ELLIE“What’s going on here?” The suddenness of my dad’s voice was almost as frightening as the look of disapproval on his face. I could have sworn that he was the last person I had been expecting to run into that day.I felt like pleading with the ground to open up and swallow me in, as the humiliation that came with the moment was just too much for one person to bear all alone. There were a lot of things going wrong at the moment and it was all Aiden’s fault. How could he have grown so audacious to pull off such a stunt out there in the open? I feel like rewinding everything to when I had been deciding to come out there and see him. That was the biggest mistake of that Sunday afternoon. I should have just stayed out of their family business like my instincts had told me. But now, I was paying a much too bitter price. “Oh… Mr. Sanders… good day…” Aiden stuttered terribly as he forced a smile on his face. “I had no idea you would be coming over today…”“What are you both doing?” My
ELLIE“And ta-da! The dinner is ready to be served hot...” Emily said as we were finally done with the Italian dish she had been experimenting with in the kitchen for the past couple of moments. It had been quite a grueling session void of any fun or dialogue. The happenings that had taken place earlier in the day made it almost impossible to say anything or to start up any form of conversation. Emily had been continually pushing her luck as she had been trying to bring up some hot topics for us to talk about while we were preparing the meal for dinner. But each time she would, I would end it all with close-ended replies until she got the fact that I wasn’t in the mood for any conversations. I hated the fact that I was so cold and unresponsive to all she had been trying to do so far. “Do you want to have a taste of it?” Emily asked with a smile as enthusiastic as that of a three-year-old. It almost felt like her niceness was a facade aimed at hiding something. I didn’t know why I
ELLIE“What the heck are you here for?” I asked in an angry whisper as I stared at him in disbelief. There were just too many things that were off about his presence there. The emotions of shock and apparent embarrassment had me captive in the spot as I took a good look at Dylan who seemed like he had been waiting for that moment to show his face at such an inconvenient time. “Aren’t you going to explain yourself?” I asked as I was still trying my very best before I would be asked questions that I didn’t have the answers to. “Why would you have to show up at my front porch at a family dinner?”“Family dinner?” He asked as he seemed to be shocked about the whole thing. “I thought you lived with just your stepbrother, who doubles as your apparent lover and—““Oh please... spare me that crap. I live with his mother and my dad as well. What the heck were you thinking, Dylan? What happened to calling someone before showing up at their doorstep?” I could barely contain my rage for one mo
AIDENWhat was that cocky bastard doing there? I kept wondering to myself as I was staring at both of them, in the hope of finding out what could have been wrong with the picture I was staring at. “Aiden... just calm down for a couple of moments...” the way Ellie was quick to step in for him the moment my voice had risen to an unfriendly timbre. “He just swung by at the wrong time, but look, he’s on his way home right now.”I stared at him and he stared back as he walked away almost as if he had a lot of words that he wanted to say to me but was just unable to. He stepped into his car and drove away. From what I noticed, I had to conclude that he had to be some sort of spoiled kid, who simply got everything the way he wanted it with his parents and was probably thinking that he could have it that way right there. But I would be ever ready to burst his bubble. I couldn’t tell why I was feeling like my territory had been invaded. I made up my mind to keep my cool that time around. “
ELLIEI was glad that the awkward weekend had finally come to an end and that it was finally time to meet with real people in school once again. The house had been quite suffocating with all the absurd things that had gone on recently and I was in quite a hurry to get to school that morning. I had never been so glad about school in a while like I was at that point. It would have been hell if all of that had happened over the holidays.There were a lot of things that would make it all look like it had all been one big setup meant to make the whole step-sister role unbearable for me, but I was going to push through it all no matter what happened. To make it a bit better, I still had my meeting with Dylan to look forward to that day after school. That was a bit nice as it would make up for the embarrassment of the previous day at least. He had nearly blown it all when he had showed up at the dinner. “One step at a time...” I said to myself as I walked out of the house, earlier than e
ELLIE“What’s the matter?” I felt like it was something illegal to mention Dylan Brooks within the school. There were just too many things that made me feel like I was doing something wrong by having anything at all to do with Dylan. “You don’t know who Dylan Brooks is?” Jasmine made me feel even worse with that question. It felt like I had made the most foolish move one could ever make in life. “If I knew who he was, then I most certainly wouldn’t be asking you this. Could you just go ahead and tell me who he is so I can know what exactly it is I’m doing wrong.” I was getting pretty impatient at that point as Jasmine seemed to have me in suspense on purpose. “Dylan Brooks was one of our best football players until he transferred. He was on our school team but left due to some reasons best known to him.” Jasmine said with a sigh as I was expecting her to say something more and worse. “So...? Is that it? Is that all that’s wrong about Dylan Brooks?” I was really hoping that was all
ELLIETroy had almost frozen like a mannequin. He seemed like all his life had been sapped away from him in the most unimaginable way. The way his eyes were fixed on me had me feeling like I was Medusa, as the sight of me had him becoming like a stone at once. “Hello, Dylan...” I made sure all my words were well pronounced in every single move that I made at that point. I wanted Troy to be an active participant in the action that was happening right before him there and then.It was obvious that all the spotlights were on me at that moment when Dylan and I had embraced each other in the sight of everybody who had been looking. “I was almost thinking that you wouldn’t be able to come...” I could tell that Dylan was probably seeing my sudden sweetness towards him as awkward but that was what was required of me at that moment. “But here you are...”“You should know more than anyone that I have been looking forward to this meeting with everything within me. Besides, it’s been a while si
ELLIE’S POV “Are you listening to yourself right now?” I asked as I was trying to figure out what could have suddenly gone off in Troy's head at that point as he was simply acting out like a character who had suddenly forgotten his lines and took up another. Troy was silent for a few moments as he knew that he had nothing on me at that point. He was simply punching the air and was desperately seeking ways to take out his frustration. I wasn't in the mood for all of that. “Why did you have to go for Dylan of all people?” Troy finally asked the question which had been the thing killing him slowly. “Excuse me… but who the heck are you?” I asked with a quite dramatic tone that didn't fail to get on his nerves, as I saw his face redden from all the words I had said to him. “I see… you're doing all of this to get to me, right?” he asked with pain etched in his eyes. “You're not that important, Troy…” I said as I walked away, leaving him speechless. ***AIDENThe sounds of the noises