A row over dinner

I was out of it for the whole day, barely concentrating on what the teachers were saying. Even Mr Ryker couldn’t snap me out of my shitty mood. I passed Freddie in the hall and he smiled at me, but I ignored him – I felt really shit about that later. Nick leered at me, but seemed disappointed when I didn’t respond at all.

Dinner that night was spent in tense silence – Mom seemed unable to look at anything other than me or Liam, and Dad stared at his food. I did the same.

“We need to talk,” Liam finally broke the silence. I suddenly became intensely interested in a specific bit of pasta. When neither Mom or Dad replied, he continued, “Or we can just pretend it never happened. That works too.”

I poked the pasta.

Mom spoke next. “It’s one thing to bring a new boy home every other week – don’t think I didn’t notice, Emily – but this is a whole other shit show.”

“Stay out of my sex life,” I muttered.

“I did,” she said. "I tried to, but now you're fucking your brother!"

“We’re not actually related!” I exclaimed. “Who gives a shit?”

“That is no excuse!”

“It’s legal! I looked it up!” I yelled.

Mom glared daggers at me. “Go to your –”

“Oh fuck off!”

“Language, Emily,” Dad finally spoke. His voice was far too calm.

I stormed out. I felt sick. I grabbed my shoes from the hallway and yanked them on before throwing the front door open and leaving. I heard footsteps from behind me as I got to the corner of the street, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Liam running after me.

“If you’re going to –” I started.

“I’m not.” He put an arm around my shoulder, and I rested my head against his chest. I could hear his heart beating quickly, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the short run or something else.

We walked aimlessly through the spotlights of the streetlights and the shadows between them. Eventually, not even thinking about it, we ended up on the same bench where we first kissed, and I smiled sadly to myself.

“Where are we going?” Liam asked.