Adopted by Austin Carlile

O.G. Loko

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, during which I found out that Tino doesn't like silence because he looked at me and then asked shyly, "So um, what, what happened that you, you know, ended up in the orphanage?"

"I-" I was going to tell him my story about how my mom left me on the porch steps of that stinking orphanage, but suddenly, my memories overwhelmed me. This sometimes happens because I'm messed up in more ways than one. I burst out crying. I couldn't help it, I couldn't stop it, I couldn't control it, and I felt bad, because Tino's face crumpled when he saw my reaction to his question. His eyes reflected worry, confusion, sadness and guilt.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean I –" he was cut off by Alan who started yelling at him, "What's your freaken problem? Why did you have to make her cry? You KNOW that you can't just ask someone something like that!"

"It's, hic, okay-y-y, hic. Alan please, hic, don't scream at, hic, him," I said getting up. He enveloped me into a hug and I leaned my body against him, wrapping my arms around him.

"No Jinxx, it's not okay! He has no right to ask you something like that after knowing you for like, a couple of days! And now you're crying because of him!" he yelled at Tino. Suddenly, he let go of me, came over to Tino, slapped him on the side of the head, then came back and hugged me tightly.

"No, Tino, hic, it's okay, hic," I said to him.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

Suddenly, Austin came downstairs, his face worried. "What's wrong? Why is Jinxxy crying?" he asked while pulling me away from Alan and hugging me. I hugged him back, trying to disappear by hiding my face in his chest.

"Tino here thinks that it's cool to ask someone about their past WHEN THEY'RE NOT READY TO TELL IT!" Alan yelled the last part and I heard Tino say, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to know more about –"

He was cut off by Alan who yelled, "IF SHE WANTED YOU TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HER PAST, SHE WOULD'VE TOLD YOU! Look at what you've done," he said the last part softly and I felt him put his hand on my shoulder.

"It's, hic, not his, hic, fault," I said, trying to defend Tino. I looked up at Austin but I could see that he was mad too, and getting madder by the second. "Austin..." I said, trying to calm him down.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose and took a couple of long, deep breaths. "Tino please, just leave, okay?"

Oh God, I was making this so much worse by the second and these cursed sobs wouldn't stop.

"Austin-" I said again but he looked at me, shook his head no and said, in a calmer voice, "Please, just leave, okay? I think Jinxx needs to calm down okay?"

I buried my head in his chest and heard Tino say, "Okay, I'm sorry Jinxx, and please text me okay?"

I smiled slightly at him and nodded. He left then and I knew what I had to do. After a minute or two, I somehow got the sobbing and crying under control and I looked up at Austin and said, "I'll be right back," breaking our hug and walking to the staircase.

"Not so fast," he said to me, grabbing my arm lightly, minding that I still had open cuts on them. I looked at him, as innocently as I could, but I could see he wasn't buying it.

"Exactly what did you forget upstairs?" he asked me. "I...have to go to the bathroom. My makeup is a mess probably," I said, hesitating slightly. He caught on fast though, and enveloped me into a bone crushing hug. "You promised you won't remember?" he whispered into my ear so Alan won't hear.

"I'm sorry," I said, and looked up at him.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry? That you have to go to the bathroom?" Alan looked at us confused. Then, it seemed to dawn on him exactly what I meant and he said, "No," his eyes filling up with sadness and hurt.

"Please tell me it's not what I think it is," he said to me.

"I, uh –" I started to explain myself, when he suddenly came over to me and I dashed behind Austin.

"Alan, please, leave her alone okay?" Austin said to him.

"No! My best friend is hurting herself, I will not just 'leave her alone'!" Alan said to Austin and stepped around him.

I had nowhere to look but into his brown eyes as he asked me, "How bad?"

"I-" but he cut me off.

"How bad? I need to know, please!" he said to me, lightly grabbing my arm. I flinched, and Austin said, "Hey be careful Alan".

I led Alan outside, where the pool was, telling Austin I got this under control. He seemed unsure, but then nodded, and let us go.

When we were standing outside, in the shade, Alan said, "May I see them?"

Seeing the pain in his eyes, I sighed and took off my jacket and then undid my bandages. Seeing my cuts, he gasped and gently took my hands in his.

"It's nothing really-" I started to say when he suddenly lifted my arm up to his face and began kissing every one of my cuts. I blushed badly, and tried to pull my arm back, but he held it firmly in his grip. He really does care, I thought. Then he did the same with my other arm and looked me straight in the eyes. "Promise to NEVER do it again Jinxxy pie" he said to me. I looked straight at him, and said, "Promise". He looked closely at me, then slightly nodded his head and put the bandages back in place.

Five minutes later we found Austin in the hallway, looking for keys in the smallest closet I had never seen before. There was stuff piled on top of each other and I was surprised that nothing came crashing down. He straightened up, the keys dangling from his hand, a triumphant look on his face. He turned towards us and said, "Okay! I got them, now we can go,"

"Umm, where are we going?" Alan asked.

"Well, me and Jinxx are going to Vic's house," Austin said looking at me.

"Ohhhh can I come? Pretty pretty pretty please?" Alan asked looking at me with puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah sure," I said chuckling.

We headed out to the car, me taking shot gun, earning a pout from Alan. During the drive I was getting more and more worried. What if Vic thinks I'm a loser? Or something worse? 

So when we actually got to Vic's place, I was on my last nerves. Okay here goes nothing, I thought to myself as I opened the car door.