15. Dinner At The Chambers

Chase.

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"I said: I'm home! Where's the applause?" Loren jokes.

"Loren!" My dad smiles as he goes up to hug her.

He looks happy and relieved to see her. She's like a ray of sunshine. Everything's all good again now that she's here. She's totally everyone's favorite. Always has been. She's everything I'm not: smart, pretty, outgoing, funny. I'm just awkward and quiet.

Mom goes in to hug her too.

"Chase!" Loren says excitedly, her arms wide open.

"Sis!" I embrace her.

She pulls away. "So what is this I hear about you being a total player? All the girls are fawning over you. It's all over Instagram." She beams.

Great. This is gonna follow me through life. I sigh.

"Everyone's just gone crazy at school, I guess." I shrug.

Loren gives me a playful smirk before walking towards the table.

"Sky texted me, he said he'd come later. Car trouble or something." She says casually.

Why did he text her and not me?

"Alright. Let's eat!" My mom looks all perfect again. A new layer of mascara. A new mask. She's great at pretending. So is Loren. When it comes to that I'm much more like my dad. He's an open book.

Everyone joins Loren at the table.

"Loren, would you like to say grace?" Mom asks.

We all hold hands and close our eyes.

"Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us all together. Thank you for allowing us to share this bountiful meal. Please give food to those in need as well. Amen."

"Amen." We all repeat and we dig in.

"Mmm! This is so good, mom! I totally missed this!" Loren moans, her mouth stuffed.

"I'm happy you like it, sweetie." My mom smiles.

"Now, tell us all about college." Dad asks. He's already glowing of pride.

Loren got into Yale. She's studying sociology. I wonder if I'll get into an Ivy League. If I don't my mom will lynch me. Which means I should probably pay more attention in school.

"..And my classmates are all so lovely!"

"Are they being nice to you?" My mom asks. That's code for: Are you ruling the school yet?

"Absolutely! Everyone's always ready to help me out. Even the teachers speak very fondly of me. I got asked out by like, five different guys already." Loren laughs before taking a bite of food.

Mom and dad laugh too.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" I ask, sounding a little more salty than I meant to.

Loren gives me a look. "Yeah... about that.." Suddenly she looks all sad. "Charlie and I broke up." She says.

"Oh no.." My mom grabs Loren's hand.

"Yeah.. We just weren't right for each other in the end."

"I'm sorry, honey." My dad says sympathetically.

"What does that mean? Who dumped who?" I ask bluntly.

"Chase!" My mom gasps.

"Diana, we need to let the children speak to each other freely without making such a big deal out of things. This is how kids talk."

"I make a big deal out of things? Really—"

"I broke up with him." Loren interrupts, saving us from yet another dinner bickering session.

My mother gives her an understanding glance. I roll my eyes.

"It was really hard, the first few weeks without him. Sometimes it all just felt so useless, you know?"

God, she's so dramatic!

I play with my food and focus on not saying something stupid.

"Chase, honey, aren't you going to eat?" Mom asks.

"Not hungry." I mumble.

Mom and dad give each other a concerned look.

"I had a big lunch." I lie.

Dad nods. Mom knows I'm lying. She looks down at the table.

Loren continues telling her stories.

"And how about you, little brother? How have you been?" Loren grabs my hand.

I shrug. "Fine."

Mom and dad both fall quiet.

"Okay..?" Loren gives mom and and dad a confused look.

"He drove his car into a tree. Drunk." Dad says quickly before taking a huge bite of food.

"Dad!" I yell.

"Chase!" Loren smacks my arm.

Before we know it mom and dad are bickering again.

Dammit. I can feel Loren's eyes burning on me as I continue to play with my food.

"It was an accident." I say quietly.

"I know you're growing up.. But you really don't have to follow what the other guys are doing, Chase. They're just idiots. It's okay to say no."

I hate it when she lectures me.

"That's rich coming from you. You change your whole personality depending on who you're with." I don't look up from my food.

"Well, I never drove my car into a tree so—"

"Yes, little miss perfect. We get it."

Loren gives me an irritated look.

We share a long glance.

"What's your problem?" She asks annoyed.

"I don't have a problem." I sigh. I take a sip from my drink.

"You've been acting like a dick all evening."

"And you've been acting like a C-level actress. You could dial down on the theatrics."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just had my heart smashed!"

"Then maybe you should develop some better taste in guys, Loren. Because if you hadn't noticed, none of them actually like you!" I snap.

She scoffs. "You're talking about Sky."

"Among others." I go back to playing with my food.

She's silent for a moment. Studying my face, I'm sure. Arming for another attack.

"Maybe Sky didn't like me as much as I did him but at least he didn't see me as a freaking kid. Desperate much?"

