“Lasagna’s just about done,” Leanne calls as she walks toward the kitchen. “So behave, all of you, or I’ll be forced to send you all home with empty stomachs.”
When Ellie invited me to Sunday dinner, I definitely didn’t expect it to go like this. I knew Shane didn’t like me, I just didn’t realize it was this bad.
Ariana leans forward, resting her elbows on the table. “I think everyone needs to take a deep breath.” She turns her focus on Shane. “And you need tocalm down. You have no room to judge. I’ve lost friends because you had your fun with them and never called. That’s not cool.”
Shane dips his chin. “That’s different,” he mutters. “They’renot my sisters.”
“I love you, but you’re kind of a pig, Shane,” Layla chirps up.
Shane throws up his arms. “You know what? I’m not even hungry.” He storms off, slamming the front door loudly behind him.
I start to stand, to go after him, but Ellie stops me.
“No, you’re not going after him. He’s the one in the wrong.”
“She’s right.” Leanne walks back in and sets the lasagna in the middle of the table. “He owes you an apology, not the other way around.”
“It’s kind of sweet, in a messed up little way, how protective he’s being,” Ariana, says.
Ellie scoffs. “It’s not sweet, it’s embarrassing.”
I scrub a hand down my face. “I can’t just let him keep hating me. We have to work it out.”
Jack lets out a breath. “He’ll come around. Kid’s all out of sorts because his brain is maturing faster than his behaviors. Give him some time.”
Gavin looks around the table. “Well, now that we got that over with, can we eat and pretend we’re a normal family?”
Dinner commences and conversations resume, but I can’t relax.
I’m not going anywhere and the last thing I want is for one of Ellie’s siblings to have a problem with me. I’m not sure how, but I’m going to have to figure out how to make peace with Shane. The last thing Ellie needs is worrying about something this petty, when she has real shit going on.
“Shhh.” Ellie giggles. “Quiet.”
As soon as the dinner from hell ended, she grabbed my hand, and sneakily dragged me up the stairs.
For as many times as I’ve been in the Ledger home, I stopped being allowed upstairs when we began dating. We snuck around a few times, but I was too terrified of Jack to break his rules. Now, I’m a fucking adult, and I think I’m even more terrified.
Everyone is still downstairs, their voices drifting up to the second floor, fading the farther we get, but not enough to drown out completely.
“Where are we going?” I whisper.
Ellie looks back at me over her shoulder, her cheeks sporting the sexiest blush. “My old bedroom.”
I was worried she would say that.
She pushes the door open, pulling me in with her.
When the light flicks on, I’m transported to a different era. Her bedroom is a time capsule. Same black and white checkered bedding, a fury black rug at the center, posters and pictures covering the cherry-red painted walls.
“Looks the same, huh?”
My eyes dart around, landing on all the pictures of us. I’m in disbelief she kept them up after all this time.
Us as gangly little kids, awkward preteens, awkward teenagers, slightly less awkward teenagers and then the pictures end.
She sits on the bed, her eyes traveling the length of me. “There’s something I’ve always wanted to do in here, and we never got the opportunity.”
I work a swallow down and rub the back of my neck. I can still hear everyone downstairs. There’s no way.
