CHAPTERFOUR
Iwas in a shit mood, tired of the day-to-day monotony that was this town, and angry that I hadn’t seen Elle since our encounter in the woods. I couldn’t shake the feeling of her body pressed against mine, and I wanted a re-do. Badly. Had she been thinking about me, too? Was she envisioning the feeling of my hands on her body the way I was?
Fuck. Why did I care?
Powering through the quad, I forced myself to keep my irritation at bay. I couldn’t let my mask fall, not when I had an audience of people watching me as I moved through the sea of students and down to the parking lot. I’d had enough for the day and was ready to get the hell out of this place, even if that meant skipping my last two classes. What was the point of being a senior in high school if I didn’t act like it from time to time?
Once in my truck, I turned my music up to drown out my own thoughts and let muscle memory kick in to guide me home.
I made it to my house faster than I probably should have, threw my truck into park, and went inside. It was barely two in the afternoon and I would have the house to myself for at least another hour until my sister got off the bus. I took the stairs two at a time and let out a hasty breath as I slammed my bedroom door shut.
In desperate need of music to drown out the noise in my head, I went straight to my speaker and plugged in my iPod to the AUX cable, scrolling the music choices until I found a song that would calm me. After I pushed play and hit shuffle on the device, I sank into my bed and I allowed my eyes to close. The riff of the guitar radiated through the speakers and I slowed my breathing to relax myself. This was my ritual when my mind started to spiral; when the thoughts became too much. I had been doing this routine of laying on my bed and working through various breathing techniques while I listened to loud music for the last five years.
Five years ago, my life went from being average and boring to being fucked up.
Five years ago, my mother caught my father at his office with his pants around his ankles and his secretary on her knees. Within 24 hours of getting caught, my father decided that his secretary’s blow jobs were more important than his family and left us. It’s a damn good thing I was old enough to make my own cereal at that point because daddy never came back with the milk.
Our life went from shit to shitty to shittier, and then with time, my mother realized that she deserved better. She quit crying, pulled herself together, and found a job that she enjoyed. Now, five years later, things feel like how they were before, minus one shitbag father.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs woke me up, a jolt of anxiety drifting through my body before I realized I had dozed off. My sister must have just gotten home. Feeling groggy and irritated, I swung my legs over the bed and stripped out of my clothes as I walked toward the bathroom attached to my bedroom. I cranked the water as hot as it would go, letting it warm slightly before stepping in. As the water cascaded around me, scalding my skin, I watched the steam waft above me. Raking my hands over my face, I paused over my eyes, rubbing them in an attempt to wake up a little. Just as my mood was beginning to improve slightly, I heard my bedroom door slam closed.
“Get out Kelsey, I’m in the shower,” I yelled, hoping my voice would carry through the partially cracked bathroom door. My sister loved barging into my room to accost me with questions about my day. It was her attempt to keep our brother-sister bond strong. She was in 8th grade and the thought of me leaving for college soon absolutely terrified her. She had become progressively clingier in the last few months.
“Hey, babe, it’s me!” Lily’s voice floated through the air as she pushed the bathroom door open so that I could hear her. I didn’t bother responding as I continued to scrub the soap suds over my body. My eyes fell shut and took a few deep breaths before turning the water off. After wrapping a damp towel around my waist, I stepped out of my shower, but my feet barely touched the plush bathroom mat before she said four words that every man hated to hear.
“We need to talk.”
Groaning, I made a mental checklist of what we could possibly need to talk about and wondered if maybe this was my opportunity to cut ties. The door to my bathroom was wide open, giving me the view of her as she sat on my bed cross-legged. Her hair was down, falling over her shoulders and framing her cleavage, her round tits on display in a pink tank top. She appeared angelic as the sun shone through the window and embraced her in a warm glow. The sight alone should have gotten my dick hard, but sadly, it did nothing.
My attraction to Lily was shadowed by a brown-haired girl with nerd glasses.
“What’s up, babe?” I asked, slipping into a pair of navy basketball shorts underneath my towel. My eyes flicked over to her just as she burst into tears. I took my time as I rubbed the towel through my hair, slowly hanging it on the hook before I walked hesitantly to her side and took a seat on the bed. Dread pooled in my chest. Whatever this was, it would not be good.