Falling Embers (Abandoned)

Chapter Twenty-One

In the light Justin’s house was much more imposing. You could see the perfectly manicured lawn, still green despite the promising chill of oncoming winter. It was a peach stucco exterior with chocolate brown trim and the front walk was impeccably clean. When she turned off the engine they both did not move, staring numbly at the house in front of them. A face appeared in the window and then disappeared in the next instant. Cass blinked, not entirely sure she had seen the face at all.

“Come on, we’ve been spotted.” Justin sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting out of the car. Cass followed suit, reaching for his hand when they met in front of the car. She locked it with her remote as they ascended the front walk.

“Was that your sister?” She asked curiously.

“Yes, the little twerp was probably watching for us.” He sighed.

“Is that a bad thing?” She questioned as Justin opened the front door and led her inside. His home was decorated in bright, cheerful colors and everything was in perfect order. The front hall was furnished with a white oak hall table with a vase of silk flowers on display next to an empty coat rack. There was a southwest rug centered in front of the door on top of the hard wood flooring. To their left the wood gave way to a white-tone carpet with a pale pink sofa, oak end tables and hundreds of perfectly arranged knick knacks on the wall. A beautiful cherry oak upright piano stood against the far wall and a plasma screen T.V. was set on the inside wall. There were two stained-glass lamps set on each of the white oak end tables that refracted the light in interesting hues.

“Yes, it blows our chance to use the element of surprise.” He glowered.

“You make it sound like a battle front.” She mused.

“That’s because it is.” He held up a hand to stop her and nodded towards a door way that led into the back of the house. “Five, four, three, two…”

“You must be Cassandra!” a friendly voice sounded as a thin blond wearing a light blue polo shirt, faded jeans, and a classic ‘Mom’ hair-do appeared through the open door way.

“Mrs. Scott! What a pleasure it is to meet you.” Cass smiled, releasing Justin’s hand long enough to shake his mom’s hand.

“You are even prettier in person, and charming to.” Mrs. Scott beamed, bringing them into the kitchen. It was decorated much like the rest of the house, bright jovial colors with everything in its proper place so that it looked more like a page from a magazine than a real home. All of the appliances were stainless steel and the walls were a bright picante red with black granite counters. The cupboards lined the walls above the counters and were painted to match the walls and the island in the middle was painted dark grey. The fourth wall of the kitchen was just an open space that led into what seemed to be the family room. It had a big screen T.V. and an expensive home theater system. There were shelves of DVDs and video games and a dark green leather sofa. The walls were a deep smoke blue and the carpet looked more user friendly in varying shades of grey and navy blue. The girl she had seen in the window was playing on the X-box and studiously ignoring them.

“I’m sorry, did you say prettier? I was under the impression you had not seen me before.” She blinked, confused.

“Oh Raichel stole Justin’s phone the other night and he has a picture of you two as his background. Welcome to my humble home! I’m making Chicken Parmesan tonight. Do you want to help?”

“I see. Yes, I would be delighted to help. Is that alright with you, Justin?” Cass turned to read his aura. It was vibrant orange with apprehension so she gave his hand an encouraging squeeze.

“Yah, sure, whatever.” He shrugged.

“Do you want to stay as well? I did not get to see you very much yesterday because Preston claimed most of your attention.” She invented for his benefit as much as her own.