9

By the time we arrived in front of our house. The rain had begun to pour in an unfriendly, torrential downpour. I was admittedly afraid to alight the vehicle as I feared getting wet. It was not enough that the rain was going to drench me, but it could come with the price of a cold and I was not ready to pay for it.

Justine pulled into our parking lot and waited for me to get out of my seat belt before speaking. "I have an umbrella in the trunk but it is sized for only one person."

"Then you can have it, I'm good. It's only a thirty seconds walk to the door." I shrugged, proceeding to open the car door and exit.

"What are you doing?" He stopped my movement, gently grabbing my wrist and halting my actions.

I stared interestingly between his grip and him, deciding to blame the goosebumps on the chills from outside. "I'm heading outside?" I called in an unsure tone.

"Are you kidding right now?" He narrowed his eyes at me and got out of his seat belt. He opened the door and took long strides towards the car trunk.

He returned with a small umbrella, true to his words and opened my side of the car. He opened the umbrella and tried to pull me out of the car.

"No really-" I tried to argue but he stopped me just in time.

"I'm already wet, it's a waste of time." I took the definition of his words literal and by heart. I wondered what could go on if he really was wet because of something I did to him.

"Let's share then." I refused to get down without a firm agreement on this.

"Ally, come on, stop being stubborn." He was growing impatient and I could feel it. The least thing I wanted to do was to get on his nerves.

I gave in and alighted the car, he locked the doors with an electronic key and shielded me from the rain, placing the umbrella over my head.

Together, we ran as fast as our feet could go until we made it to the front door and pounded hard enough to almost pull it down its hinges.

The door swung open and Becca stood in front of us, a cup of steaming tea in her hands.

"You guys?" She knitted her eyebrows in confusion. I pushed her out of my way and walked inside to embrace the feeling if the heater against my skin.

I felt bad for Justine, although he admittedly looked hot, dripping like a wet chick, standing with his arms folded as he shivered.

"What happened with you two?" Becca bolted the door behind us and took a sip out of her tea, tormenting us with the warmth.

"When did you get home?" I observed, she had gotten home before I did and I was sure we'd left the school before she had.

"I took a shorter route." She shrugged and focused more on Justine. She clearly had questions on why I would be standing there with him by my side, there was no doubt about that.

"Where is everyone else?" I noticed the empty living room and brought it up.

"Mom and dad left to see some of their friends and Caramel has been in her room, refusing to come out all day." She stared interestingly at Justine and squinted her eyes at him. "Is anything the problem?"

"Well," I interrupted whatever he could have to say. "Nothing is wrong." I said, "we will talk later. I'll go see Caramel now. Becca, give Justine one of dad's clothes to change into before he freezes and make him something warm to drink. I'll be right back."

With that, I left them both downstairs and strolled up the stairs all the way to Caramel's room. I knocked on her bedroom door slightly and turned the knob. It didn't budge so I knew it was locked from inside.

"Caramel?" I called, knocking a few more times.

"Go away Ally." She lazily groaned from inside.

I heaved a sigh and rolled my eyes, aware that she could not see me.

"Look bitch, I know you broke up with Justine." There were no said words in response from her but in a few seconds, the bedroom door came open and she yanked me inside.

She closed the door behind us like it would reveal what I had said to the whole world if she didn't.

"How did you find this out? Are people posting about it on social media?" She put both her hands on my shoulders and shook me on every word that she said.

"Okay first off," I frowned and brushed her hands off, "don't shake me in that manner, ever. Second, I don't think anyone is that interested in your relationship that they would want to post about it every chance they get to." I folded my hands across my chest and rolled my eyes dramatically. Except me.

"How did you get to know then?" She sighed and moved towards her bed, lying prone on it and clutching a pillow to her chest.

"Justine told me." I followed behind her and sat on the bed as well. "So you had planned on keeping this away from the rest of the family?" I lowered my voice.

"Maybe." She shrugged like it was nothing. I had a feeling even she thought it was not a permanent change. I knew her so well, she would never stay away from him in that long.

"Let's talk about it." I said, after a mental battle with myself. This was up to me, I could either fill her with poisonous words that could get Justine to be mine or I did the right thing and made Justine a happy man. I decided the former would play best and I could resume living in my fantasy world.

"What do you have to say?" She encouraged me to begin speaking.