Chapter 13|Come on, I won't bite

Cover made by @U-N-I-Q-U-E!

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It had been just over a week since the whole poster incident, and everything was pretty much back to the way it was before. I'm not sure if anyone really even believed what they read because it did sound like a stupid revenge prank or something.

I wasn't sick anymore, and Tara had finally forgiven me for not answering her calls when I missed school that day. The only reason I didn't answer her, is because I didn't have my phone, therefore I didn't know she was calling in the first place. She couldn't seem to accept that though.

And my parents either didn't know or didn't care about the two consecutive days of school I missed. I was kinda relieved about that.

Anyways, it was a Friday night, and what was I doing? I was sitting in my room with a gigantic bowl of popcorn on my lap, while watching Finding Nemo. I was wearing clothes that probably would've been condemned to hell by the fashion police, as well as Ryan's hoody, which I was a little disappointed with because it was losing his smell.

Tara, Lee, Kyle and Justin had gone to some party at Erika's mansion, which I had blatantly refused to go to. Ryan had also said quite bluntly that he wouldn't go, he didn't say why, but I could see that his truck was missing so he probably had places to be or people to see.

My mom was being nice to me again, like she was actually glad that I existed which was weird. Not that I liked it when she was bitchy either, but honestly, couldn't she just make up her mind instead if being bipolar all the time?

"Hazel honey, can you come downstairs please?" See what I mean? Her niceness just freaks me out.

I sadly paused Dori's pretty blue face, leaving the bowl of popcorn on my bed and heading downstairs. The remaining three members of my family were seated around the table.

"Hazel, whose sweater is that darling?" My mom asked as I entered the room.

"Uh...it's Caleb's," I lied. There was no way I was going to tell her who it actually belonged to.

"Oh," her face soured at the mention of his name, but she forced a smile. "Sit down, we're having a family meeting."

I made a face, but sat down as she'd requested.

"Now I know that everyone is used to living here with our little family of four, but your father and I have decided to expand the family."

I froze, holding my breath a little. The air around me was suddenly suffocating.

She grinned. "I'm having a baby!"

Jasmine squealed, crushing our mother in a hug and chattering excitedly about how she would dress up her new sibling.

I remained seated, trying to process this information that had just been shoved on me.

"Now," mom started, "I know this is going to be a big change, but I think it will be good for us." She looked between Jasmine and I. "And I know I already have two beautiful daughters-"

"And a son," I interrupted.

"Excuse me?"

"You have a son too, the one who is fighting for his country, remember? Just because you seem capable of forgetting him doesn't mean he doesn't exist."

"You just had to ruin this, didn't you?" she sighed.

I laughed manically. "I ruined it, did I? Have you even thought this through? How will you afford to support this baby? There is no room in this house for an infant, so where will it sleep? What about when you're in your sixties and they're going to college, how will you afford that?"

She just glared at me.

"And what about you?" I pointed accusingly at my dad. "What do you think of this?"

He looked down.

I chuckled darkly. "And here I was, thinking that you actually cared about Caleb and I. How wrong was I?"

"Hazel," he protested.

"Don't," I stormed out of the house, slamming the door with all the strength a had.

I don't know where I was going, but I was on a mission. I stomped my bare feet along the pavement, which kinda hurt, but I didn't care. I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted Caleb.

Eventually I stopped walking and sat on the sidewalk. It was getting dark and I had no clue where I was, but I was too numb to even give a shit.

I don't know how long I was sitting there, trying to gather my thoughts, when a familiar truck drove past. I looked up as it rolled past, and sighed as it continued down the street. A few seconds later I heard the breaks squeal. I looked up from my feet to see the pickup truck backing towards me. It stopped next to me, and the driver jumped out, taking a seat next to me on the sidewalk.

"Sunshine, what are you doing out here?"

"I honestly don't know."

We sat in silence for a solid five minutes before I broke it.

"My moms pregnant."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it's disgusting."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because she's forty. There will be a twenty four year difference between Caleb and that baby." I threw my hands in the air. "She hates me, and pretends that Caleb doesn't exist, yet she goes and gets herself pregnant again. It makes me feel nauseous just talking about it."

"I'm sure your mom doesn't hate you," he tried to reassure.

"You haven't seen the way she glares at me, or the way she talks to me. It's like she's trying to replace me with this baby. She replaced Caleb with Jasmine, now its my turn. She wants her perfect little family, and I'm not part of it."

He wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders. "You know, if you ever feel like you need to get away from your mom, you can stay with us. I'm sure my mom would be ecstatic to have a girl in the house."

"Really?"

"Of course. I know I'm a funny guy, but I don't joke about this kind of stuff." He scratched the back of his neck. "Anyway, we should get you home."

I silently agreed, hopping into the passenger seat.

We pulled into Ryan's driveway, and I jumped out. He followed me to my house where I hesitantly climbed the small stack of stairs to the front door. I opened it a fraction, only to be greeted by my mother's enraged voice. The only person she could possibly be yelling at was my dad. I gulped, and couldn't help but let guilt fill me. That was my fault. I quietly closed the door, turning back around.

Ryan had his back to me.

"Ryan," I called.

He spun around. "Huh?"

"Do you think I can take you up on that offer...now?"

He seemed surprised, which I had anticipated, I don't exactly go around asking people for help.

I saw him hesitate and I panicked. "It's totally fine if I can't stay, but my parents are fighting and it's my fault. I don't want to make it worse by being there-"

He rolled his eyes. "Are you coming or what?"

