The next couple of days went by fast. I barely gave anything, but my Dad's return a second thought. I couldn't believe he was actually here back in Long Shore. He'd been gone for so long it was like there was no place for Ho anymore.
"You really should quit staring at the pool, you're gonna turn into some form of mad woman in the attic or something. Just with you it'll be like the crazy girl sat by the pool." Tommy said from the other side of the pool, walking away from the house.
From where I was sat with my legs dangled over the edge of the pool, I saw Tommy come over from the house and sit down besides me. I rolled my eyes at the expectant look he was wearing on his face.
"That comment you just made tells me you haven't paid attention much in English. I don't quite meet the depiction you're trying to achieve, but it was really flattering either way."
Tommy smirked at me. "Anytime." He said and looking down at an English book I had on my lap. "You're studying for the English test?"
I sighed. "Trying to, but every time I try to look at my notes or go to find a quote in the book,
It just reminds me of Alice and then I'm reminded of my Dad. I guess that's how I got here, feeling sorry for myself."
It was why I came out to the pool, being in my room was driving me insane. Everywhere I looked there was something to remind me of my Dad or my sister. Our here by the pool, everything felt new.
Tommy gave me a sympathetic smile. "It must be hard living in a town full of ghosts."
I bit my lip. "Yeah, except it's like my Dad was a ghost and has come back to life, reminding me of everything I haven't really moved on from."
"Sounds like you need a ghost hunter."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, something like that. Maybe an ouija board or something like that will do the trick."
"How would an ouija board help you?"
I smiled in amusement slightly, "advice from a dead person would be a very priceless thing."
Tommy looked confused, but soon seemed to understand what I was getting at as I saw a flicker of realisation flash through his blue eyes. "You want advice from Alice?"
I nodded. "You're quicker than I thought." I complimented. "Asking Alice what she'd do or what she think I should do with my Dad would be good."
"Well, seeing as though you can't have that because she's... gone, why don't you try and figure out what she might have said?"
"I don't know." I replied. "I can make up a million different conversations with her in my head, but it's not the same. She's not here. I can't pretend she is, my mind won't let me. It's weird, she appears in my dreams sometimes and even then, something inside me knows she's already gone."
"Okay, well how about you try and put all the advice and things other people say out of your head and think about what you wanna do yourself?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "You say that, but what if I don't know what i want?"
Tommy raised his eyebrows at me. "Not knowing what you want doesn't sound very you. You seem to always do what you want to and you don't seem to need other peoples advice about it. If you don't need other people's advice usually, what makes this different?"
I sighed. "You're just picking up on my stubbornness. And this is different. I need Alice to reason with me until I figure out what it is I want."
"Reason with you how?" Tommy said.
"I don't know, just break it down and talk it through. Help me understand everything."
"Okay, well why don't we give it a go?" Tommy turned to me, sitting cross legged. "I may not be able to talk this through with you like Alice could, but maybe I can help break it down?"
I sighed and turned, crossing my legs and mirroring him. "What's the worst that can happen?"
Tommy gave me a small smile.
"So you're trying to figure out whether you wanna see your Dad again, right?" I nodded. "And you're anger at him makes you not want to?" I nodded. "So are there any reasons why you might want to see him?"
I sighed, were there any?
"Nostalgia maybe? You know, just longing for a life of the past?" I admitted, "but at the same time, I don't want to go back to that. Even if my family were together, we were a mess then anyway."
Tommy nodded. "But it's still something you lived and it's still — as cheesy as it sounds — what brought you here and made you who you are today."
"I suppose."
"Yeah, and your Dad's apart of that past. So you seeing him again might feel like for you that, that old life isn't quite in the past. Is that why you want to see him?"
I sighed and nodded, "it sounds pathetic, but there's just so much gone from my old life. I miss it sometimes, but honestly I don't know if that's because I miss Alice or how it used to be."
"What if it's a bit of both?" Tommy suggested.
"It could be."
"If it is, you should know it's normal." He said. "It's also normal to want a relationship with your Dad if that's what you want."
"I guess I'd like him to know how I really feel." I said. "I just hate myself for feeling like I still miss him and that i want him to know that I do. It's a pride thing."
"Prides stupid sometimes, but it can also protect you."
I sighed. "Ugh, how do I decide what to do?"
Tommy shrugged. "I can't tell you what to do, I'm not you. Although, I might have an idea to get you to figure it out."
I raised my eyebrows. "Hit me, maybe it'll work."
"You need a distraction." Tommy smirked.
"How? All I can do is think about my Dad."
Tommy grinned and me and then suddenly I felt his hand touch my shoulder. My body weight was nudged from the edge of the pool, making me fall into the water. I kicked my way up to the surface and glared at him.
