driveway.
"That just proves my point. It feels as though you never loved me."
"Of course we love you-"
I yank open the door, grabbing my bags, and stand up.
"Don't lie to me." I snarl. I jump out of the car, leaving my parents sitting there in shock.
Walking up the stairs, I burst through the open door, running up the stair to my room. Taylor is standing just outside my door as I walk in.
"Play-date over?" She snarls.
"Oh fuck off." I slam the door, letting the tears fall down my face.
YOU ARE READING
In Your Company
Teen Fiction--Re-written-- When I was 8 we were playing hide and seek in the little park surrounded by bush down the street from my house. It was a large group of us. It was always fun down at the park, since our parents never really came and checked on us. Bei...
Chapter 20
Start from the beginning
