Afflicted

"Why’s that?" Linc asked, almost managing to cover the irritation he felt at my comment.

"You never were very good at taking orders," I joked.

"Well maybe that's why I've been promoted so quickly; I'm more suited to leadership." He smiled as he took a bite of his cupcake.

"You certainly always enjoyed bossing me around," I agreed.

"You were in need of an older sibling to help control your wild tendencies," he pointed out.

"Urgh no thanks. One sibling is more than enough for me. Like I said before, if I had a choice in the matter I'd be an only child." I glanced up at my house and looked towards Reese's window. The light was off and I guessed he was fast asleep, dreaming up ways to further screw up my life.

"You don't mean that," Lincoln said as he followed my gaze.

"I do," I disagreed. "I hate him."

I jumped as Lincoln took my hand and turned my gaze back to him.

"You're so lucky to have a family that loves you," he said quietly. "Don't wish them away over petty arguments."

"You've been gone a long time," I said, trying not to let my anger with Reese cross over to him. "When we were kids, he used to torment me for fun or tease me as part of a game, but at the end of the day we'd still play together and laugh about things. But now... honestly, there's nothing good left in our relationship. He goes out of his way to humiliate me or get me into trouble with our parents. There's no laughter anymore. No apology for it. He gets pleasure out of making me suffer and as soon as I can leave this place I'll make a point of avoiding him for the rest of my life."

"Katy," Lincoln said firmly. "You shouldn't-"

I pulled my hand out of his grasp and glared at him. "If you're going to start taking his side in this too then I'm going back inside. I'm sick of my parents making excuses for him, of my friends thinking it's just a bit of fun. I won't listen to any more of it. I hate him and nothing anyone says will change that."

Lincoln nodded and glanced up at Reese's window again. "I could try and speak with him for you if you like?"

"No thanks. It's gone too far, nothing he could say could even begin to make up for... everything," I said bitterly. "Anyway I didn't come out here to throw myself a pity party. I wanted to know why you're sitting on the front steps rather than inside?"

"I guess I'm throwing myself a pity party," Lincoln said quietly as he leant back against the railings again. "I can't stand being inside that house." He jerked his thumb at the building behind us.

"Oh..." I wasn't really sure what I could say to help with that.

"I suppose I should be using my time here to get over what happened but all I really want to do is run away and never look back."

"From all of it?" I asked. "There's nothing here worth remembering then?"

"Not in this house. But I suppose I should have thought about the good things more. To be honest I just closed the door on this place and did my best to forget it ever existed."

"Well you deserved a fresh start. I can't blame you for taking it, but I wouldn't have complained about a phone call." I nudged him and he laughed.

"I don't think you had a cellphone when I left. I didn't either for that matter," he said. "But if it'll make you feel better you can give me your number." He pulled his cellphone from his pocket and handed it to me so that I could enter my number. "And then next time I leave I might call you. But I can't make any promises."

I dialled my number and let it ring a few

times before killing the call. "Well now I have your number too so I won't have to wait for you to call me."

"I don't want to hear about it every time the other cheerleaders are mean to you though," he said as he took his phone back. "Or when you can't decide what dress to wear to prom."

"As if." I rolled my eyes. "I told you, I'm going to college. As far away from here as I can manage and I will hardly look back myself."

"Not even for your Quarterback?"

"You have to stop calling him that. It's ridiculous. And he's not my anything. I don't own him any more than he owns me and after what Reese did yesterday, I doubt I'll be seeing him again anytime soon anyway."

"Do I want to know?" Lincoln asked whilst trying to suppress a smile.

"No. But I'm pleased to see that my misery is so amusing."