I slapped my hand up to my mouth as mom gave me a deathly glare. However, the woman at the door shrugged it off and smiled even wider, seeing it as humorous. "I'm Katherine, and this is Clara and Caleb," she said, talking to Kylie and I as she signalled to her two children. "And this is my husband Mike."
Kylie and I awkwardly smiled at the family, not knowing what to do next. Although, Katherine did seem genuinely nice, and only now was I regretting that the first word to come out of my mouth to her was a curse word.
"Welcome everyone," Mom replied, wiping her hands on her turquoise coloured apron. "Why don't you two show our guests around," she signalled to us, to which I fake smiled and looked over at an obviously smirking Caleb.
"And you and Mike can help me in the kitchen," my mom finished before pulling the two along with her to where the kitchen was. 'Be nice' my mother mouthed as I looked over at Kylie and Clara who had already began talking.
I nodded hesitantly as Kylie led Clara into the living room, leaving only Caleb and I in the hallway. Despite looking into his eyes earlier, I kept my eyes trained on the floor, not wanting to look at him again. I was frozen in place, not wanting to say the first thing to him, not wanting to talk to him at all.
"Nice to see you again," His voice finally rang in my ears. Of all people, why was it him that was here? It may seem like I was judging too quickly, but I had a bad feeling about him, and I trusted my gut more than I trusted him.
Instead of continuing to grace him with my annoyance, I followed where Kylie and Clara had gone and sat down on a sofa beside them. They were too preoccupied with their phones to notice me sitting down.
However, as I did, the weight next to me plummeted, and Caleb was sitting comfortably beside me with his stupid smirk still playing at his lips. Did he not have any other facial expression?
"Who you texting?" He asked, leaning over to look at my phone. I pulled it away from him, not wanting him to know that I was furiously typing a long text to Flora about how she should stay away from him.
"Can you leave me alone?" Faking politeness, I smiled back to my phone as I was about to finish the text, but the phone was snatched out of my hand before I could press send.
"You're going to have to talk to me because otherwise, your mom loses one of her dear friends," I sighed. Out all things to threaten me with, he had to choose that one. Even though, I wasn't sure how he would do it, I knew he probably would, and I didn't want to find out how.
"Fine, what do you want to talk about," I asked with irritation laced within my voice. He did me a once over, having the cheek to look me up and down before his eyes settled on mine again.
He grinned like a child, "I want to know more about Flora King," I tensed upon hearing her name from his mouth. No way would I be letting him get a hold of Flora. The same unsettling feeling was still present in my gut when I looked at him.
"You stay away from her," I warned before attempting to snatch my phone back, only to be disappointed as his quick reflexes jerked it back. "I thought you had a boyfriend."
"What?" He shot his smirk, once again and laughed, this time catching the attention of Clara and Kylie. However, they only looked up for a second before looking back to each other and speaking. "I thought you couldn't be jealous if you have a boyfriend."
My eyes were slowly twitching with anger as he continued to speak. The fact that he questioned what I have with James was another reason why I was starting to believe the horrible feeling I had been having about him.
"I'm not jealous, she's just my best friend and I don't like you, so stay away from her." I tried to shout back, but he continued to laugh over my words. I had never wanted dinner to begin more in my life.
"Jealousy is a bad trait," I hit his arm out of frustration and stood up to walk off, not wanting to be taunted by someone I hardly knew.
As if the heavens were granting me a wish, mom called out for dinner, causing me to sprint off away from wherever Caleb was behind me. However, when I reached the table, Katherine, Mike and my mom had already seated themselves, leaving only four seats and a high chance that Caleb could end up sitting next to me.
Taking the easy option, I sat by my mom and prayed that Kylie would sit next to me, followed by either Clara or Caleb. However, the angels only granted me one wish tonight. Clara sat by Katherine whilst Kylie sat next to Clara, leaving the only empty space beside me.
"Great," I mumbled to myself, hoping that nobody would hear, otherwise the impression I was going to be leaving on Mike and Katherine definitely wasn't going to be a good one.
We all grabbed a bowl of pasta and ate in silence, up until Katherine broke it.
