Avery's eyes are so wide. She pulls me into the kitchen and we hide inside the large pantry.
"Let me see." She says and moves my hands out of the way. She stares in disbelief as she inspects the multiple hickeys.
"This is bad." I say, scratching my arm in embarrassment. I feel ashamed.
"I knew it." She says, her voice high pitched. She smiles at me, giving me a knowing look. She seems excited for me, but my face falls from her reaction. "The way he stares at you. The way I catch you looking at him. I knew something was going on the moment he took you to see his dad." She continues. Her whisper now turned into normal talking.
What is Jospeh going to think? Or Evan? No one can know.
"How do I hide this?" I panic, pacing back and forth in the pantry. She grabs my arm to stop me from pacing and I look at her.
"You're just going to have to show them off." She shrugs and I grunt.
"I can't do that. I can't." I shake my head.
"Just wear a sweater, I'll lower the a.c system so it's freezing in here. Then you have an excuse to be covered." She smiles. Smart thinking on her part. "Oh, just don't go outside. It's supposed to be one hundred ten degrees outside." She scrunches her nose and I nod taking in her advise. "I have make up but it's not going to cover everything, but it will hide well once you've got a sweater on."
She leaves me alone in the pantry. Okay, check if the coast is clear. Run upstairs without bumping into anyone. Shower and find something to cover my neck with.
Easy...
I slowly open the pantry door and I see Jospeh walking in. His hair up in many directions. He just woke up. He's mid yawn when he sees me and starts smiling.
"I'm not even going to ask why you're in the pantry." He says, smiling to himself as he shakes his head.
"Can't talk." I say meaner than anticipated. I see his face morph into confusion and I run as fast as I can out of the pantry and up the stairs and to my room. It's too early in the morning for him to realize I have marks on my neck. If he's anything like Sawyer and has those sharp attentive eyes then I'm done for.
I shower and put on a sweater that covers most of the marks. My door swings open and I stand there frozen. I sigh out when it's only Avery, she's holding a bag full of makeup.
"They look bright red. I think the shower made them darker." She says and I slump onto the bed.
"I'm done for."
"Why exactly do you want to hid them? Your mom is not here to scold you or something. You won't get into trouble." She shrugs, not worried.
"I feel like I've been branded. I don't know. I don't want people to know I was fooling around. It's kind of slutty. It's a trashy look." I reason, my stomach sinking as I do.
Avery laughs at my discomfort and she starts putting make up on to cover them.
"They feel good. Look hideous." She says and I stare at her. She's not making this situation any better.
"How does it look?" I questions.
"It's getting there. Tell me how this happened." She says and I sigh.
"A game of Uno."
She shakes her head in disapproval. "You fell right into his trap." She backs away to look at her work.
"I see that now. I just needed to win." I ball my fist, I did win.
"Did you?" She asks, an eyebrow raised. Her hand is on her hip and I feel like that's how my mom would be standing, just with more disappointment.
