A/N: It’s going to be a bit dramatic in the beginning, but follow this chapter to the end. It’s gets good.
I didn’t believe Kristina. Point blank. And after making those ludicrous statements, the only thing I can do is turn around and walk away. I didn’t have time to deal with anymore lies. This is exactly why it was time to quit. All the statements are just giving me a headache.
I hear footsteps behind me, and I turn around, coming face-to-face with Weston. He’s staring at me like I’m crazy. “You’re not even going to hear her out?”
“No. Why would I? It’s sounds idiotic.” I say, continuing to walk towards the school building.
“You sound idiotic. Somebody tells you that you’re family is going to be bankrupt, and you just walk away? I hope you know you’re not invincible.” He says.
I scoff. “Look, my father has over twenty million dollars stowed away in a secured bank account. Guards practically hover over our cash. And the business is protected by top of the line security. I’m not going to go home and throw my dad into a frenzy over something some idiot blonde says.”
“Are you serious?”
“Serious as a heart attack. And I don’t remember involving you in my family’s affairs, so I don’t get how this is even your business. Don’t you have more important things to do, like woo the entire female population?” I continue walking but he grabs my arm.
“I’m not done talking to you, Addelyn.” He says.
I wrench my arm free. “Don’t touch me. I thought I made it clear earlier that it’s over. I quit. I have better things to do than associate myself with some who doesn’t even care about my emotions.”
“What are you talking about?! I lo—” He closes his eyes, and when they open, they’re the coldest I’ve ever seen them. “You’re right. I’m the bi-polar jerk who doesn’t understand how taxing this is on you. You have the right to leave.”
“I didn’t need your permission, but thank you for finally being rational.” I say.
“Save it.” He says sharply, walking ahead of me. “Have a nice life, Addelyn.”
I don’t feel much guilt. I really don’t think I should. In this game, the only one that’s been taking the brunt of the pain is me, and if I’m ready to quit, I should quit. Kristina and her useless words were only bringing more unnecessary irritation and worry. The chances of anything happening that were similar to what she was saying are slim to none. I can’t keep surrounding myself with the idea that everyone’s out to get me. I have graduation to think about. I haven’t even started filling out my college applications. I don’t have time for this anymore.
I am finished.
***
Three days later, and things seem to carry on smoothly. Jocelyn and I are still pretty close, and Chris, who seems to hold some sort of unspoken grudge against me, finds time to associate with me only if Jocelyn is around. Weston hasn’t said a word, in fact he doesn’t even look at me in the hallways. It’s almost as if I have completely disappeared, and honestly, I’m enjoying not being the center of his attention anymore. Jackson and Kristina have broken up, and ever since, I’ve seen Kristina become closer and closer to Weston. And slowly but surely, I see Weston reverting back to his old ways. That, I must admit, bothers me a bit.
But nothing bothers me more than the shopping trip I share with Jocelyn after school. I insist on helping her find an outfit for prom, not that she’s been asked yet, but I have a very strong feeling that she will be. But it’s one word that quickly ends my three day vacation.
“Declined,” the lady behind the cash register purses her lips at me.
My cheeks redden slightly. “No, it can’t be. Run it through again.”
She sighs and almost smiles as the cash register dings. “Declined again.”
I snatch my card out of her hand, and reach into my wallet passing her another one. “Here, try this.”
And to my utter dismay, she passes it back. “Declined.”
Jocelyn taps me on the shoulder. “We don’t have to get it today.”
“No. My cards work. I know they do.” I grab another one. One that I’m sure has money, because it’s my emergency card. I never use it, and my dad always keeps some money in that account for me. She slides it through. “Declined. I’ll just put this dress back for you, ma’am.”
I cover my blushing cheeks with my hands. “Oh my god, Jocelyn. I’m so sorry.”
She waves it off. “It’s no big deal. I didn’t need a dress anyways.”
She may think it’s no problem, but I, on the other hand, find it highly appalling. After dropping her off at her house, I rush back towards my own, ready to find out what the deal is. And nothing is more shocking than when I see Weston’s dad sitting at the dining room table, and my dad sitting across from him.