"What was that for? I'm going to kill you!" I said, wiping the water away from my eyes. "I'm not even wearing a bathing suit! My clothes are soaked!"
Tommy's smirk just grew bigger. "Good, I didn't like that top you're wearing. It's not really the vibe for the party we're going to." He said as I swam over to the surface.
Tommy held out his hand, pulling me up out of the pool and passing me a towel that my Mom had left on a sun bed from earlier today.
I raised my eyebrows when I fully registered what he said. "Party?" I question. "I haven't been invited to any parties."
Tommy grinned and threw his arm around me, the towel the only thing stopping my damp clothes from ruining his dry ones.
"That's where you're wrong. The Lakewood's were invited to a party and you are a Lakewood. So, yes, we do have a party to go to." He said.
"Oh," I said, stopped as we came round to the other side of the pool. Tommy stopped besides me, confused. "There's just one problem." I said.
"Which is?" He asked.
I smirked and pushed him in the pool. He came up to the surface, almost gobsmacked I managed to do to him what he'd done to me.
"Sorry, your top isn't really something you should wear to a party either." I said, failing at hiding my amusement as he climbed up and stood besides me again. This time he was dripping wet.
He stepped towards me and suddenly I felt my legs lifted up and I was in Tommy's arms. "Hey, don't you dare! Tommy Lakewood, put me down on the dry ground."
"No can do." He said, grinning and suddenly I was thrown into the pool again.
I came up to the surface, again. Tommy was laughing to himself at my unamused face.
"You've got to laugh at yourself. If you can't do that, what can you do?"
I rolled my eyes and swam back to the edge again. Tommy held out his hand. "I'm good." I said, helping myself up. "What was that for?"
Tommy shrugged. "Oh, you know it's just a pre-payment for when I have to carry your sorry drunk ass home later."
I glared at him. "Who says I'll get drunk?"
Tommy chuckled to himself. "It's you, Charlie. And it's the kind of party where all the alcohol is free. You're definitely gonna get drunk. Like I said, it's you."
"I'm starting to see the kind of impression I've made on you."
Tommy chuckled. "It's not an impression. I know you, it's just a fact about you. Charlie and alcohol equals drunk Charlie. You're a bit like Harry."
"Oh really? Well, I bet Harry will be more drunk than me tonight."
"You really want to bet on it?" Tommy said.
I nodded. "Yes. I bet Harry will be more wasted than me."
Tommy raised his eyebrows. "If that's what you want them I bet ten bucks you'll be more drunk than Harry."
I smiled. "I guess we'll have to see, won't we?"
Tommy's lips twisted in amusement. "That we will." He said and headed towards the house. "Better go and get ready. Sebastian will get pissed off at us if we're late — we're always late."
I smiled slightly as I saw him approach the back of the house, opening up the back door.
My smile only grew bigger when I realised Tommy had somehow managed to successfully distract me.
"Charlie?" Tommy called for me, holding the back door open.
I snapped out of my realisation and saw Tommy looking at me expectantly. "Coming!" I said and I ran off towards the house.
•
I sat in my kitchen, dressed for a party. When I was getting dressed I had to get Tommy to approve my outfit because I had no idea what the parties my stepbrothers went to were like or what people wore to them. I settled for a pretty casual outfit, blue denim flares and a white tube top.
"Hey, Charlie! I didn't realise you were coming out with us tonight." Freya Calloway said, entering our kitchen. Sebastian followed behind her after letting her in.
"Neither did I till like an hour ago." I said, looking to Tommy besides me. He was watching Harry pour out some white rum into red plastic cups.
Freya smiled. "Well it's nice to have you hang out with us." She said, placing her hand on the island and leaning her weight against it. "I feel like I haven't seen much of you since you're Mom and the boys' Dad got together."
Sebastian shifted awkwardly as Freya gave him a somewhat playful disapproving look.
I shrugged, "I guess I just hang out with different people."
Freya nodded. "Joe Hudson and Taylor Thornton, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I'm surprised you remember their names."
Freya smiled. "Remembering names is something I'm really good at. I remember Taylor pretty well too from being on the cheerleading squad."
I raised my eyebrows. "You do?"
"Of course. I wasn't the captain then, but I remember her being one of the few freshman's to make it onto the squad in their freshman year. It was a shame she quit. She seemed pretty good."
I bit my lip, feeling a little bit sad for Taylor. I knew she quit because she was shy, but I bet some of it was because she also felt intimidated by the other cheerleaders. Yet, despite Freya's supposed popular-cheerleader- cool girl persona, she seemed cool in her own way. Freya didn't seem to be intimidating at all.
Interrupting our conversation, Harry clapped his hands together and caught our attention. As I turned to look at him, he was looking pretty pleased with himself. "One for you, and one for you..." Harry said, handing Sebastian a cup and then Freya. Harry turned to me and Tommy. "And one each for you two. But Charlie, drink it slowly."
