by Naomi Niles
“So, are you looking forward to starting college this autumn?” He asked this so casually, it was almost as if I’d divulged this information to him myself, but I knew that I hadn’t. It had to have been Mom, probably trying to orchestrate some kind of common ground for us to build from.
“Yeah,” I replied quietly, trying to keep my true feelings hidden. “It should be good. Nice to have some direction, really.” I was almost daring him to criticize the casual way that I currently lived my life, but he didn’t. He was keeping up the façade no matter what.
“You’ll be much nearer then,” he smiled at me. “You can come and visit more often.”
“Sure,” I nodded, as if I was taking his request seriously. “That’ll be…nice.”
Before this terrible conversation could go any further, Lyla walking back into the room, completely shattering the tension. “Rhett,” she smiled at me, before moving to the side. “This is my daughter, Danica.”
My heart stopped. Absolutely stopped beating in my chest. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and judging from the shocked expression that crossed her face, neither could she.
There she was with the same long, blonde hair spilling down her back, the same piercing, blue eyes, and the same plump lips that I’d spent some of my summer days kissing. The girl that I’d fallen way too hard for.
It was Danica–my Danica–the one from Camp Woodtree. The one that I’d been desperately hoping would contact me for weeks was now stood here in front of me once more. Now I could understand why she hadn’t been in touch; she’d been swamped with all this insane wedding business and adjusting to a new family.
For a second, my heart soared with possibilities before it hit rock bottom once more.
Family.
Danica was about to become a member of my family. My stepsister at that. And, we’d had sex. We’d spent the summer fooling around, falling for one another, and now we were about to become a big part of this messed up family.
Suddenly, the ashen colour that had taken over her cheeks made a lot more sense. She’d obviously arrived at the conclusion that I had, just much quicker.
“Erm…hi,” she said, stepping forward to shake my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Okay, it seemed like we were going with denial.
“Yeah, you, too.” I stared deeply into her eyes, trying to communicate all of the crazy emotions that were undoubtedly running through us both, but she kept her expression frustratingly blank.
I was going to have to get her alone at some point to discuss all of this. It was the only way.
Around us, Dad and Lyla discussed some of the wedding details, and although they kept trying to drag us into the conversation, neither of us were biting. I was desperately trying to draw Danica in, to see where her head was at, and she was pointedly ignoring me, as if she was trying to pretend that I wasn’t even in the room.
Eventually, she stepped backwards and made her excuses to leave. “I’m still not feeling too great, so I’m gonna head back to bed.” Her face reddened at this, as if she was embarrassed by her lie. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
As I watched her walk away, my mission here changed. No longer would I solely focus on unravelling my dad’s plan–although I definitely still wanted to achieve that–I would also try and solve things between myself and Danica. Sure, things were very strange, but we could still be friends at least.
Couldn’t we?
Well, we had to at least talk–there was no escaping that.
“Yeah, I’m pretty tired, too,” I announced, as soon as she had vanished. “I had a long drive.”
“Your room is on the third floor, the first one on the left,” my dad said, as if the fact that he had three fucking floors was no big deal. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Would you like me to show you?”
“No, no,” I insisted quickly, needing to be alone. “I’ll be fine, thanks.”
I scurried away before he could get the opportunity to follow me, and I raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Unfortunately, Danica was nowhere to be seen, which meant that she was already locked away in whichever room belonged to her. I clearly wasn’t going to get the chance to speak to her tonight, so I guessed that would have to wait.
As I lay down on the Egyptian cotton sheets, my brain was spinning. I kept teetering between happiness that I could at least see Danica again, regardless of the conditions, and horror at the situation that now faced us.
One thing was for sure, this was going to continue to be one hell of an insane summer.
Chapter 15
Danica
Shit, shit, shit.
As I sat on my bed, I felt sick all over again. My entire life was crashing around me, and I had no idea what the hell I could do about it. What a fucking mess!
I just couldn’t believe that I’d gone into the room to meet Brad’s son, to find myself faced with Rhett. If only he’d damn well called himself Rhett Fronton at Camp Woodtree, rather than Jones, I would have known right away to keep the hell away from him. But to find out in that way, it was absolutely unbelievable. If I hadn't been taken aback by his tall, muscular body, and those deep warm brown eyes that I’d spent my special week staring into, I might not have even believed that it was true.
Rhett, the guy who I thought I was falling for, was now more off limits than anyone else in the entire world.
Before, my problem was that I had a secret pregnancy and I couldn’t tell my family about it, and I didn’t feel able to contact the father to tell him the news, either. Now, I had just found out that the dad of my unborn child was inside my home, and that he was about to become my stepbrother.
How fucked up was that? How the hell was I supposed to comprehend any of it?
I felt absolutely sick to my stomach about everything going on around me. It was utterly unbelievable, like a horror film or something. It was totally gross and weird, and although we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into at the time, it still made it all feel so wrong.
Or did he? Had he known? I got the impression that he didn’t get on well with his dad, so maybe everything with me was a part of his plan, his way of ruining the wedding.