"So Gabriella, your mom tells me that you have a boyfriend, is he handsome?" As soon as she said it, I felt incredibly awkward. However, after what Caleb said to me, I aimed to make him feel more uncomfortable than I did.
Therefore, I rambled on about James, talking about how good looking he was, how long we'd been together, holidays we'd been on together, then other parts which mom would so lovingly add. She was definitely a big fan of James. Mainly because he brought her flowers the first time he met her.
But since then, she's always been happy with me dating him.
Suddenly, a hand crept onto my thigh mid-sentence. I glared over to Caleb and pushed his hand from my leg, despite the goose bumps it left behind. He would continue to do it whilst I was talking, knowing that I was growing increasingly frustrated with what was happening underneath the table.
"So yeah, he... um, is very-" I struggled to get the words out until his hand crept closer and closer to a place I would never let him go in. "NICE!" I shouted at Katherine before I slapped my hand over my mouth, for the second time tonight.
Way to leave a good impression Gabby.
"I'm so sorry for shouting, I-I just um, thought I saw a spider," I used the worst excuse in the history of excuses and turned slowly to Caleb. I chucked his hand from my leg and continued to eat, watching him from the corner of my eye.
The table fell silent soon after my outburst, except the quiet talk between Kylie and Clara, and the general chat between my mom, Mike and Katherine.
Turns out, Katherine had known my mom since first grade, they were best friends but they lost contact when she moved schools. I smiled as mom grinned at Katherine. We all finished our pasta in quick silence, thankfully.
"I'll bring the plates out," I said quickly before anyone else offered, hoping to get away from the presence of Caleb so I could finally breath. "I'll help," I heard his icy voice from right beside me as we both began picking plates off the table.
Why did he have to offer too?
I walked out the room with several plates hanging off my arms, like a waitress. I guess working at Applebee's for three weeks that one time did some good.
I took the weight off my arms by placing all of it down onto the counter. However, when I turned to collect more, I was trapped within the prison that was Caleb's arms at either side of the kitchen island.
"Still jealous," sighing again, I tried to remove myself from his body structure, but it was impossible with his strong arms and his hold that he currently had over me with his eyes.
What am I doing?
After only several seconds I pushed away from him, using more strength than I thought I would have to. He was much stronger than he looked.
Walking back into the dining room, I grabbed a few more plates and avoided Caleb as I felt his eyes constantly burning into the back of my head.
After talking a little more at the table, Katherine and Mike decided to call it a night, seeing as it was already nearing ten o'clock. "It was so nice to see you again Katherine," My mom said as she hugged her tightly.
I hadn't really spoken to Kylie, but it seemed like her and Clara were getting a long seeing as they were now exchanging numbers with each other. I can guarantee that Caleb will not be seeing a smile from me, let alone my number.
Caleb stood beside me and before I could protest, he leaned down to my height and whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "Jealousy is a bad disease," a scowl naturally fell onto my face as I turned to give him a piece of my mind.
Mom glared at me out of the corner of her eye as she had watched the ordeal between us, and how angry I was getting. However, I took a deep breath and looked away from Caleb.
"Get well soon," he finally said as he began to follow his parents out of the house. However, before he could get far, I had already outstretched my foot and had tripped him. He stumbled, but regained his balance and glared back at me.
Luckily, everyone seemed to think he was just a klutz and tripped on his own.
'Whoops' I mouthed and smiled happily.
As soon as they left, my mood automatically perked up. I thanked my lucky stars that I didn't have to smell Caleb's aftershave that would engulf my nose every time he came near me.
Mom waved us away, not before giving us a tight hug and thanking us for being good for the guests.
Kylie and I both walked up the stairs together, equally smiling at two different types of accomplishments. "I know you tripped Caleb," Kylie whispered from beside me.
"He deserved it," I simply replied and walked back into my room.
I hadn't realised how tired I actually was until I got ready for bed. My eyes were slowly drooping as I brushed my teeth. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.
• • •
However, my peaceful slumber was soon interrupted by my mother shaking me lightly on the arm to wake me up. She sat delicately at the edge of my bed, and her eyes were tear-stained, puffing out into a red-ish colour.
