Page 76 of Aftertaste

“I don’t know, Haven. What is it?” I was confused, not knowing what she was talking about, or what she was holding up.

Her eyes glazed over; her chest heaved. “It’s your I.D.”

“Okay…” I blinked, not understanding.

“Your high school I.D.,” she continued. “Are you inhigh school, Thalia?”

My stomach bottomed out as I stared at her, realizing what had happened. I hadn’t told her I was still in high school. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought it mattered, not in the grand scheme of things. I was so occupied in keeping other secrets, that I hadn’t even thought twice about telling her I was a high school senior.

“I’m eighteen,” I told her, feeling my voice get smaller. “It’s not a big deal.”

She laughed, the kind of laugh that made me wince. “You need to go.” She threw my I.D. across the floor and it skidded to a halt a couple of feet away from me. “Now.”

I opened my mouth, trying to think of how to explain it. It wasn’t like I’d purposely not told her; I just hadn’t even thought about it. She’d thought I’d lied and deceived her, but I hadn’t, not consciously anyway.

Haven turned her back, effectively cutting me off before I got to explain. My shoulders drooped, my brain kicking into fight of flight mode. I’d fought for what felt like a lifetime, and I didn’t have it in me anymore, not right then anyway. So, I turned and walked back into the bedroom to get my things.

Too Much to Bear

Haven

I paced the entire length of my apartment, my thoughts going around and around in my head. I couldn’t make sense of any of it.

How was she only eighteen? She’d gotten into Vibe, and I knew the doormen were strict when it came to fake I.D.’s, so she’d either had a really good one, or whoever had looked at hers knew and still let her in.

What was I going to do? I’d slept with a high schooler.

Fuck.

Did this make me some kind of predator?

No. No. She was legal, that was all that mattered, right?

So why was I freaking out so damn much?

“Haven,” her soft voice said from behind me, and every muscle in my body locked into place. I couldn’t turn and look at her, not after what we’d done last night. “Please, Haven.”

I pushed my shoulders back, staring out of the tenth story window of my apartment. “You need to leave,” I murmured, feeling my voice crack.

“But—”

“Leave.” I turned, finally looking at her, but I didn’t see the Thalia I’d met at the club. I didn’t see the Thalia I’d been speaking to for two weeks non-stop. I didn’t see the smiling woman who had sat opposite me in the restaurant last night.

No.

I saw a high school student.

A girl who had no idea how hard this world was.

Her body seemed to close in on itself, her eyes saddened, but in the blink of an eye it was gone. She’d pulled a mask over her face; one I hadn’t seen her wearing in front of me. And for a second, I wondered if I was over reacting. If I was taking it too far.

But it was fleeting. A thought that drifted on the air and escaped my vicinity, and with it, Thalia.

Fake Family

Thalia

It didn’t happen often, but when my mom called for a family sit-down meal, each of us always complied. No one in this house ever told her no, so here we all sat, around the dining table, acting like we were a normal family.

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