That Four Letter Word

S I X

[Chapter Six: Promises and Lies]

Song: Love Lies | Khalid & Normani | Acoustic Version [JustAcoustic]

~

《 Winter 》

"Hey, Winter!" Adam called out as I walked out of the school building. I turned around to see him jogging towards me. "Do you wanna go straight to my place or do you wanna grab some food first?" I furrowed my eyebrows. I knew I needed to get to Grampa's house to sort my stuff out. Need to mention my car?

"I need to run some errands for my mom. Text me the address." My voice, as usual, was blunt. I turned and began to walk away.

"Winter." He calls back. "I don't have your number." I heave walk back towards him as he hands me his phone. I put my number in and gave it back to him, letting him put my name in and save it. I made my way into town to get my car.

~

"Winter." A voice echoed out as I walked into the house.

"Hi, Dan." I replied as he walked over to greet me. I'm not a hugger but when its required, I will give very short ones. VERY short ones.

Dan is, what you may call, a personal assistant. Except, more. He works for Grampa but he also lives here and we treat him as family. That's the way it works for us. He's also one of the only people who knows what happened, which kinda makes him a big brother to me. I guess its because he's concerned all the time.

"He's inside on a call. Are you hungry?" He walked us into the kitchen.

"I just came here to change. I'm meeting someone for a school project." He raises an eyebrow. "A school project." I reiterate.

"Well, at least your talking?" I shrug my shoulders. "Winter, not even... anything?"

"We are not having this conversation right now Dan." I replied jokingly. Blunt but jokingly. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and go up to my room.

My room isn't like the house before. I had bigger windows and a balcony looking out onto the lake. I had a 4-post bed with a nightstand at each end. There was an en suite and a walk-in closet. There was a flat screen on the wall opposite my bed. This wasn't a room. It was a freaking apartment. But hey, I'm not complaining.

"Well if it isn't my granddaughter." I walked over to the tiresome old man standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Gramps." I walked over to hug him. My voice muffled into his shirt.

"You look well dear. But your parents say otherwise. Your mother tells me you don't say anything to her." His concerned look studied my expression.

"I'm fine. And late. I need to go."

"Where?"

"Study. Partner. Thing. School. Usual." I ran down to get the duffel bag out of my car.

I ended up wearing a sweater and ripped jeans with my black vans finishing the look. I grabbed my phone and wallet, yes wallet because I'm far from lady like, and strolled back downstairs.

"I'll be back later. Text if you need anything." I shouted while walking out of the house. I typed Adam's address into Move It on my phone. You could take your car and make some lame excuse. Apparently, lying to him is your thing now, right? Shut up subconscious. I can walk. It's only 20 minutes.

~

I couldn't help but feel anxious walking up to his front door. Well. Front gate.

"Who is it?" The voice through the intercom called out.

"Winter for Adam Allen." I replied. No red flags that I knew what to say, right?

"Oh, Winter. Hey. Come on in." The gate opens almost instantly and Adam trots down the stairs. "Hey. Welcome to the Allen Abode." Allen Abode. Cute. Kind of. Did I just think he was cute?

"Lemme give you a tour." I nodded slowly and followed him.

~

"So, I've settled each project into required written and optional visuals. Usually, the visuals take the longest because of the creative side of it and the written reports are just effort. So, planning first?" He explained through his 'game plan' and I sat nodding at each word. It's not that I didn't care for much, but I just didn't have anything to say. Not that that's any different.

"So?" He looked at me waiting for my response. I nodded again slowly. "Look Winter, for this to work, you've gotta talk to me. I can't communicate one sided." I sighed and looked down. You could try reading my mind. That might work.

"And, no, I can't read your mind. Nothing bad is gonna happen if you simply just talk to me, okay?" I nodded again, and I knew that it was only going to slow us down. I was going to spend every waking moment with this guy, every free period and at least 3 times after school a week. And so, I blinked slowly and swallowed the last of my pride.

"Okay," I replied bluntly.

"Good," he smiled back. "Let's get started."