I nodded, following him into his house.

He led me up a staircase and into a room that I recognised to be the one I could see from my own bedroom window. His room was probably about the same size as mine, with a queen bed and shelves that had stuff haphazardly spread across them. He had a desk at the far end of the room and a bookcase that was mostly covered in framed photos.

"Sorry about this," he said, gathering some of the clothing on the floor and throwing it in his closet. He seemed embarrassed and quickly muttered something about taking a shower. He entered one of the two doors on either side of the room, which I assumed was a bathroom.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

From: Dad

Where are you? Are you okay?

To: Dad

I'm fine. I'm sorry.

From: Dad

It's not your fault.

I pocketed my phone, glancing around the room. I was drawn to the bookcase as my eyes scanned the faces in the pictures. Archie as a baby, Ryan and Evan building a sandcastle both wearing wide grins, Kyle and Ryan as kids, Ryan missing a front tooth. Ryan standing next to his mom, a family photo of Ryan, Evan, Archie, Mrs Martinez and a man I didn't recognise. I took a closer look at the man, who had one arm around Mrs Martinez and his other hand resting protectively on Archie's shoulder. His son Archie. That man was Ryan's father. It became more obvious as I studied the other pictures, Ryan and his dad holding a fish, a much younger version of Mr Martinez holding a tiny baby with tufts of blonde hair, he wore a smile of adoration as the baby looked up at him with big blue eyes.

The bathroom door opened and I jumped back, almost whacking my head in the process, then I almost fainted when I saw Ryan. His hair was wet, making droplets of water fall, sliding down his bare chest and torso. His tattoos were once again in clear view, and they were intriguing.

"Sunshine. Hey sunshine."

"Huh, what?"

"Are you done checking me out?"

"No," I said without thinking, and to make it worse I kept on staring. My eyes widened as I realised my mistake.

"I mean no I wasn't checking you out and yes I'm finished checking you out."

I mentally slapped myself. It was completely true, but not what I wanted to say.

"I actually meant-"

"You're digging your own grave, sunshine," Ryan said with a smirk.

My shoulders sagged in defeat. "I know."

He chuckled. "You can take a shower if you want, I left a towel and some clothes I thought would be more comfortable to sleep in, in the bathroom."

I nodded, muttering an embarrassed sounding 'thanks', and locking myself in his bathroom.

True to his word, Ryan had left me a towel and a pile of folded clothes. I stripped my clothes, stepping into the shower and drowning all thoughts of my mom and the baby in scalding water.

Getting out of the shower, I dried myself, sliding on my underwear as well as the clothes left for me, which consisted of a black sweater and a pair of grey sweatpants, both of which were about five sizes to big for me. Luckily the sweatpants had strings so I could make sure they wouldn't fall down.

I folded my clothes and unlocked the bathroom door, placing my clothes on the office chair next to Ryan's desk.

Ryan was laying on his stomach with his head at the wrong end of the bed when I emerged from the bathroom. He was furiously texting someone, but looked up when he heard the door open. He smirked when he saw me wearing his clothes.

"You look like a little kid sunshine."

"Thanks, that's what every girl wants to hear," I replied sarcastically.

He grinned. "Are you tired?"

I shrugged, but I was betrayed by my mouth that yawned the biggest yawn I had ever yawned in my existence.

"Liar," he joked, "I'll take the floor."

I frowned. He shouldn't take the floor, it was his bed after all.

"No, I'll take the floor," I argued.

This time he frowned. "If you sleep on the floor, I'll just put you in the bed when you're asleep."

"Well if you sleep on the floor, I'll just wait until you're asleep, then I'll sleep on the floor too," I countered.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Looks like we're both sleeping in the bed then," he concluded, climbing into the bed.

I stared passively.

Ryan's lips quirked into an amused smile. "Come on, I won't bite."

No, but I might.

My cheeks reddened at my own thoughts. Some of the things my brain comes up with astound me.

I hesitantly lifted the comforter and sheet, sliding my legs under and rolling onto my side. I was right on the very edge of the bed, so I scooted a little closer to the middle. I didn't exactly feel like falling on the ground in the middle of the night.

Ryan switched off the light, and we lay there in silence for a moment. I heard him move, and the next second I could hear him breathing beside my face. He had done one complete roll and was now facing me.

"That was smooth," I said.

He chuckled. "Thanks, sunshine."

I sighed, resting my head on his bare chest. Bold move, I know, but I seised an opportunity and he didn't seem to mind, in fact he wrapped an arm around me.

I wasn't really thinking as I traced a pattern on his chest with my finger. What? His skin was really soft, I couldn't help it.

"I was in and out of foster homes when I was a kid." Ryan tensed and I almost covered my mouth in shock. I could not believe I just said that. Why had I just said that?

"Sorry," I apologised, "I didn't mean for that to come out."

"It's okay, I'm a good listener remember?"

"You sure you wanna hear this? It's a long and emotional story."

"I've got all night," he said, "but you'll have to stop this." He grabbed the hand that was drawing patterns on his chest.

I gulped. "Sorry."

"Don't apologise, it's not your fault I'm ticklish."

~*~*~*~*~

School holidays finish tomorrow -_-

Anyways, Hazel's mom is pregnant! That is actually crazy. Anyone predict it? Probably not because I didn't even know it was going to happen until about two hours ago.

Oh my god, Hazel's about to spill, any guesses on what really happened and why her mom is so freaking bipolar? No? Well I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

Please vote, comment, follow.

Until next time.