I'm back at my house a little while later. I was cautious when I entered. Turned the key, poked my head inside to make sure I didn't hear any footsteps, and then locked the door behind me.
I guess Vickie spread the word around the block because as soon as I drove my car onto the street; I had eyes on me. I sensed eyes on me when I parked my car, and I felt eyes on me when I had gotten out of my car.
I didn't let that bother me though. I had just unlocked my door, did my little peeking and came inside. I wasn't inside for five minutes when there was a knock on my door. At first, it startled me. Nobody should come to visit me.
I had gone to unlock my door, with shaking fingers might I add, and swung my door open to reveal a woman and two children standing on the other side.
“Hello. Welcome to our neighborhood. I baked you some muffins and my kids wanted to make you a welcome sign” The lady had spoken softly, keeping a hand on her youngest son.
I expected this, honestly. Small towns. People need to check you out, want to see what you're about. I didn't mind, though.
“Yes. Hi. I'm Avery” I replied, smiled and gently took the basket of muffins from her hands.
“We live across the street. Three houses down. Vickie told us what had happened last night, and we'll I just wanted to say if you need anything, my doors always open"
Of course Vickie did.
“Thank you, that's very kind of you. What's your name?” I asked softly, before sending both her sons a little smile.
“I'm Sarah. My boys here are Nick and Chris” she smiled and tapped each boy on the head as she added their names.
“Awesome” I responded.
That had happened about fifteen minutes ago. I am now sitting on my barstool, enjoying my much-needed cup of coffee.
I had got pretty tired and decided to take a nap. It's daylight outside, and whoever came into my house last night wouldn't dare come in broad sunshine.
That I was convinced.
I just hope I was correct, though.
I finished my coffee, changed out of my sundress to an old Christmas pajama set, and didn't even bother to lie right in my bed. I laid backwards on my bed, feet towards the headboard, and head towards the door. That way, maybe I'd be able to hear better.
I slept for hours. Good thing I set my alarm because it is now five thirty. I need to get dressed and check out the address that Anna sent me. To make sure I'd have enough time to get there before six thirty. I don't want to make a poor impression on her parents.
She had her momma was strict about time and I understand that. My grandma was the same way. She used to cook brunch on Sundays; it was a standing invite. We had to be there for ten and brunch was always and I mean consistently served right at ten thirty.
I didn't get enough hours of sleep to make up for not sleeping at all last night. I was more tired than I was when I had fallen asleep.
Thirty minutes later, I'm sitting in my car in Anna's parent's driveway checking over my makeup and hair. I shot her a text, letting her know I was pulling up. I was a little nervous. I want her parents to like me.
I could really use a friend.
Sighing loudly, I climbed out of my car and headed for the front door. The house was nice. Small. Perfect for an older couple who I assume lived alone. It was a modest brick home, windows painted a dark red color, and the door matched.
It was cute.
I put my big girl panties on, raised my hand and knocked softly on the door. For a second when no one responded, I thought maybe I knocked a little too softly, but then I heard Anna's sweet voice calling out.
“I'll get it” She said, and I heard hurried footsteps getting closer to the door before it opened.
“Hey, honey. Found it okay?” She asked, and stepped aside. “Come in”
“Hi and yeah, I did. Found it without a problem.” I smiled while stepping inside.
“Good. Let me introduce you to my parents. My brother isn't here yet. He had to run into the police station last minute, but he will be here soon.” She stated, grabbed my hand and led me into the kitchen.
Her mother was near the stove, chopping up lettuce, while her father was standing next to her, smiling down.
That looked so sweet.
“Momma. Daddy. I want you to meet Avery. She is new to town.” Anna declared as she drugged me deeper into the room.
“Hey sweetie” Her mom spoke warmly. “Welcome to our home.”
“Nice to meet you Darling” Says her Dad before he leaned over and whispered to his wife. “I'll finish up, honey. Why don't you go have a chat with the girls?”
“You're too sweet, baby.” Her mother gushed and stood up on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek before handing over the cutting knife. "Come on girls. Living room" Her momma ordered.
I sent a wave to her dad, not wanting to be rude, and did as I was ordered and followed her momma out the kitchen and into the living room.
“Sit.” Her mom sat down on the couch and patted on the empty seats next to her. “Tell me about yourself.”
"Well. My name's Avery, but you know that-” I giggled nervously.
I wonder how much I should actually tell them. I would very much like to become friends with Anna, and I don't want to start our friendship with lies.
“No need to be nervous, Hun. What made you move here? Do you have family here? Oh. Goodness. I'm sorry. My names Helen. I didn't mean to be rude.” She laughed and continued. “Anna doesn't bring friends over often. She don't get along with ladies around here-”
“Momma,” Anna groaned, looking embarrassed.
