Chapter Eighteen

I pulled up at a huge house at four thirty in the afternoon.

I decided that it would be better to go home and change before coming to see Fabian. Hopefully, he wanted to see me too.

He lived on the other side of town—the rich side if I should say so myself. I couldn’t say I was surprised either. He goes to Hamilton High and that’s a huge giveaway. However, he never acted like he was wealthy. He didn’t even dress up in expensive, designer clothes either. If they were, then it wasn’t obvious and he didn’t show off with them.

The house was huge and white, almost looking like the white  of America minus the fancy columns and whatnot. I was a bit intimidated and I wanted to turn around and try calling again. But then I remembered that this is Fabian. I needed to see him.

I had to.

With a deep breath and a quick pep talk, I shut off my car and made my way towards the entrance. The doorbell sang loudly as I pressed the fancy button, and 60 seconds later the door swung open, revealing a boy that looked like he just started puberty.

Alex, I decided. This must be Alex. As I opened my mouth to speak, he beat me to it.

“What do you want?” he asked in a bored tone. Well then. Alex is a bit rude.

“I’m here to see Fabian,” I simply said. That’s all he needed to know.

Alex raised an eyebrow at me before he smirked and crossed his arms over his chest, but he wasn’t making a move to let me in. “Is he f**king you?”

“Excuse me?” I was taken aback by his question as my eyes widened in shock. Wasn’t he like 12? What the hell does he know about that?

Coming to my rescue, a familiar face appeared and pushed Alex out of the way.

“Hi Chad,” I greeted out of mere relief that I was getting away from Alex.

He had a piece of licorice candy in his mouth as he smiled at me. “Paris?”

“The one and only,” I giggled but it was cut short when he suddenly pulled me inside and against his chest.

Okay?

“How are ya? It’s good to see you.” He sounded genuinely enthused as he released me, and I heard Alex mumble something completely inappropriate but I decided to ignore it. Chad did too, which told me it was something usual.

“I’ve been better,” I admitted with a sigh as I shrugged off my coat. “I’d do much better if I could see Fabian.”

“It makes sense now,” Chad mumbled to himself before meeting my gaze again. “You two have broken up or something, haven’t you?”

“Whoa we weren’t even dating,” I quickly defended. “But 'or something' matches it quite well.” I sighed. “Is he here?”

The look on his face told me he wasn’t before he even answered. “Nah. He’s been out much these days. I think he’s at the gym punching the life out of a lifeless punching bag. You can wait if you’d like.”

“Of course,” I mumbled but tried to hide my disappointment.

With a nod, he led me from the foyer and into the grand living room. Just like expected, it was beautiful and…clean. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean anything bad by it. But with three boys, I’d suspect that the place would’ve had a sock or two out of place.

I carefully sat on the huge couch as if I’d ruin it if I moved too hard while I continued to look around.

The ceiling was high, and I could see the halls of the second floor from where I sat. On the walls hung pictures of each boy, either in their grown state or when they were younger.

“May I get you anything? Water? A beer?” Chad asked as he sat across from me. I chuckled with an eyebrow raised.

“You know I’m underage, right?”

He raised his hands in mock surrender with a smug look on his face. “Oh yes. I remember.”

“Water is fine,” I told him with an eye roll as he rose to leave. I heard him chuckling before he disappeared for good.

Rising from my own seat, I slowly walked around the room and took a look at each picture. I could recognize Fabian without even being told. His toothy grin as a child was adorable even with braces.

My lips tilted in a smile as I held a frame in my hand. He was in swim chunks with goggles over his eyes, standing in front of what looked like a water slide. The cutest part was, he looked happy as hell.

“He screamed and kicked that day when we were leaving,” a voice said from behind me, and as I turned around I noticed that I was Chad who returned with a bottle of water and a beer. I reached for the water, but he held the beer out to me.

I gave him a deadpanned look.

“I’m just playing with you. Here.” His chuckling died down as he handed me the water, and I returned my attention back to the picture.

“Was he always this happy as a child?”

“Yea. But when he started to get older, started to see things for the way they are and understood stuff better, he changed.”

“Is that what happened with Alex?” I asked and immediately mentally kicked myself. I am far too inquisitive sometimes.

It was obvious that I sort of insulted Chad too, and I felt bad. I had no idea what happens in their lives and I had no right to meddle and judge.

“Something like that,” he mumbled in a small voice, all humour and teasing gone. “We’re a f**cked up family. But we have each other’s backs.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I get that.”

“And that, Paris, is why I won't let my jackass brother lose you. You care for him, and he pushes people away too much.” Chad raised his bottle in the air and retreated, but he piqued my interest and I wasn’t done with him.

“What do you mean he pushes people away?” I asked the most obvious question in existence.

Fabian didn’t push me away this time—he was chased away. But should I anticipate the worst? What if we get closer and he pushes me away?

I’ve seen it happen before. Especially with people who think the other is better off without them.

“Look, it's not my place to talk about the kid’s life. But let’s just say he doesn’t keep people around long,” he said and my heart fell. “But I have a feeling you’re different. I’ve never seen him trying to distract himself so much.”

On one end I felt slightly relieved. On another end I was worried. Who’s to say I will last long?

I can’t lose him—I won't. And me being here was proving just how serious I am about being in his life.

“How do you think I can help? How do I get through to him?” I asked with a new found mission. But to my demise, Chad simply shrugged—clueless.

“Beats me. Not even I can get through to him sometimes. But hey, I believe in you.” He winked and then he was gone.

“Great. No pressure,” I mumbled to myself as I plopped down on the couch again.

I checked the time—five p.m.

He shouldn’t be long now, so I plugged in my earphones and decided to watch a Netflix movie to pass the time, but I knew I wouldn’t leave his house without seeing him.

About fifteen minutes into the movie, Chad returned and sat beside me. He said something but I didn’t hear it since I had in earphones.

“Repeat?”

“I said, you should’ve told me you wanted to watch TV,” he repeated before turning on the huge television set.

I was almost blasted away by the volume once it was on. I could’ve sworn my ears rang.

“Dammit, Alex," he cursed lowly. "Sorry about that. Alex believes he has to watch the TV on the highest volume like he’s f**king deaf!” He shouted the last part in hopes to make Alex hear, I assumed.

But instead of feeling awkward, I actually started laughing.

I already liked this family. They were real—far from perfect. I bet they eat in their own rooms and stuff like that. Sometimes I wished my family didn’t act like they were peachy perfect.

We all have our flaws… but we refuse to acknowledge them. Family movie night, family game night, eating dinner together every night and building fake ass conversations—it was all lovely, and nothing is wrong with this. Families who do stuff like this stay together are great, and I aspire to do it with my own family sometime in the future.

But as much as I love mine now, they weren’t real with each other and that makes all the difference. We hide the truth and act like it doesn’t exist, when in reality, the truth is there like a ticking time bomb, ready to be launched.

It could be any day now. I could feel it. But I knew more than anyone that we weren’t ready.

“Are you hearing me?”

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked as I shook my head from the thought. I must’ve zoned out.

“I was asking what you were watching.”

“Oh the um…the…” I trailed as I suddenly felt like I couldn't think straight.

“Shit, Paris are you okay?”

I could barely hear what Chad was saying, because my world started spinning, and so did I.

“F**k... Paris!”

And then, it was black.

---