"Seriously?" I yell, throwing the empty cereal box on the side.
"Don't be so immature Savannah." Elle snaps, following me into the kitchen. We've been arguing for half an hour now about her incompetent boyfriend and his inability to pay for anything. Also, let's not forget how creepy he is.
"Immature?" I scoff, crossing my arms as I glare at her. I don't think it's immature to politely ask when her boyfriend will be replacing the sixty boxes of cereal he's gone through. He's currently out at the casino for the fourth time this week. Apparently he felt 'lucky' tonight.
"Patrick is my boyfriend. He lives here because I want him to."
"Yeah, I figured," I smirk, before pushing past her and walking out into the living room, "What about what I want?"
"What you want? I'm your Guardian." She retorts, following me.
"You're only five years older, stop acting so high and mighty!" I counter, yelling as I turn back to face her.
"Why can't you just be happy for me?"
"If I thought you were happy then I would."
"How dare you!" She accuses, her eyes blazing with fury. "I am happier than I've been in years."
"Good to know." I scoff, reaching down and picking up my English book from the table. It's nice that she's so happy with him, content with the fact he's spending all her money and probably using her house as a drug den.
"Patrick makes me happy and all you do is complain. You've never even given him a chance."
"He's been sat here for over a month doing nothing but spending our money and he doesn't even have a job!" I half laugh, anger racing through me. "Half of my salary goes towards letting him live here!"
"He's currently looking for a job." Elle argues back, taking a step towards me.
"Sure." I roll my eyes, turning and walking towards my bedroom.
"He is!"
"Look at the state of him! Why would I give him a chance?" I snap, whirling around to face her.
"Jesus, how long have you been hanging out with Becky and the rich kids? Too pretentious to hang out with any of us lower class anymore?" She scoffs and I raise my eyebrows in disgust at her comment. She knows that's a low blow, Becky is one of my best friends and even though she's lucky to have everything she could ever want, she's never acted spoilt or pretentious. In fact, Becky is the complete opposite.
"Don't you dare!" I raise my voice, taking a step towards her, "Becky has been there for me way more than you over the last few months," I finish, adding salt to the wound. Don't attack my friends when you don't mean it.
"Then go fucking live with her." Elle yells.
"Shut up."
"No, seriously. Get out." She pushes past me, into my room and I follow, watching as she grabs one of my bags. "I don't want you here, Patrick doesn't want you here," She continues, grabbing hold of a handful of my clothes and stuffing them in. "And I know you don't want to be here with him," She looks up at me, anger covering her features. "So go."
"Elle!" I yell, attempting to grab the bag from her but she pushes past, grabbing a load of my make-up and stuffing it in.
"You're so ungrateful. I put my whole life on hold for you," She complains, "I spent my teenage years raising you," She grabs my English book out of my hand, shoving it into the bag, "Now I'm done."
"I'm sorry that I was such a burden." I retort sarcastically. "Stop it!" I yell as she throws a pair of shoes in.
"You're never happy for me," She continues her rampage, "So I'm eliminating that problem."
"Elle stop!"
"Get out." She says lowly, her voice full of anger.
"You can't do this!" I snap as she throws me the bag.
"Watch me!" She yells, grabbing hold of my arm and shoving me towards the front door.
"Elle!" I shout back as she opens it, shoving me out as hard as she can. I stumble, turning back just as she slams the door in my face, "Elle, no!"
Fuck.
My sister actually just threw me out, she literally hurled me out onto the streets. Where the hell do I go from here? I pull the bag onto my shoulder and wipe the tears that have already gathered on my cheeks. How dare she, who does she think she is? Making my way towards the exit, I push the door open and walk out into the hot, humid day.
Without overthinking anything I start down the road, desperate to get away from Elle and Patrick. Am I overreacting? Don't get me wrong I know the argument got blown way out of proportion, that's what siblings do! But she threw me out... was I in the wrong? Where should I have stopped?
No. I stand by everything I said. You don't overrule how your sister feels and move your boyfriend in if she isn't comfortable with it. A conversation asking me if I was okay before she did it would have been enough for me, but I didn't even get that. Did I not deserve that?
Coming to the end of the road I stop, sighing as I look up and down, trying to decide which way to go. Zara is out of town this weekend, away with her parents. Georgia has turned her phone off, trying to detox and Becky is away with her family at a 'log cabin' in the middle of nowhere.
Pulling out my phone I stare at it, wondering who else I can call. I have no-one, literally no-one else, unless I want to go to the diner. Hesitantly I scroll through the contacts before stopping, my finger hovering over his name. Do I?
Without a second thought I click the name, raising the phone to my ear as it rings, my heart speeding up as I bite my lip in anticipation. Eventually the voicemail sounds out, Brett's calming voice introducing himself before I hang up, cursing. He's busy.
