It’s one thing to tell my stepsister that she’ worthy and quite another when it comes to my girl. It’s going to be fun navigating this shit. “I don’t think I can ever love someone as much as I love you.”
“You’d better not. Just remember how you feel right now and if the time ever comes that you think I’m not giving you my all, tell me.”
But both our parents got divorced, and I’m sure they thought they were in love at one point too.”
“This is true, but we’re not them, besides little girl, I told you. I wouldn’t have touched you if I thought this was going to end. If we both treasure what we have and who we are, there’s no reason we can’t be together forever.”
“What about when you go away to college next year? Are you sure you won’t meet someone and fall in love…?”
“Then come with me.”
“What?” She lifted her head from my shoulder and stared at me in wonder.
“Come with me. There’re classes you can take to speed up graduation. I’ll help you. You’re already very smart so there’s no reason why you can’t do this. In fact, I think it’s a great idea. I don’t want to leave you either.” Why hadn’t I thought of that shit before? We can room together and be there for each other our first time away from home. The more I thought of it, the more I liked the idea.
We walked into the house with our bags and huge smiles on our faces only to find our parents waiting for us in the living room with what I can only term as sour looks on their faces. My gut fell, and I had a weird feeling. Had someone seen us and reported back to them? How could I have been so dumb? He looked pissed and Justine, well she looked disappointed.
“Dad? What’s up?” He looked from me to Lora and back with that grim look on his face, and I knew he was holding back his anger. I started to explain, even reached for Lora’s hand just in case he said something off-color, but his words stopped me.
“Why didn’t you tell me that someone tried to drug Lora at the party last night?” How the fuck…? Sherry, it can only be her who’d told him. “How did you hear about that?”
“That’s not important, is it? The fact is it happened, and neither of you said a word to us about it. That’s unacceptable.”
“Dad, we didn’t tell you because nothing happened. I was there, I watched out for her, and she never touched the drink.”
“What about the kid? He’s now free to do it to someone else.”
“No, no, he isn’t. Everyone knows what he did, and I plan on taking care of him when I go back to school on Monday.” I felt three pairs of eyes on me now.
“Take care of him? What do you mean?”
“Can we talk about this later, dad?” I could tell he wanted to argue, but he knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t budge.
They both looked at Lora, asking her if she was okay, and I was relieved to hear that she hadn’t even thought about it all day, something else I was trying for with our little outing. But why the fuck did Sherry tell them about that? What business was it of hers? I won’t know until I talk to dad later.
I remembered our conversation about the adoption when dad left his seat and walked over to hug Lora, asking her if she was sure she was okay. The guilt wasn’t as sharp as I’d expected it to be. It’s not like he’d be losing her anyway, we’d just both be gaining someone very special.
Lora
If I didn’t hate that twat before, this would’ve done it. I can’t believe she did that. If I wanted mom and Eric to know about the situation the night before, I would’ve told them, obviously. Mom has enough to deal with-with her pregnancy, not to mention it’s the first time I’ve seen her this happy since dad left, so no way was I going to bring her down with something that I could take care of myself.
I don’t have to think too hard to figure out why she’d done it. It’s obvious that she’d do anything to get in good with the family to serve her own selfish purpose as if I can’t see that crap from a mile away. There’s one of her in every teen movie since Mean Girls, and they all have the same playing cards as if they’ve been stuck in a time warp or something.
I kept a smile on my face while we sat down to dinner but inside I was seething. Something’s got to be done about that clown before she messes everything up. I guess we’re lucky she hadn’t seen us together last night or who knows what crazy stunt she would’ve pulled.