Page 16 of The Facade

She looked away, and when she wiped at her eyes, I noticed her unshed tears.

Great. I was bringing her down already. And it wasn’t even six-thirty in the morning.

This was why I didn’t like telling my friends about the panic attacks or the sleepwalking. I hated being a buzzkill.

“Anyway,” I said, pushing myself away from her light-pink wall and walking toward the French doors to sneak back to my room. “I really should go now.”

I was just turning the door handle when there was a knock on Cambrielle’s door, followed by Carter’s deep voice. “Hey, Cambrielle, can I use your balcony to get to Mack’s room? I’ve been knocking on his door and calling him, but he’s not answering.”

Crap!

I quickly opened the door and ran onto the balcony just as Cambrielle called out, “S-sure. Um, just a minute.”

I made it to the French doors that led to Ian’s room, but just before I stepped inside, I realized that I couldn’t go in there because Carter would find me and wonder why I’d been ignoring him.

Thinking fast, I closed the door that I’d apparently left open last night and set myself on the porch swing that sat along the wall between Cambrielle’s room and my temporary room.

I had just leaned back with my hands behind my head when Carter stepped through the balcony doors, already wearing his school uniform with the navy-blue blazer and tan slacks.

I pretended to look surprised when I saw him.

“There you are,” he said when he saw me, relief showing on his face. “I’ve been knocking on your door and trying to call you.”

“Oh you were?” I said, hoping to seem like I hadn’t just heard him tell Cambrielle that very thing. “Sorry, I just thought I’d…” I scrambled for an excuse to explain why I was outside so early in the morning. Then it came to me. “I was just practicing my meditation. I must be getting pretty good at it since I didn’t hear a thing.”

Yeah, my mom would be so disappointed at how easily lying came to me these days. But it was kind of a necessary evil.

“I guess that explains the whole no-shirt thing you’ve got going on.” He narrowed his eyes at my bare chest as if he thought all meditation enthusiasts preferred to meditate with the warmth of the morning sun directly on their skin. Well, who knows, maybe that was a thing. The Hastings family were the ones who did regular meditations on Sundays. “It’s a bit chilly to be hanging out here like that though, isn’t it?”

“Eh, maybe if you’re a wuss.”

Carter rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

Though now that he had brought it up, I could feel the cold bumps prickling all over my skin from the chill in the late autumn air.

“What did you need from me, anyway?” I stood, deciding to head inside Ian’s room since it was actually cold and if I started shivering, I might totally give myself away.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to go four-wheeling with Ava and me after school today.” Carter followed me into my room. “I thought it might be nice to get out there before the weather gets too cold.”

“You want me to be the third-wheel and get secondhand embarrassment from how bad you flirt with my sister?” I cocked an eyebrow.

Carter pushed his hands into his pockets. “We’re not that bad. And yes, I think it would be fun. We could invite the rest of the crew, if you want.”

It would be good to have something to do to keep my mind off of what might be happening with my mom’s treatment. I could only study so much before my brain turned to mush.

So I said, “Okay. I guess that sounds fun.”

“Cool. I’ll text everyone. Should we plan on starting around four?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, knowing that as soon as he was done here, he would schedule the event into his beloved bullet journal—he was obsessed with the thing for some reason.

“Perfect.” He glanced at the bed that I’d left at who knew what time last night, and after taking in the tangled mess of sheets, pillow, and comforter, he furrowed his brow and said, “Restless night?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged, hoping he couldn’t tell it had been reckless in addition to being restless.

“Well.” He swung his hands at his sides, like he wasn’t sure if he should ask why it had been so restless. Like he worried it might have something to do with my mom and he wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk about it. Then, after seeming to decide to leave the subject alone, he hooked a thumb over his shoulder to point to the door that led to the hall. “I’ll just see you downstairs. I think Marie made my favorite crepes for breakfast, so I wanna make sure I get some before you and Nash attack them.”

“Great, see you down there.”

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