"Come downstairs, I need to speak to you and Kylie," she said between short breaths, showing that she had been crying for a while. She walked away, holding a hand to her nose to stop herself from sniffling.
Turning where I was sat, the clock on my beside table read three in the morning. I crunched my eyes together before slowly getting up and walking downstairs. Kylie was quietly consoling her as they waited for me to join them.
I sat across from Mom and next to Kylie as I grabbed hold of one of her hands and squeezed it once for reassurance. She swallowed hard before she began to speak, barely being able to get the words out.
"I haven't told you the full story on why your father left us," She told us, attempting to hold back tears. His rough face suddenly blurred in my head as I waited for what she was going to say next.
"Your father and I, we fought a lot." I nodded, knowing that if he was going off with anther woman, there was bound to have been never ending arguments and fights between them. "Well, he fought a lot," I swallowed back the lump in my throat that I didn't realise I had been holding onto.
"He was a horrible man," I'm sure she didn't want to paint this picture of him to us, but if he had anything to do with her continuing tears, then I wanted to know. "Everything I said, or did to him was wrong, and he would hurt me for it." I held back a gasp that threatened to fall from my mouth.
"Some days I would just come home and expect it." She sniffed lightly and wiped her eyes.
"I remember a week before he left us," a few stray tears escaped her eyes, "I had never been hurt that physically and mentally before," she paused, "I was ready to give up."
"Until I saw him walk towards you," she looked into my eyes with anger, "I didn't know what he was going to do, so I let myself get hurt instead."
"I was like his punching bag," only now did I realise how silent Kylie and I had remained. We were desperate to hear every part of the story, and why she was so upset. "I called the cops after he left on a business trip, and he never came back."
I distinctively remembered him leaving the house. Only, I didn't realise that he wasn't leaving us, he never intended to. I also knew that she had a tough and risky pregnancy with Kylie, but I didn't realise just how bad it was and the reasons for it.
My father.
I shifted my mind away from the six letters I would now refuse to repeat. He wasn't my father for doing this. "The trail was quick, but excruciating." She told us, "I mean, the evidence was all over me, and I had to sit and speak whilst watching him at the other side of the room."
"He's been in prison for fifteen years," I sat stiff. Here's me thinking that my father was halfway across the world with another woman, soon to visit us and regret missing out on Kylie and I growing up. Little did I know that he was rotting silently in a jail cell.
As more tears escaped her eyes, I grabbed a tissue and handed it to her, "And now he's done his time," she spoke again, "and he's looking for me." My breathing hitched in my throat as she said those dreaded five words
She handed a letter over to us, which we read haphazardly, wanting to know what he had said. It was sent from the prison he was staying in, reading 'High Desert State Prison, Nevada' in the corner of the ripped envelope,
"I've called the cops, but because the prison didn't know he sent the letter, it wasn't documented so it could be fake but, this is your fathers handwriting." She looked petrified and I didn't want her to be.
As soon as she regained composure, she shot us a small over exaggerated and faked smile, "I'm going to be staying with a friend for a while," she told us, but I still had a questioning expression masked over my face. What about us?
"It's too small an apartment, so you'll have to stay here," I swallowed hard. Even though he had never seen Kylie, I still had similar features from when I was three. What if he finds me?
A few tears escaped Kylie's eyes and mine. "You will both be staying with Katherine and Mike," I didn't have time to think over what that meant as I pulled her tightly into a hug.
Kylie did the same as she spoke into our hair that was covering her face, "Mike is a cop, he will keep you safe, but for now, I need to get out of here, you understand that right?" We both nodded, letting the tears fall down our cheeks. We pulled out of the hug and looked back at her.
It was quite rare to see Kylie cry since she had such a tough exterior, and seeing mom cry obviously isn't nice for any of us to see. It broke my heart to even see her in slight discomfort.
"I love you two, and I'll see you soon," She smiled, placing a hand onto both of our shoulders, "go pack a bag, I'll take you round there in ten minutes." I looked at her shocked, realising that we had to leave now instead of later.
We wouldn't get much time to say goodbye.