“What?” Helen demanded. “It's the truth. These young women around this town will use my poor Anna to get to her brother. It's a shame and I can't stand it.” She added with a little growl that I was pretty impressed with.
I didn't really know what to answer to that, so I just said, "I don't even know her brother, no need to worry about that”
“My son's apparently according to most of the young women and older if I'm telling the truth, say he is one of the town's hottest men.” Helen shuttered while she spoke. “They would pretend to be Anna's friend, and once they had gotten close to my son, poof.” She added, throwing her each hand to the side, making it look like an explosion.
I don't want her to think I'd do the same to Anna, so I told Helen the truth about why I moved here.
“I'm sorry you have to deal with that sweetie” I said to Anna before looking back at Helen and continued. “You don't need to worry about that with me because the reason I moved here was because I found my boyfriend and best friend in bed together. They say it was only that one time, but I didn't believe it. The town's people kept making me feel worse about myself. Pity. That's what I would see in their eyes when they looked at me, and I couldn't take it anymore.”
“Oh dear. I'm so sorry. No one deserves that.” Helen whispered while reaching over and took my hand.
“Girl that's horrible. Who's your ex and ex-best friend? I'll look them up on social media, and then I'll leave a nice message” Anna grinned, and that grin notified me the message would in no way be nice.
“It's fine. I'm over it, honestly. I found a nice home. I just got hired at the 911 center, things are going well.” I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable now that I told them my story.
“Oh momma! Her house was broken into last night! And the cops that went to check it out didn't believe her.” Anna informed her with a shake of her head.
“Then one cop that went to her house, momma, gave her a ticket her first day in town! She even explained to him that she didn't know the speed limit changed. He could have gave her a warning” Anna also informed her momma.
“What?” Helen asked, shocked, before adding," What is going on with this world today? Back in my day, all this wouldn't be happening. We used to leave our homes unlocked.”
“That's old times' mom. This is new times.” Anna giggled, and I laughed while I watched her mom lean over and playfully swat her hand against Anna's leg.
“Hush you” Helen laughed, she laughed before turning back towards me. “We should talk to my son about this. He is one of the higher up officers at the station, maybe he can do something about the cops that didn't believe you. That's horrible. Women should be able to feel safe in their home, and if they don't, they should be able to feel comfortable and have confidence that the police will handle it.”
“Yeah well, that certain cop-” I started to say, but something caught my eye and when I looked over towards the living room door, I choked on my own spit.
"Are you alright honey?" Helen asked as she started to pat my back.
I tried my best to smile at her yes I have alright but I really wasn't. I shook my head yes, then I shook my head no as I stared at the doorway.
Cedric.
Cedric Chandler is standing in the living room staring at me with confusion as he looks back and forth between the three of us.
“What's going on here?” He demanded as he stepped deeper into the room. He asked in general, but his eyes remained on me, making me squirm.
“We are having a chat. Sweetie, come meet Anna's new friend. Avery. She just moved into town-” Helen started to explain, but Cedric waved his hand and cutting her off.
“We met.” He said.
“I didn't know you knew my brother” Anna whispered. The look on her face almost broke me. She thinks I'm using her like the rest.
No.
Definitely not.
I really don't want to throw Cedric under the bus in his family home to his family, but I rather that than Anna and Helen thinking that I'm here for Cedric.
I finally took my eyes off Cedric and set them on Anna. "Yes we met. That's the Officer we was just talking about. I didn't know that was your brother Anna trust me had I known I wouldn't have came here." I whispered, pleading her to believe me with my eyes.
“The one that gave you the ticket?” Anna asked at the same time Helen asked," The one that didn't believe you about the break in?”
Again, I would rather not throw him under the bus, but too bad for him. I'm not about to let either of these ladies think badly of me.
“Um, yes and yes.” I mumbled, feeling Cedric's eyes burning into my skin.
“Cedric!” Helen cried and swing her shocked gaze towards her son. “I raised you better than that! Poor girl has to be so scared and as a cop, you're supposed to protect her.”
“Of course he did. He loves giving tickets,” Anna growled before adding," I got three speeding tickets on me all from him.”
“Mom. Her house wasn't broken into-" He started, but I didn't let him finish. We had this conversation last night.
“It was” I hissed before standing up. “Helen it was very nice to meet you, I'm sorry about the drama. Anna, please forgive me. I didn't know he was your brother. I wasn't using you, I swear.” I whispered.
“I believe you. No way you would want anything to do with him after the way he treated you.” She smiled at me before turning her head towards Cedric and narrowed her eyes. “The one girl that doesn't want you, the one she that doesn't want to use me to get to you, and you treat her like this. Nice. Real nice bro.”
