When you look at me I just can't lie

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Zander was fighting back a grimace as Mel coughed up a lung. “Ugh.” She groaned and wiped another tissue across her nose. “You should save yourself while you can.” She was very nasally with tearful eyes from all the coughing.

“Come on Scout, what kind of friend would I be if I did that?” he smiled and thought even sick as a dog she was still adorable. “Your mom is downstairs cooking a feast for one of her dinner parties, are you in?”

She frowned. “Poor Anthony, he’s really going to see me in all my glory now.”

“He hasn’t been by to see you?” she had been sick for the last four days and that was a lot of time to go without seeing your girlfriend, Zander thought. He hadn’t gone two days without coming by to check on her and drop off her homework.

“I won’t let him. He’s come by but I have mom on guard duty not letting him into the house. He has a fight coming up and it’d be a disaster if he got sick.” Of course she was worried about the guy she was in love with. Anthony wouldn’t stay away because he was a horrible boyfriend; the guy was in love with her just as bad as she loved him. It was sickening.  “I’ll probably just lock myself in here until everyone is gone.”

“You don’t look well for company.” He agreed. “Are you taking something to help?”

She nodded. “I’m on a whole slew of pills and a lot of them get me nice and high. You don’t want to stick around for that.”

“It sounds like I might.” He laughed and threw a pillow at her. “I’ll go find out what’s happening and tell lover boy to keep his distance when he gets here.” He was closing the door to Mel’s room when something caught his attention. He heard something being ripped apart and mutters of curses from a voice that sounded a lot like Lena.

He followed the sound to her room where he peeked in through the open doorway. She was sitting on her bed ripping photos with rivers of tear tracks down her cheeks. Her head was down and thankfully she hadn’t noticed she was being watched. She stopped at one of the photos and stared at it for a long glance before ripping it as well.

He thought about walking away and before yesterday that’s probably exactly what he would’ve done. He and Lena were not friends even in the sense he cared what she was going through but after the very real human interactions they had last night she was no longer the robotic twin to his best friend, she was real.

He tapped his knuckles to her door. “Hey.”

She gasped in shock and looked at him with wide red eyes. “What are you doing here?” her voice was too broken to be considered angry at his intrusion.

“I was checking in with Mel and heard you crying.”

She scoffed and started to pile the ripped photos together. “You probably wish you had a camera.”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t going to lie. “You’re beautiful when you cry.” Well hell that was not what he planned to say. It was true except those were facts better kept inside the confines of your thoughts. He had planned to tell her yes her tearful look would work in his pieces of art nothing more, certainly nothing personal like he found her attractive.

Her head shot back with even wider eyes of shock. He could understand that, he was pretty shocked himself.

He stepped away from the door. “I think the Marcetti’s just arrived and I’m supposed to keep Anthony away.” Like a coward he hightailed it out of there. He couldn’t suffer through another second of the intense awkward air forming between them like a massive tornado.