Page 10 of The Afterthought

"Hey," Chloe says before sitting on the stairs next to me. "Clearly, you're not okay. You don't have to tell me what happened, but at least come back inside. The people around here are too nosey for you to be sitting out here."

My eyes look up and down the row of houses lining the street for the first time, and she's right. Several people stopped what they were doing in their front yards and are now peering in our direction. They aren't even trying to hide the fact that they're staring.

"Okay," I say, standing up and walking back inside with her. She makes her way into the kitchen and grabs a glass from one of the cabinets. I don't miss how the glasses all match one another, unlike the cups in my house that are all mixed.

She goes to the faucet to fill the cup with cold water before coming over to me and handing it to me. This isn't the same cold-hearted girl she was earlier.

"I recognize it, you know," she says as I take the glass from her, looking at her with a questioning look. "The trauma response. My mom used to have episodes, too."

I look at her, refusing to let her know of this potential weakness in me. "I'm fine. Let's go get your stuff so we can get you settled into my house."

Part of me knows it's a mistake not letting her in when she is giving me an olive branch, but I don't ever plan on telling her, or anyone, about that day. Talking about it makes it more real. The scar on my chest aches, and I bring my hand up to rub it briefly before walking over to place the empty glass in the sink.

"Come on." I leave the kitchen and back up the stairs to her room. She follows behind me silently until we enter her room. When I turn to face her, she crosses her arms in front of me.

"You go ahead and keep your shit to yourself. Don't expect me to be willing to open up to you if you aren't going to do the same. I was just trying to be nice." She grabs the backpack filled with clothes off her bed and tosses it in my direction. I reach out to grab it, bending at the knees with its weight. What the fuck is even in here? "I can handle the rest. You're more than welcome to go wait in your car."

I roll my eyes at her, refusing to be told what to do by a seventeen-year-old girl. I pull the strap of the backpack over my shoulder and stand there, watching as she walks over to the closet to slide the door open.

She grabs a duffle bag from the floor and starts filling it before looking over her shoulder at me. "Will I have a closet at your house, or do I need to take these off the hangers?"

"There's a closet. I'm putting you in my mom's old room. I haven't packed up all of her stuff yet, but I'll get enough of it in boxes today. You can put your clothes in there, and I'll do my best to pack up the rest throughout the week."

"Your mom’s room?" she questions.

"Yeah, she died a few months ago."

She starts laughing hysterically. I side-eye her, wondering how the hell me saying my mother died could possibly be amusing.

"So dead moms club then. Well, actually, orphan club because our dad is dead too." She shakes her head and pulls the clothes out of her closet, leaving the hangers on them and stacking them in a pile on her bed. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about her acknowledging the fact that we share a father.

"Alright, this should be enough for now. I don't have to bring everything, do I? Can you bring me back here if I need to grab something else?" She throws the duffle strap over her shoulder and grabs the stack of clothes off the bed.

"Of course, I can bring you back anytime you need anything."

She nods, and we make our way out of the house and back to the car. Getting her set up in my mother's old room should be fun. I wonder how she is going to react to my house, considering how vastly different hers is from mine.

We make the short drive, and I park in front of my, well, our new home for now. "Come on. I'll give you a quick tour, and then I'll leave you to get comfortable."

We grab her things out of the car and step inside. I eye her carefully as she looks around at the condition of the furniture and just overall cold feeling of this house. She keeps her opinions to herself, but I can read them all over her face. She doesn't want to be here. I give her a quick tour of the small home, and she just takes it all in without saying a word.

We walk down the small hallway toward the bedrooms, and I push open the door to the bathroom on the right before opening the door to my room. She peers in, letting curiosity get the best of her briefly, and then she looks back at me. We step across the hall to open the door to my mother's old room. Chloe's new room.

"Don't you want the bigger room?" She turns to me and asks.

"It's fine. I don't really want to move all of my stuff. You can have the bigger room."

"Good, because clearly I have more stuff than you do." She remarks before dropping the handful of things she's carrying onto the bed.

I shake my head as I step in front of the closet, slide open the door, and pull the hanging clothes out to make space for Chloe’s things.

"I'll get the rest out of your way tomorrow. Make yourself comfortable and let me know if you have any special requests for dinner. I'll be across the hall if you need anything."

I leave the room with my mother's clothes and walk back into mine, tossing them into a pile in the corner and flopping down on the hard mattress. It's been a long ass day already, and there's still half of it left. I just need some time to let my brain relax for a bit. I pull out my phone and scroll through some social media accounts before quickly getting bored and texting Wrenly. Maybe she can come over and ease the tension between me and my new sister.

She doesn't answer my text. It's weird, actually. I haven't heard from her all day. We aren't as close as we used to be, but I was really hoping that she would find a way to make time to see me today. She better have a damn good excuse.

Chapter 6

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