It's amazing how quickly she figured out I like him. Or maybe she's known all this time. I thought it was my best kept secret. It hurts feeling so exposed. This was my thing. She stole it.

"Bitch." I say under my breath.

"Chase!" My mom screams, horrified.

"What did you just call me?!" Loren screams.

"Now, everybody please calm down!" Dad intercepts.

Just that moment we hear the front door slam. A while later Sky comes in with Rose in the carriage.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!" He smiles.

I can't stop the butterflies fluttering in my stomach. And somehow I feel like Loren can tell now.

She gets up. "Sky!"

Evil bitch.

"Loren!" Sky's so happy to see her. It hurts watching it. It's times like this I wonder why he isn't just marrying Loren if he loves her so much.

He runs up to her and holds her tightly.

"You look so good!" He beams.

He doesn't even see me.

"So do you! You're glowing!"

Sky chuckles at that.

"Where's my daughter?" Loren says happily as they walk over to the carriage.

"Hi, baby. Hi princess!" Loren smiles as she picks Rosie up.

"Ah, she looks so happy! She's so pretty!" Loren fawns.

"Of course, she looks like her mom." Sky wraps his arm around Loren. They share a loving glance.

They look like the perfect family like that.

I feel sick to my stomach.

A while later Sky comes up to me, giving Loren some time with her daughter.

"Hey Chase." He smiles that beautiful smile that means nothing to him and everything to me.

Then he ruffles my hair.

"Sky!" I whine.

He chuckles. "What? Am I ruining your perfect hairdo?"

He goes on to talk with my parents.

I love the way he keeps his hand on my head. He massages my head so tenderly but I'm sure he doesn't even realize he's doing it.

I look up at him.

His eyes meet mine for a second.

"Guys! Let's go drink some tea in the living room!" Loren calls.

Sky pulls away and heads for the living room with mom and dad.

Thanks, Loren. You're yet again ruining everything. I can't wait till she's gone.

Sky.

✙ ☠ ✙

We're all sitting on the couch, tea and cookies in hand, listening to Loren's stories. I'm sitting next to her and she's next to her mom. Chase and Steven are on the other end of the couch.

I wrap my arm around Loren.

"And.. I broke up with Charlie." She pouts.

"No way! He was so nice!"

"Yeah.. we just didn't click anymore.. Like, we had such different interests and I was so busy at Yale while he's going to UCLA. It just wouldn't have worked out." She looks genuinely sad. She seemed to really have liked him.

"Aww, Loren.. That's so awful." I caress her arm.

"Yeah.." She sniffs. A tear streams down her face. "It really took a while to get over it." She chuckles through the tears.

"What, like a month?" Chase mutters under his breath.

"Chase?!" Why is he being so insensitive?

"What?" He gets up. "I mean, she's the one that broke up with him and now she's crying about it like somebody died or something!" He yells.

"Chase, calm down." Steven warns.

"Forget it!" He screams and he storms out of the room.

"What's his problem?" I ask, thoroughly confused.

Loren shakes her head. "I think he hates me. He's been this way ever since I got back. I don't know why he's so mad at me."

I hate seeing her cry. I kiss her cheek.

"Want me to go talk to him?" I ask.

She nods.

"Thanks, Sky."

I get up and make my way upstairs.

I knock on his door.

"Go away!" He screams.

"It's me." I try.

Radio silence.

I open the door and walk inside.

"Wow.." His room's all different. The walls are still white but they're covered in dark posters of bands I don't know. The Pretty Reckless, As It Is, My Chemical Romance.. It's really darkened up the room.

Chase is sitting on the bed, staring out the window.

"Your room's all different." I say.

Chase sighs.

"Chase, what's wrong? This is so unlike you." I sit next to him. He doesn't look at me.

"Loren's just being a pain. And you're taking her side!"

"I'm not! I just think you should be nice to her, since she didn't do anything."

I look into his eyes. "Did she?"

His eyes meet mine for a moment. Then he looks at the ground. "I guess not." He mumbles.

"Then why are you so upset?" I ask.

He shuffles his feet. He looks back out the window and clenches his jaw. It reminds me of Aron. Weird.

Maybe he doesn't like her getting all the attention. I'm sure his parents have been giving all their attention to her since she got here. I don't have siblings but I sure as hell wouldn't like that.

"Hey.. it's been a while since we hung out together, right?"

Chase looks at me again. He nods.

"How about you and I go on a little trip together next weekend? Just us two." I smile at him, hoping he'll say yes.

He smiles back at me.

"I'd love that."

He seems all better now. He looks like the old Chase. Happy and cheerful. I wrap my arms around him.