“Anna I give you tickets, much less a woman that I do not know.” He grunts before crossing his arms and said," Her home didn't show any sign that someone broke in. We can't investigate something that doesn't exist. The doors were not damaged, the windows were not broken. That's the statistics.” He looked to his momma and also added, “It wasn't that I didn't want to believe her, it was just the factors.”
“It's fine.” I mumbled, feeling extremely uncomfortable and wanting nothing more than to dash out of the room and away from this entire situation.
I probably shouldn't have thrown him under the bus, but I couldn't. I just couldn't allow Anna to assume I was using her like that. She is nice. She didn't have to invite me over to eat with her family, and she did. I would not pay her back by letting her assume the wrong thing.
“I'll just go. I apologize for ruining the evening. Thank you both for your kindness. I appreciate it.” I said to the women and tried to slip past Cedric towards the door, but his hand snaked out and caught mine, keeping me in place.
“Oh honey, you don't need to leave because of my son. I promise he will behave. He knows better.” His momma informed me before sending her son an annoyed look.
“For real. I told you my brother was a dickhead. Now you believe me?” Anna added.
“Anna!” Helen fussed at her.
“We need to talk.” He stated as he looked down at me.
“I doubt that's a good idea-” Anna tried to save me, but Cedric wouldn't let her, didn't even acknowledge what she said as he kept his eyes on me and repeated.
“We need to talk”
“Um-”
“Avery”
“I don't-"
“We need to talk.” He demanded.
“Fine.” I sighed, “We can talk.”
I only gave in to spare Helen and Anna from extra stress. They both look a little worried as they watch both Cedric and me.
“I don't like this. Leave her alone, Cedric. I want her to be my friend, and she won't want to be if you keep being this way to her!” Anna shouted as she moved her hands to her hips.
“I'm not going to chase her away. She will stay and eat, I promise.” Cedric said while rolling his eyes at his sister.
“I'm serious bro-” She started, but he talked over her.
“Relax Anna.” He grunted and dragged me out of the room.
“Where are we going?” I demanded in a rush as my short legs struggled to keep up with his longer ones.
“My old bedroom"
“What?” I asked and tried to jerk my hand out of his, but it was no use. He was much stronger than I was.
“Relax. We just going to talk.” He mumbled before pulling me into a bedroom and shut the door.
Well of course. What else would we be doing?
I stand there, shocked that I'm now alone with the very man that I can't stand. Standing, in his childhood bedroom after having a little drama in front of his mother and sister.
My life is going just great, I groaned inside my head sarcastically.
My eyes scanned his room, and you can tell a teenage boy used to live in here. The walls are painted blue. The bedsheets are a dark gray, along with the curtains covering the window. Sport posters line the wall.
“Nice room.” I whispered, not knowing what else to say.
“My momma didn't want to change it. My father wanted to turn in into a man cave, but she wouldn't let him.” He informed me as he watched me closely.
“Look. I know I threw you under the bus, but I'm not sorry for doing it. Your sister and mother had just gotten done telling me that girls use Anna to get to you, and I didn't want either of them to think that. Anna never told me her last name. I didn't know you were her brother.” I crossed my arms and explained myself before he could start fussing about what I just did.
“This isn't about that.” He said, voice tight.
“It's not?” I whispered.
Well, what else did we have to talk about? Honestly, I don't even want to be in the room with him, much less have a conversation. So, if this isn't about what just happened downstairs then what in the world did we have to talk about.
The speeding ticket?
How he didn't believe me that someone broke into my house last night?
The words he spoke before leaving my home last night?
What?
“No.” He answered. “I checked the security cameras from your street. That's why I was a little late tonight. I didn't believe that someone broke into your house, but I wanted to make sure just in case.”
“Okay?” I replied, not understanding what that has to do with him pulling me into his bedroom instead of letting me stay by Helen and Anna.
“I just wanted to inform you that the security cameras showed nothing. Nobody went into your front door, and we didn't see anyone in the street going anywhere near your house.” He informed me and crossed his arms.
“What?” I whispered. “But that's not right. Someone was inside my house, Cedric.”
"Are you sure?" I asked. I know I'm not crazy I know what I heard lastnight but a small part of me is starting to think maybe I did dream it. I have had nightmares in the past about my house being broken into.
Perks of the job.
"Yes."
"But-" I sputtered.
"I'm sure" He said.
"I heard-"
"Avery. I watched that tape three times. I'm sure." He growled. "We have no evidence of that Avery. I had only wanted to let you know so that you maybe wouldn't be scared to sleep tonight." He whispered.