I scoffed. "I know how to pace myself, Harry."
Tommy chuckled besides me and i shot him a glare before leaning towards him. "Get ready to lose ten bucks, Mr judgemental."
Tommy looked towards me in amusement before downing his drink. "Good thing the bet doesn't concern me." He said.
I glared at him. He definitely just did that to rub it in my face. "Now I would down mine to just prove to you that I can handle a drink, but unlike you've just proved you cannot do - I'm taking it slow." I said, taking a sip of the drink. Just by tasting it I could tell it was rum and coke.
"When do you want to leave for Jack's?" Harry asked, looking to Sebastian for an answer.
I felt my eyes widen. "The party's is Jack's party?"
Freya turned to me. "Yeah, did the boys not tell you?"
"No." I said, hearing my voice fade into a mutter and I took a sip in my drink to hide my discontent.
"She wasn't invited so she wouldn't know." Sebastian stated.
I gulped, what happened at their friends parties if you showed up and weren't invited? Would they kick you out? Would people know you weren't invited?
"He said all of the Lakewood's are invited, actually. That includes Charlie." Tommy corrected.
I felt unsure. Did I really want to go to this party? It was one thing showing up not being technically invited, but it was another that it was Jack's party.
"Are you sure I should go? When he said the Lakewood's he probably only meant you three."
"You're right, he did." Sebastian stated, coldly.
Tommy shot him a glare. "Can you just quit it already? Whatever your problem still is with her can you just get over it already? It's getting old, Sebastian."
Sebastian clenched his jaw. The focus of his glare shifted from me to Tommy. "You really are becoming her little bitch."
Freya shifted uncomfortably like she was now intruding in something that should remain behind closed doors.
"I'm not anyone's bitch." Tommy said, irritated. "I'm just saying, give her a break. We all know you're angry because —"
"Shut the fuck up, Tommy." Sebastian cut in. He looked at Tommy with menacing eyes before glancing to me and then to Freya.
Tommy sighed. "All I'm saying is the last thing Charlie needs right is is for you to be treating her like shit."
"Just because he Dad showed up doesn't mean I've suddenly got to like her. It's her problem, not mine or yours. She's not our sister."
Freya raised her eyebrows and stood back and stood up straight. "I'm just gonna use the bathroom." She said and walked away, making me realise I wasn't the outsider in this situation, but I was wishing I was. I was wishing I could excuse myself too and disappear from a conversation that was none of my business, but it now was.
Tommy sighed and looked to Sebastian. "You're gonna have to accept it sooner or later, Charlie's our sister now and that's not gonna go away."
I took a sip of my drink, feeling awkward. I didn't really care much for Sebastian. At this point, as long as he was civil with me, I didn't want anything else from him.
"We don't have a sister." Sebastian corrected.
Harry sighed. "Come on, you've got to give it a rest. It's old now, bro."
Sebastian raised his eyebrows and turned to Harry surprised. "You too?"
"Despite Charlotte being annoyingly opinionated and self governed, she's not too bad." He said and looked to me. "Notice how I emphasised that you're annoyingly —"
"— i get the picture, Harry."
"Just making sure," Harry smirked and turned back to Sebastian. "Come on, Dad would prefer it if we all just got on with each other.
You know how hard it was for him and for us when Mom died. It's unfair on him for us to be at each other's throats —"
"— don't talk about all that." Sebastian said. "If you three wanna play happy families, be my guest. I don't wanna be part of that act. She's shown she's not part of our family countless of times and you just keep ignoring it."
I rolled my eyes. "What about the amount of times you three showed me I wasn't apart of your family? You've contributed to it too. Don't act like I'm the bad guy. You've had your share and I know it's been hard on you guys adjusting, but it's been hard on me too."
Sebastian met my eyes. "You've had a bad attitude from the day we walked through this front door."
"So have you. Don't forget you three wouldn't let me invite my friends to our party because you three thought they weren't cool enough."
"And look how that turned out, you embarrassed our family." Sebastian said.
"So a public display of us not liking each other is embarrassing? I'm not going to make out I'm perfect or we're perfect because my last name is Lakewood. If you don't like me and I don't like you, I don't care if the whole damn school knows. It's pathetic to try and hide it. No one cares."
Sebastian rolled his eyes. And we noticed Freya come back into the room. "I hate to interpret, but we really should get going. It's gone eleven."
Tommy turned his attention to me and smiled as if the conversation we just had never happened. I admired it, it seemed like a skill to have as I was still trying to cool myself off from the rage Sebastian had fuelled.
"Ready to get wasted, Charlie?"
I forced a smirk. "You bet."
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