“Addelyn,” Weston’s dad greets me, and I can tell he still a little wary of me after I ‘broke into his house’.
I smile briefly at him, before turning my attention to my dad. “What’s going on? Why aren’t the credit cards working?”
It’s not until then that I notice the giant eviction paper resting on the table. He looks up at me, stress filling his face. “Addelyn, I have something to tell you.”
He explains the situation, and I can’t help but reflect back on Kristina’s words. The bankruptcy. My father’s business crumbling to pieces. I didn’t believe her, and now those exact words are coming back to haunt me. But eviction was most certainly not something she mentioned.
“I knew I should’ve have trusted that man with my personal papers.” My father says. “I specifically asked him to file the official papers that protected us from losing our personal property if the business went under. I should’ve done it myself.”
“Well they can’t do that. We were scammed. They can’t take our house away. And they can’t evict us so quickly either. Where do they expect us to go? What do they expect us to do?”
“Apparently, the state of Virginia doesn’t care much about whether or not someone was scammed.” Weston’s father explains. “I’m sorry Matthew, but I don’t have enough time to haggle with the bank. Until this is settled, you’re going to have to find somewhere to go.”
“How can I do that if I don’t even have the money to pull the car out of the driveway?” The stress is obvious in his voice.
“Do you have any relatives to stay with?”
“My parents have retired in France. Most of my wife’s family is dead. We have nothing but this home.”
There’s dead silence. I can’t help but feel horrible. I could’ve done something. I could’ve said something, and stopped this, maybe. But I walked away.
“I don’t usually do this,” Weston’s dad starts. “But you are clients of mine now. And if you need a place to stay, I’ll be glad to let you stay at my home.”
No. Oh dear god, NO! Please dad! Don’t agree to it. There has to be another way. Please!
“I can’t do that to you, Jonathan.” Yes!
“No, it’s no problem at all. We have a lot to discuss anyways on this case. I can’t have you put out on the streets, so you might as well stay in my home. At least until this is all settled.”
I look at my dad, mentally trying to send him messages. He smiles. “I promise to pay you back for this.”
NO!
He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. Tell you what. I have a friend that owns a storage company. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind housing your things while you stay at my house.”
“Are you sure you have enough room?”
“Of course.” He responds. “We’ve got two guest bedrooms on the third floor. You and your wife can share one. And Addelyn and Andrea can share the other.”
And just like that, I was sent out the house, lugging a large duffle bag down the street towards the Brooks property. There is no greater dread than realizing that I’m going to have to live with Weston for who knows how long. I can’t let this happen.
I hang back, catching up with my dad. “Dad, we can’t do this. Come on, do you seriously want your teenage daughter in a house with another teenage boy?”
I play on his parental faculties, but it doesn’t work. “Where else can we go, Addelyn?”
“I hear the benches at the park are pretty comfortable.” I say sheepishly.
He shakes his head. “Alright, well while you make a bed at the park, I’m going to sleep with a roof over my head.”
I growl to myself, as we reach the house, and Jonathan goes to unlock the front door. “Weston! We have company!”
Weston walks down the stairs, with a cell phone pressed to his ear. “Dude, I’m telling you. SpongeBob is not gay. He just happens to be a little more feminine than the other male characters… So what if he dressed like a woman in that episode, he—” He stops talking as his eyes meet mine. “I’ll call you back, Chris.”
Weston’s eyes stare into mine for a moment, before dropping to the bag in my hands. “What’s going on here?”
“The Cooper family is going to stay with us for a little while until some of their business matters are handled. Tell Loretta to prepare for four more dinner guests.”
Weston laughs. “That’s a good one dad. They wouldn’t seriously be living with us, right?”
His dad gives him a hard look.
“Right?” Weston asks again when he sees the seriousness in his father’s eyes.
“Weston. Go tell Loretta… now.” Weston reluctantly goes into the kitchen, following his father’s orders. Jonathan turns back to us. “Excuse my son. He doesn’t have much manners.”
He can say that again.
