disclosure [l.h]

eight

L U K E

When mom said we were going over to her friend's house I was all for it -- that was until it was Elizabeth's house. Terrified was an understatement to what I felt, especially after she had yelled at me during History. No one had the guts to even raise their voice at me and yet she was yelling at me as if there was no tomorrow.

I wore a half-sleeved shirt, black skinny jeans and black Vans -- my normal attire. Mom examined me as I walked out of the door and just shook her head and laughed saying that the day I wore a tuxedo would be the day the Earth got squashed.

Her house was six houses down from mine which terrified me even more knowing we lived in the same neighbourhood -- it would damned if I ran into her whilst walking because I did not want to see her outside of school at all.

When we reached the house, I froze. I looked at myself through the window reflection of her house, trying my hardest to look good only to get nudged by my annoying fifteen year old brother, Max. "What are you? Trying to win a girl over?"

I was about to object when we heard the sound of glass shattering from inside the house. I look towards mom who just shrugged at the thought of it. "It's probably just a bird."

She knocked on the door and seconds later, the door opened revealing a petite, tall ginger-haired woman, she greeted us with a smile and invited us in.

"Hi Rose," Mom chirped, "We brought you these brownies, we don't really know what you guys eat so we baked them."

"They look stunning Liz!" The woman -- who I supposed was Rose cooed, she then turned to us with a grin. "You must be Luke and Max."

"It's nice meeting you Mrs. Tyler." Her face dropped suddenly and I started to panic thinking I did something wrong. "Are you okay?"

She looked up and shook her head laughing, "Just call me Rose."

"Sorry, it's nice meeting you Rose." Max corrected us, she smiled softly before turning back to mom. "

"You too, I'll be back in a minute! Dinner's almost ready!" She announced, leaving us to wander around the house -- ten points for hospitality.

I didn't say anything but walked around looking at all the framed pictures they had of their families and there were quite a few. There was one of Elizabeth and some guy in a piggyback position. They looked very happy -- maybe that was her boyfriend. I would give credits to Rose for being able to frame her child and her boyfriend in the house. My mom would've gone apeshit. I was startled by the sound of slamming door from upstairs, I glanced at Max who shrugged before continuing scanning through their ancient photo albums. Just then, Elizabeth came running down the stairs, I wanted to die seeing her and I wanted to leave but that was until I noticed her red eyes and smudged face -- she was crying. She looked up to mom and then to me, she didn't even bother pulling a disgusted face on me for how I acted towards her. Some part of me wanted to laugh but another part of me just wanted to ask what was wrong.

Rose happily skipped her way to us, not even acknowleding her daughter who was crying. "Dinner is ready, I'll just call my--" She looked at her daughter with wide eyes and a worried look on her face. It was an awkward silence for a few seconds before mom saved the day.

"You must be Elizabeth," Mom said casually. "Luke had said something about you." But that was a lie, I hadn't said anything about her.

Elizabeth only nodded and shot her a weak smile, she wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. "Elizabeth?" Rose had a concern look on her face.

"I need some air." Was all Elizabeth managed to say before running straight past all of us and out of the house. I wanted to run after her but I couldn't.

"I'm so sorry,' Rose gasped. "She's normally not like that, god I'm so sorry--"

"Hey, it's okay." Mom said softly, rubbing Rose's arm. "Is she going to be alright?"

"She just needs to breathe sometimes," Rose chucked nervously. "She'll be back soon."

+

As we were all about to sit down for dinner, there was footsteps rushing down the stairs and a girl about Max's age appeared through the doorframe. "Mom, where did she go?" She asked, completely ignoring that we were here -- I didn't mind though, I just found it a little rude. "Oh- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I'm Melanie, her second daughter."

"Nice to meet you, Melanie." Mom smiled at her -- mom was always nice.

"Melanie," Rose placed one of her dishes on the table. "What happened? Why is she crying?"

"I didn't mean to," She said, her voice barely audible. "I didn't mean to bring up Dan, we were arguing and I accidentally blurted things and--"

Rose's eyes grew wide and slammed her hand on the table. "Why would do bring him up? You know what that topic does to your sister, how could you be so stupid?!"

Mom immediately got up from her seat and walked over to Rose and started rubbing circles on her back. "It's okay, Rose. Elizabeth is fine. Like you said, she just needs a breather."

"God, I'm sorry." Rose sighed, cupping her hands in her face. "Melanie, go find her."

Melanie's mouth opened, confused. "I can't. She hates me, she'll hate me even more!"

"Go!" Rose yelled, startling everyone. "You did this, you fix it."

And that was when I did I never expected to do. "I'll go." Everyone turned to me with a shocked look on their faces.

"Are you sure?" Rose asked, hesitating.

"I'm sure," I sighed. "Where would I find her?"

"There's a lake fifteen minutes from here -- it's a walking distance. She's normally there," Rose said. "You have no idea how much this means to me Luke, you really don't."

"It's no big deal."  -- But it was a big deal. One of the biggest to me. "I'll see you guys later."

I couldn't believe I was actually doing this, I was actually worried.

-

// hi. i hope ur enjoying reading this so far. and i hope u have a beautiful life. love u.

if u ever need someone, i'm always here for u. <3

♡