But no, to be fair he had looked just as shocked as I felt as he saw me. He had no idea that he was coming into my home; he had no idea that he was about to see me.
Oh God, what a damn mess.
After a few moments, I could no longer hold any of my illness in, and I was forced to race to the bathroom to throw up all over again. I’d wanted to stay locked up in my room all night, so this unexpected burst out into the hallway was far too dangerous for my liking. But I had no other option–I didn’t want to be sick on the floor of my bedroom and have to clean it up afterwards. I was already under enough stress as it was.
As soon as everything was out of my system, I slumped to the cold, hard ground, feeling strangely numb. There were so many thoughts bursting through my mind that I couldn’t actually settle on a single one of them. I felt like I could burst with it all, so my body seemed to have just shut down my emotions, leaving me with nothing left. I hated feeling this empty, but it was much better than feeling everything all at once, causing me to have a mental breakdown.
Well, I couldn’t stay there forever. It was time to go back to my room, where I would stay until I felt ready to face the rest of the word once more. As soon as I was behind closed doors, I would be safe enough to fall apart.
I pressed my ear up against the door, trying to be more careful this time. I certainly didn’t want to walk smack into Rhett out there while I looked like this. This was a disaster without adding that into the mix.
After a few moments, I concluded that I would be okay, and I tentatively peeked outside. Luckily, there was no one there, so it was now or never. I scurried like a mouse, practically tiptoeing across the hallway carpet, until I could lock myself away once more.
Just as I was about to congratulate myself on getting away with it, a light
tapping sound emanated from my door, making my heart sink into my shoes.
Oh God, I panicked, has Rhett found my room already? I tried my best to escape quickly enough so that he wouldn’t be able to follow me, but it seemed like I wasn’t smart enough.
“Hello?” I called out quietly, my heart thumping painfully in my throat. What the hell was I going to say? How was I going to get rid of him?
“Danica?” I let out a sigh of relief as my mom’s voice replied. But this was very quickly replaced by dismay as I realized that I was about to be subjected to an argument that I really wasn’t in the mood for. “Can I come in?”
I desperately scoured my brain, trying to find a reason to say no, but I couldn’t come up with one quick enough. “Sure,” I eventually sighed. “Of course.” Hopefully this wouldn’t be too long and too painful; I just was not in the mood.
As she walked into my room, she took a few moments to examine my appearance. I surreptitiously rubbed my mouth, hoping that she couldn’t tell I’d just been sick. I certainly didn’t need the questions about that one!
“What was that about?” she snapped, sounding angrier than I’d been expecting. “Why were you so curt with Rhett back there?”
Was I? I thought that I’d managed to keep my feelings under control, but obviously not. I felt my face flame up at the thought of what everyone now thought of me. Brad was probably furious with me, and it was likely that Rhett hated my guts.
“It took Brad a lot to get him here, you know?” she asked, her tone very serious now. “I really don’t need things ruined by you acting unfriendly.” She slid on the bed next to me, and took my hands in hers, but I couldn’t relax. The closer she got to me, the more I feared that she was going to smell the vomit on me.
“I know you aren’t normally like that, Danica.” I tried to ignore her patronizing tone–I was sure she didn’t mean it in that way. “So I can only assume that it’s all of the wedding stress upsetting you.” I stayed silent, judging that this probably wasn’t the best time for me to say anything. I was desperately trying not to put my foot in my mouth. Plus, that excuse was better than anything I could come up with that quickly. “If you need to talk to me about anything, please feel like you can, okay?”
The way she was looking at me proved that she was waiting for an answer, so I quickly spoke out, saying the first thing that came to mind. “I guess seeing Rhett has made it all the more real for me,” I was lying, but luckily it seemed like she was lapping up every single word. “It’s all become a little…much.”
“I know,” Mom nodded in a very understanding way. “I know it’s a little strange, and it’s going to take a lot of getting used to–especially since it’s always been just you and me–but I think it’s going to be great to have a bigger family. I think you’ll really enjoy it once you get used to it.”
“Yeah.” I replied a little half-heartedly. The thought of a bigger family didn’t fill me with images of more brothers and aunts and uncles…it made me think of that baby in my arms again. That image that I’d been desperately trying to push to the back of my mind. I thought I’d been doing a good job, too–until Rhett damn well showed up and ruined everything.
“It’ll get better,” she soothed as she rubbed my arm gently. “I promise you. You’ll see.”
This turn of events was weird; in our last heart to heart, I was being the supportive, comforting one as Mom had cold feet, and now the tables had turned. I couldn’t help but feel touched that she’d taken the time out of worrying about the wedding to be there for me. It was a little emotional actually, but not enough to have me spilling the beans. The secret wasn’t coming out any time soon–especially not now!
“Thanks, Mom,” I acted like she’d comforted me, like she’d solved all of my problems with her words. “That’s great.”