“Leave your bags at the front door. We’ll sort them out later. For now, why don’t we head to the dining room? I’m sure Loretta will prepare a wonderful dish for us.”
The six of us sit at the table, while Loretta begins cooking the meal. Weston sits right across from me, and the two of us have been in an epic stare down for the past two minutes. The tension is very evident between us, and even though we’re both trying to make it clear to the adults, so that they’ll realize this is a horrible idea, they take it a completely different way.
“So, Weston,” my mom smiles. “I believe this is the first time I get to meet one of Addelyn’s boyfriends.”
“Mrs. Cooper, you must be mistaken.” Weston says. “We’re not dating. She wasn’t my type.”
My mom seems slightly taken aback by his bluntness, and I narrow my eyes at him. I start to open my mouth to defend myself, but Weston’s dad beats me to it. He raises an eyebrow at Weston, which reminds me just how similar the two look. “What are you talking about? You’ve had a crush on her since kindergarten.”
Weston looks like he’s about to choke on his spit. “Dad!”
“You know, Weston used to talk about you all the time. I remember back in the second grade he came home with a drawing of the two of you holding hands under a rainbow. I believe I still have the picture in one of these drawers, actually.” Weston’s father gets up and I watch as Weston lowers his head into his hands. He comes back to the table with a crudely drawn picture in crayon. And just like he said, there were two stick figures. The male one had the name Weston scribbled above it, and the other had the name Adlin above it.
“Weston, I never knew you to be such an artist.” I smirk as his face goes beet red.
“I was seven. Back then, I thought Barney was sexy.” Weston says.
“But just last week you were asking me how I knew I was in love with your mother because you thought you were in—”
Loretta rounds the corner at this point, and I watch as Weston’s body falls with relief. She’s holding a large bowl beef stroganoff. “Enjoy your meal.” She smiles as we each take turns filling our plates with pasta.
The rest of the meal goes on smoothly, and no one even touches on the fact that we were bankrupt. I think my father was happy just to talk about something else. And I was happy to watch Weston take the embarrassment for once.
Laughter fills the table as Jonathan continues on with another story. “And so Weston was running around the house butt naked, swinging his dirty diaper above his head—”
“You know, this was a wonderful meal,” Weston interrupts, blushing to a degree that I didn’t think was humanly possible. “But don’t you think we should let the Coopers get acquainted with their room?”
“Oh,” his father claps his hands together. “Of course. We can finish the story later. Why don’t you four follow upstairs?”
We walk up two flights of stairs until we reach the third floor. He shows my parents the large guest bedroom to the right, before leading Andrea and I to the bedroom on the left. When he opens the door, I see that the room is filled to the brim with boxes and other materials. Jonathan sighs. “I’m so sorry. I forgot that this other room was being used for storage.”
My parents peek their head around the corner. “We can sleep downstairs if it’ll be better, Jon.” My mom says.
He shakes his head. “No, that won’t be necessary. How about the little one stays with you in your room, and Addelyn can stay in Weston’s room until I get Loretta to stow away all these things?”
WHAT?! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
My father doesn’t look to pleased with this. “I don’t know.”
“His room is quite large. And I’ll be right across the hall so I can keep watch.”
“I could sleep on the couch.” I say.
Jonathan shakes his head again. “No. If anything, I’ll send my son down there to sleep on the couch.”
“No, don’t do that.” My dad says. “We’re already imposing enough. I wouldn’t want you to put your son out of your own room. Look, as long as you keep watch, and they don’t sleep in the same bed, I’m okay with it.”
DAD! What is WRONG with you?!
Jonathan leads me back downstairs to the second floor, and we stop at two double doors that lead to Weston’s room. He knocks on the door. “Son, are you decent?”
A few seconds later and Weston goes to open it. “Yeah, why?”
“You’re going to have a guest.”
A/N: It’s ‘bout to get messy! I’ve been waiting to write these next few chapters since the very first day I posted this story. I advise VOTING and COMMENTING, because even I am motivated to continue these chapters.
And thanks for the ah-mazing response on the last chapter. Can I get that again? Pretty please? *pouting*