Of course he's busy Savannah... what do you think, he sits around and waits for you to need him? Idiot. I really need to forget about him and delete his digits from my phone, he isn't even my friend. I have no idea why I even ended up saving his number, was I hoping for something like this to happen? What am I doing even ringing him? There is nothing between us, not even a friendship.
I begin to trudge down the road, keeping my head down as I walk past the houses. I can't quite believe what just happened, my mind replaying the argument over and over in my head. My sister just threw me out, my only family, literally, the only proper relative I have left in the world. I'm supposed to be last remaining family she has. Well I was anyway...
I kick a stone on the road in front of me, no idea where I'm heading but as long as it's away from here then I'm happy. I just need to put as much distance between my heartless sister and I as possible.
Maybe I can go to the motel on the edge of town. I know for a fact that the rooms are cheap and it's not like I can afford anything else. I would love to pay for the Grand Atlantis Hotel and Spa right in the center of town but it's not meant to be, one night would drain my entire account and put me in debt. With a sigh I turn down the next road in the direction of the old motel, giving myself a mental pep talk. This is going to be fine, I'm sure the rumors of rats in the bedrooms are all false.
Suddenly my phone springs to life, ringing loudly and I quickly pull it out, desperate to see 'Elle' displayed on the screen. I stop as soon as I register the name, my eyes widening in surprise.
It's Brett. What the...?
"Hello?" I answer cautiously.
"You rang?" His voice is soft, questioning, "What do you want?"
"I... nothing... it was a mistake. I'm sorry.." I stutter, talking to someone only causing tears to well up in my eyes once more.
"Savannah? What's wrong?" He sounds concerned and my heart immediately skips a beat.
"Nothing I..."
"Tell me, are you crying?" Brett interrupts, cutting me off. Great, he can hear my sniffling through the phone.
"She kicked me out." I bite my lip as I try to stop the tears from pooling in my eyes again, "We argued and she kicked me out."
"Your sister?"
"I don't know where to..."
"Where are you?" He cuts me off and I hear shuffling from his end of the phone.
"Wha...?"
"Where are you Savannah?" His tone is serious and I stop walking once more, swallowing before I answer.
"Sandherne Avenue."
"I'll be there in ten minutes." He responds before the line goes dead. I pull the phone away from my ear, looking down at it in surprise. He literally just dropped everything to come and help me. He's coming to help me...
Brett? Why?
I drop the bag onto the floor and sit on the edge of the sidewalk, desperately patting my cheeks to try and get rid of the red puffiness. I'm not going to look good when he turns up, an over-sized, baggy hoodie, hair pulled up on top of my head, tear stained cheeks. Absolutely fantastic, why can't the ground just swallow me whole?
Hold up, why do I even care? Savannah pull yourself together... you don't care what he thinks.
Not much anyway...
I sigh as I bury my face into my hands, groaning at my situation. How much was I in the wrong back there? Maybe it was completely my fault... I'm not supporting Elle's relationship. What's even my reasoning, just because he's creepy? Can I justify making her upset and destroying her relationship just because her boyfriend creeps me out...
Maybe. I don't even know.
A roaring engine startles me, and my head flies up to see Brett's black car hurtling down the road and stopping sharply beside me. He leans out the window, smiling down at me as I pull myself up, grabbing my bag.
"Hey, get in."
"Thank you." I smile slightly, walking around to the passenger door and sliding in.
"You can stay at mine." He smiles as he puts the car in drive and pulls away, "Ettie and Alice are away seeing my parents."
"Your parents?"
"They're staying in New York. I didn't fancy going." He shrugs, pulling onto the main road.
"Oh," I reply, looking down and fiddling with the sleeve of my top, "Thank you."
"Of course." He shrugs, signalling before he turns left and I can't help but gaze at him as he drives, the sunlight hitting his flawless skin. His jawline is sculpted so impeccably well, I'm stuck staring at it for longer than I care to admit, having to force myself to finally turn away from his perfect features. I still don't understand how it's fair that he looks like that? I mean, right now I literally look like a potato, and I'm sat in the car with a Greek God. Where is the logic?
The car journey passes quickly, and I am thankful for the silence he allows me, providing more time to pull myself together and shoving my overwhelming emotions further down inside me, praying I don't cry in front of Brett.
After he pulls into his driveway we silently get out of the car, walking into his house swiftly before he leads the way upstairs, somewhere I've never been before. My eyes widen at the exquisite paintings on the walls and the marbled floors as he leads us down a corridor, stopping suddenly and opening a door before he turns to smile at me.
"Here. My room is just across the hall." He gestures behind us and I can't help but peer beyond the open door behind him in wonderment of what his room looks like. I can see a hardwood floor, white walls, and the edge of the bed, wanting to crane my head to see more, but knowing it'll be too obvious. I look back at him, smiling slightly as he grins.
What have I let myself in for?
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