Chapter 5
It didn't take long for Rosie to fall asleep after dinner. She had always been known to pass out early anyway. Chelsea and Stacey disappeared into the backyard to play, and Skipper stayed holed up in her room. I walked up the stairs after cleaning up the kitchen, and found Skipper sprawled across her bed, yapping away on her phone.
"You missed dinner," I said from the doorway.
She jumped up, nearly falling off the bed, and quickly turned off the phone. "Dammit, Melody, stop that! Do you ever just leave me alone?" She threw her phone on the bed and cocked her hip to the side, looking at me through her overgrown bangs.
I stared her down, taking a step into the room. "You missed dinner," I repeated, my voice stern and emotionless. I guess talking to Skipper did that to me.
She scoffed. "Your point being?"
"My point being, your tough girl act isn't fooling me," I said, taking a few more steps toward her. She was about to turn away, my hand lashed out and grabbed her wrist. She stared at me in shock, trying to wrench her arm free, but I pulled her towards me, being careful enough so I wouldn't hurt her. "You can't keep acting like this, Skipper. Sooner or later, you're going to have to let someone in again," I said. I slid my wrist down her arm to reveal the scars on her skin. "I don't see how this makes it any better."
She ripped her arm from me and tucked it behind her back. "You don't know the first thing about what I'm going through, Melody! It doesn't bother you, because you're older and 'more mature'. How do you think this is for me? And Stacey, and Chelsea. And Rosie! She's only three, and she barely has a mom anymore," Skipper said, her face not portraying any remorse. Only anger.
I shook my head. "You're only fourteen, you wouldn't understand!" I shouted back, my hands gripped her shoulders. "Skipper, ignoring everyone in the world isn't going to solve anything!" I said, forcing her to look at me.
"But that's all anyone does, ignore me!" she said, her voice loud enough to definitely attract attention, now. "I'm nothing in this house! You're the golden child, mom and dad love you enough and trust you enough to leave you here and look after us, as if we don't need more that that." Tears were spilling from her eyes now, but her face still held no other emotions.
"I know you do," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I know you need mom and dad, but they clearly don't care about any of us enough anymore to be around," I said, still holding Skippers arm. I gently released it, thankful when I saw no red mark.
And before I knew what was happening, Skipper was in my arms, sobbing into my shirt. I clamped my arms around her tightly and placed my chin on her head. The sound of her tears echoed through the house, and suddenly I got the biggest realization.
These past three years, I always thought I'd been having the hardest time with life. But really, Skipper was struggling too. And I hadn't taken the time to realize that my sister was hurting. So I sat down on the bed, rocking her back and forth in my arms. I felt my own tears fall down my cheeks as I sat there and listened to the sound of her sobs ringing in my ears. "Sh, Skipper, it's okay," I said, rubbing her back in soothing motions.
After a few more minutes, she looked up at me, and wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Melody," she said, ducking her head into my shirt again.
I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "It's alright. Come down and eat something."
We walked downstairs, Skipper gripping my hand tightly. Chelsea, Stacey and Rosie peeked their heads in as we walked into the kitchen, staring at us in shock. "What just happened..." I heard Chelsea say as Skipper and I sat down at the island.
I suppressed a laugh and quickly heated up some food for Skipper, which she started eating right away. "So who's Jesse?" she asked me after swallowing her pasta.
I froze on the spot, my eyes simply locked on her mouth, hanging onto herword. Don't answer, you don't want to talk about him. "No one. Just a guy," I said, grimacing at the awkward taste of the lie on my tongue. It was as if I almost didn't want to lie about him. But of course, I didn't want to talk about him either.
"Really? Just a guy?" she said, with a mocking raise of an eyebrow. I felt nervous under her gaze. "Who is he really? Is he that Dick of a bully that's been harassing you for three years now?" she asked, her voice suddenly tinged with fury.
I shook my head. "It's not important."
"The hell, it's not important!" she yelled, slamming her fork onto the island.
I jumped at the noise, my hand instantly shot to my mouth, covering it so I wouldn't let out my cry of protest. "Skipper, just stop it, alright? He's not important," I said, not even believing my own words for the second time.
She cocked her head to the side, her lips set in a grimace. "You clearly don't believe that. What happened that makes you suddenly feel like changing your answer?" she asked, finishing the last bite on her plate.
I locked eyes with my sister, realizing I probably wasn't going to get out of this without telling her. As much as I wanted to ignore the question and pretend like I couldn't hear her, I knew she wouldn't let it go. When Skipper was actually her normal caring self, she was persistent. And in my case, dreadfully persistent.
I sighed. "It's him. But he lost his sight this summer, and now he's just... he has no one," I said, searching Skippers' eyes for any sign of compassion. I saw none. "He seems lonely now, and no matter how much he's ruined my life, I feel like I can't let him be miserable. And I don't know why..." I admitted.
"Well, it sounds like you have a soft spot for him," she said, lifting her cup of milk to her lips.
I felt my eyes widened. "What? No way! I hate him, it's just that I don't like seeing anyone miserable," I said, again, not believing my own words.
She shook her head. "No. I think deep down inside, you li-"
Her words were cut off by the doorbell, and I heard Stacey rush to get it. I got up from the kitchen stool and followed her out into the foyer just as she opened the door. She was greeted by a smiling Lucas, gazing down at her. She screeched and jumped into his arms. "Lucas! I missed you," she said as she wrapped her legs around him like a koala, refusing to let go.
He laughed and hugged her back quickly. "I missed you too, kiddo." He looked up and his eyes met mine. I smiled and walked towards him. "Hey," he said when I stopped in front of him. "Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked, leaning against the door frame.
I nodded. "Okay. Skipper? Can you watch the girls?" I called into the kitchen where Skipper had probably remained seated.
"Sure!" she called back.
I grabbed my coat from the hanger and smiled at Lucas. "Let's go."
"So why did you want to go for a walk?" I asked Lucas as we walked through the park later that evening. It was almost completely dark, and even in my coat, my skin was covered in goosebumps. "That's so not like you," I said.
He smirked. "I know it's not. But I missed you," he said with a smile.
I laughed. "You saw me today."
"I know."
We stopped at a bench and sat down. I hadn't even realized we had been holding hands. I was about to pull away, but Lucas held onto my hand tighter, not tearing his eyes from mine. "Lucas, what are you-" I was cut off by his lips, crashing down on mine.
For a second I didn't know what was happening, and I sat there completely frozen. But then, I kissed him back. Slipping my arms around his neck, I instantly increased the passion of our kiss by ten thousand. I could feel every longing emotion within the kiss. It wasn't long before our tongues started searching each others mouth, battling each other. I moaned as Lucas pressed my back into the arm of the bench. He loomed over me, pulling away for air. There was a pleased glint in his eyes.
"I have beenwaiting to do that," he said, before smirking and pressing his lips down on mine again. I moaned as the kiss become more rough with every passing second.
I felt Lucas's hand travel up my stomach and I instantly retracted, shoving him off of me. He pressed his lips together and sighed. "I'm sorry. That was going a bit too far, wasn't it?" he asked, brushing a piece of hair off my forehead.
I nodded. "A bit."
He grabbed my hand and lifted me up off the bench. "I'll walk you home."
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HEY THERE GUYS! :)
I'm sorry if its short but I just really wanted to finish it for you! :) this Chapter is kinda boring, I know but it was intended. I just hope no one hates me for it :P Leave Ur comments below and don't forget to vote :) u guys are so supportive, so thank you! :D