FADED (book I)

II

I moved to the kitchen where I always do my homework. Tristan went to the fridge and grabbed a beer before he took a seat next to me.

"You finished your lunch?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

I grabbed my bag and took my almost-eaten sandwich.

"Good girl," he praised. "Now finish it."

"But I'm not hungry," I whined. "I swear I'm gonna throw up if I eat more."

"Fine," he sighed before eating it himself. "Don't tell Jordan," he winked.

I giggled. "Thanks."

"You got homework?"

"Mhmm," I absently nodded as I took it out. "It's not much. Won't take me longer than thirty minutes."

He practically inhaled my sandwich and I marveled at how it only took him ten seconds and two bites to finish it while it takes me an eternity.

"I gotta run some errands and Jordan asked me to pick some things up at the grocery store, wanna join?"

"Sure," I smiled sweetly.

He leaned over and pinched my dimple. "Stop being so damn adorable," he growled.

FADED

Tristan let me buy some candy at the store, making me promise that if Jordan ever asked I didn't get it from him. He also let me pay at the pay desk with his money of course because some people thought I was still too young to go to the store by myself - Jordan. I could choose what we were going to have for dinner and I picked Chinese. If I'd let the boys choose, we were going to eat pizza again which I was getting tired of to be honest.

It was close to six when we got back home and I felt dread wash over me when I recognized Penelope's car parked on our driveway. I didn't know she was invited.

"What's Penny doing here?" Tristan sounded confused, apparently he wasn't aware either that she was going to be here.

We grabbed the groceries out of the trunk and walked in through the back door, into the kitchen. I put everything down on the counter and I was about to grab the rest when Tristan stopped me.

"It's okay, I'll grab the rest," he smiled, lightly tugging at my braid. "Why don't you put these away."

"Okay," I said as I first grabbed everything that had to go into the fridge. I noticed the house was much quieter which means that Ashton's friends probably left.

"Hey."

I turned around eying the tall, blonde girl. "Hey."

She leaned against the counter with her hip, tapping her long manicured fingers on the surface. "Where's Tris?"

"He's just grabbing some things from the car, he'll be right back," I told her.

"Where did you guys go?"

"Uh, to the store." Was she blind or something? Can't she see me putting away the groceries?

"Noah told me you guys have been gone for more than an hour. The store is only ten minutes away."

"Oh we went to the car shop first because Tristan forgot his phone there, and then we dropped off a friend of his who needed a ride." And why was this any of her business?

"Well that would explain why he wasn't answering my calls," she said, not even having the audacity to help me put everything away.

The backdoor opened and closed alerting us of Tristan's presence. He was carrying two crates of beer and put them on the floor, near the fridge.