“You look a little…tired, sweetie,” she started to examine me, which was the absolute last thing that I needed. I wanted her gone so that I could suffer in peace. The more time she spent in my room, the closer she could get to discovering everything.
I needed her attention away from me, and back onto her own problems.
“Yeah, yeah.” I snapped back quickly, standing up. “I think I better go to bed actually, I am pretty wiped. Thanks, though; it was really great to talk to you.”
I made a big deal of going to my wardrobe to grab my pyjamas, proving that I really was off to sleep. Mom took the hint and moved towards the door, smiling sadly at me as she left.
“Sleep well, all right?”
As she left me by myself, I slumped back onto the ground and allowed the tears to freefall down my face. I hated having to keep secrets from her, especially as we’d always been so close, but I didn’t see what choice I had this time.
I was just glad that I’d kept the pregnancy to myself before now. If I’d told my mum, then there would be no way I could keep mine and Rhett’s dalliance to myself. Not now that he was here, I didn’t exactly have the best poker face in the world.
No, I might not have enjoyed keeping a secret, but this one was going to have to stay that way for a little while longer.
Eventually, my mind travelled back to Rhett and the problem we now faced. It would be easier in some ways to tell him the truth now that he was here, but at the same time, that made it that much harder.
What if he really freaked out and went totally ballistic?
What if he was over the moon and wanted to declare our love to our parents right before the wedding?
Neither option filled me with any kind of positivity, so I quickly concluded that I was going to have to keep it to myself for a little while longer. Until the wedding was over, at the very least.
But I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t be able to lie to him, which left me with very little options. I was going to have to avoid him at all costs–it was the only way that I’d be able to keep the secret inside.
That was going to be horrible after the amazing week we had at Camp Woodtree, but what else could I do? If I got too close, then I’d end up feeling that wonderful connection once more. I’d spent all that time opening up to Rhett and letting him in, and I wasn’t sure how to shut that off, how to go back to just being civil.
Plus, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to disguise my very inappropriate feelings towards him, and I couldn’t risk anyone sensing that. There was no denying that under all the terror I’d been feeling as I laid my eyes on Rhett, there was definitely a spark remaining, too.
And that spark was going to have to be ignored. It was the only way that this family could work.
Family.
Stepbrother.
It made me shudder just thinking about it all.
How the hell was I going to survive this?
Chapter 16
Rhett
Okay, it was official: I was pissed off.
I’d been trying to understand Danica’s weird behaviour since the whole situation surrounding us was bizarre, but now I couldn’t take it any longer. She was pointedly ignoring me, so much so that it was embarrassing. Every time I tried to even speak to her, not about anything in particular, she would just walk away. I had no idea how we were going to discuss what had happened between us and what we were going to do now if she was flatly refusing to even make eye contact with me.
It wasn’t just me that had noticed Danica’s bitchy attitude; even my self-absorbed father had commented on it, and for him to spot anything that didn’t directly impact on him was a damn miracle.
“Ooh, what have you done to piss her off?” he teased me, laughing about it, not even aware of how hurt I was.
But then again, the man didn’t know me well enough to know when I was upset, so I wasn’t sure why I’d expected more from him.
The more I thought about his joking words, the angrier I became. This wasn’t fair at all. I couldn’t think of anything I’d done wrong to Danica, to make her treat me like that. Unless she thought I knew about our parents and still hooked up with her. That was t
he only explanation that I could come up with, but I couldn’t honestly see it as the case.
How messed up did she think I was? Did she really think that little of me?
I had to get to the bottom of things. I really needed to sort it out before it damn well drove me insane. All I needed to do was get her alone, even for a second. Then I could break down this barrier and sort everything out once and for all.
Get her alone…surely that couldn’t be too difficult. Right?
But after the third room that I walked into, just to see her scurrying away, I decided to push her to the back of my mind. She was so obviously trying to avoid me, and while she was behaving in this way, I couldn’t see what I could do. I already felt like Dad and Lyla were watching me, trying to work out what my intentions were, and I didn’t want to make their suspicions worse.
I would come back to Danica when I had a more solid plan in place. But for now, I had something else that I needed to do. A point that I had to prove. I had my mission to think about, the one that I originally came here for. I needed to find evidence of my dad’s dickish behavior in some way or another, I needed to show everyone that I was right and they were all wrong.
I just had to find…something. I wasn’t sure what. I just hoped that I knew what it was as soon as I saw it.
The only problem was this fucking massive house! I didn’t even know where to begin looking for this unknown proof. But since everyone was out doing something wedding related, except for Danica, who was in bed ill yet again, then this was the absolute best opportunity that I was going to get. If I didn’t look now, I couldn’t guarantee I would get another chance.
I really didn’t want to go home empty handed.
So out of simple indecision, I decided to begin at the top of the house. The attic seemed like the perfect place to hide any secrets anyway, so it seemed like the most sensible thing to do. I pulled out the attic ladder and I made my way up the creaky stairs and into the dusty atmosphere, an excited anticipation overtaking me. I wanted to be vindicated, and I couldn’t wait for that to happen.