Family Matters

Chapter Fifteen

"Why do you want to be friends with me...?" I asked. Diana raised her eyebrows in question.

"Do I need a reason to be friends with someone?" She asked and I frowned.

"I was rude to you..." I muttered and Diana smiled with a shake of her head.

"That was just because you were shy, I totally understand! I used to be the same way and it was really hard for me to make friends" She said.

"So...is it easy now?" I asked wondering if I could ever be that way. Someone who can make friends easily with anyone and not be afraid when it comes down to it.

"I guess you could say that. I had to realize on my own that I couldn't keep waiting for friends to come find me. I have to find them, and pick them myself or else I'll get stuck being friends with people I don't really want to be friends with" she said.

Mulling over her words silently, I nodded in understanding before asking my next question.

"And you're sure you want to be friends with someone like me...?" I asked and Diana nodded.

"Honestly, I was actually pretty nervous when first talking to you" she said giggling and my eyes widened at that.

Nervous to talk to me? It was more like I was the one nervous and she was radiating all kinds of sunshine and friendly vibes when we first met.

"I thought that since you were new to the school, you would need a friend but I still wasn't sure how to approach you. So I went for the direct approach" she said and I made a small 'oh' sound but what Diana said next made me stop in my tracks.

"Ceres, believe it or not, you're my first friend here" she said. For some reason, I felt weird all of a sudden and I didn't know why. It was the same warmth that I've been feeling all day, but it just intensified.

It was the same feeling I had when me and Papa had our talk together.

I was feeling really happy.

"Y-You're my...f-first friend...too..." I could just feel the heat in my cheeks rising with each word and if someone were to touch them they would get burned.

Diana let out a giggle as she poked my cheek and this time, it didn't bother me as much as it used to.

"Oh! That's right, we should call each other later" Diana said but then she faltered when remembering that I didn't have a phone.

"Sorry..." I said and Diana shook her head.

"It's alright. I'll see you on tomorrow!" She said before heading off her own way.

A phone...

I've never had one since Mama couldn't afford to pay another bill on top of the ones she already had piled on her. I also never saw the need for one since I wouldn't have anyone to talk to anyways.

Once we got home, I went to my room and looked over the notes Diana had given me and started on the homework. For some reason, I found it so much more easier to do the homework with the notes Diana had given me. They were neatly written and she even left little notes on the side for me.

With the help of Diana's notes, I easily got through my homework and just as I finished, Kade popped his head in the room.

"Hey, Honey. Need any help?" He asked and I shook my head.

"I finished my homework" I said and his eyes widened a little.

"So quick? Are you sure?" He asked and I frowned.

"Yes" I said and Kade nodded.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that you should get ready to see the eye doctor" he said and I nodded. I watched as Kade slowly left out of the room but then I could hear his hurried footsteps as he ran downstairs. Probably to go tell my other brothers about me finishing my homework early.

It didn't take me that long to do my homework...did it?

After putting away my things, I headed downstairs in search of Kade who was supposed to take me to my appointment. When I came down, I saw that Kade was holding out his phone getting ready to take a picture of Max who was sleeping on the couch.

Max had been trying to catch up on sleep since he spent the last few nights working extra hard on the painting he gave Roman so it wasn't unusual to see him asleep in random places.

"A photo op" Kade cheered as he snapped a photo of Max's sleeping face.

"Another picture to my 'Maxi's cute photos' album" he said while tapping on his phone. I just looked at Kade wearily.

"He's gonna kill you if he ever finds out that you took that" I said and Kade smiled.

"It's okay. All of my brothers know I have an album for them. And now one of you" he said as he took a picture of me and I just sighed.

He completely missed the point.

"....ete it..." We both turned to Max who was grumbling something in his sleep, or at least I thought he was sleep until he opened his eyes and shot a deadly glare at Kade who smiled back at him innocently.

"Welcome back to the land of the living" Kade said.

"Delete it" Max said with an icy glare and yet Kade just continued to smile.

"Why? It's such a cute photo. Look, you're drooling" Kade said showing Max the photo and in an instant Max was up and trying to grab the phone from Kade but Kade just held it high above his head.

At this rate we were going to be late for my appointment...

"I'll delete it on one condition" Kade said holding up his pointer finger and Max glared at it before moving his glare back to Kade's face, clearly not liking where this was going.

Whatever 'this' is.

"You have to tell me you love me and that I'm your favorite" Kade said with a smile so bright that it could rival the sun.

For a moment, I began to worry for Kade's safety when I saw Max's eye start to twitch in annoyance but surprisingly, Max clenched his fists before taking a deep breath.

"You can fucking keep it..." he grumbled before walking away and Kade's face dropped.

"What? That's not how it's supposed to go! You're supposed to tell me you love me and that I'm your favorite! Then I pretend to delete the photo and we all be happy" Kade cried as he chased after Max who was just walking briskly from the scene.

So...did Kade just forget that he's supposed to take me to my appointment?