Chapter Fifteen

"Hey honey." Shoot.

"Hi mom, dad, Evan, Evelyn, Avery, and Reagan." I say, catching my breath after the whole lot of people I just mentioned. Damn, a lot of people here today.

"Hm, your bus card is right here in the drawer and yours and Evelyn's car is in the driveway." Dad says, looking straight into my eyes, I can feel them burn.

"Guys I'm really tired, I can explain later." I try to say, walking towards the stairs.

"Explanation. Now. It's not a request." Mom says, sternly. It was rare my parents were so strict. Besides weren't they supposed to be at work? What happened to that? And to Evan and Evelyn being out all day?

"Well, weren't you all supposed to be out all day? And Avery, you have to babysit your neighbour and Reagan had some science project to work on. Isn't that right?" I counter, pointing a finger at each of them, not caring if it was rude or not.

"Erin Mae Cavanagh!" Mom never says my whole name.

"Okay okay. I was out." I clarify for them like they didn't already know.

"And..?" Evan uses his hand to motion for me to continue.

"At the mall and the movies." I keep my answers short.

"And you went by yourself? I'm sure our best friend couldn't be a loner." Avery says and Reagan nods.

"Who'd you go with?" Evelyn asks.

"A friend."

"That is?"

"You don't know him. A guy from-from my math class." I blurt out the first thing I can think of. I don't even have math this semester.

Everyone just looks side to side at each other. I stand there, hoping they were convinced.

"Trust me, he's just a friend. He's actually into a girl."

"Not me though! He was asking for some advice. That's all." I quickly add, in a rushed tone.

"Well maybe you should've told someone you were going out with a boy and you weren't going to be home until 8." Dad says, looking at his watch.

"I didn't go out with him. It was just a-a friendly outing." I say remembering what he told me it was.

"Well you better tell us all about it cause Reagan and I both had a boring day and some gossip would be great." Avery says pulling me up the stairs. I look downstairs to see everyone is back to doing their normal thing.

Reagan shuts the door as we all gather on my bed and says, "So, who's the boy?"

"Maybe it wasn't the boy Isupposedlymadeup and said was in my math class and needed advice about a girl he was into." I say really quickly and look down, afraid to see what their reactions could be.

"You liar! Then who's the boy?"Avery asks, shaking my whole body by placing her palms onto my shoulders.

"It may or may not have been nose piercing boy." I whisper.

"ERIN! I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THINGS WITH HIM!"Avery screams jumping on my bed.

"Well technically, you said not to invite him over because I was bored and had the house all to myself. That's not the same thing."

"WELL YOU STILL WENT ON A DATE WITH HIM!"

"IT WAS NOT A DATE! ITS CALLED A FRIENDLY OUTING!"

"I'm sure he made that up. Never heard of a boy asking a girl out on a friendly outing. Anyways, stop shouting you two!" Reagan whisper shouts.

"Your parents are gonna get wrong impressions." She adds.

"So tell us the story. Story time with Erin. It barely happens." Avery rolls her eyes dramatically.

"I don't know where to start."

"Maybe from the beginning." Avery rolls her eyes, again.

"Yeah so after I ended the call on you-"

"Yeah you have some of that gossip about nose piercing boy to tell us too, but first tell us this." She says remembering me cutting her off.

"Okay, so after I ended your call, I was watching Netflix and the doorbell rang."

"Did he show up to your house?!" Reagan asks, excited.

"No, it was one of his friends. He came to see if I was okay cause of the night before-which is the gossip I'm not gonna tell you. And then he gave me a bag that was supposed to be from him and left."

"What was in the bag?" Avery asks, looking around my room for I'm assuming, an abnormal bag I didn't have before.

"Some of the food I kinda finished while he was dropping me off the other day."

"I feel like we're missing out on a lot from the other day story. Anyway continue." Reagan pipes in.

"Yeah, so I was watching Netflix and he texted me saying like did I get the bag and then I was like yeah. And then we texted for a bit, and then he put up his guard and left. His last text seemed like he was mad so I called him up-"

"Oh no girl!"

"Shut up Avery. So yeah I called him and we talked and he was like you're bored so you wanna come with me to the mall. And he made sure it wasn't a date and it was a friendly outing." I say emphasizing that part.

"So then, he picked me up and we went shopping and then ate Subs. Nothing fancy. And then we went to watch a horror movie and now I'm sure I'm gonna have nightmares. And instead of helping me with them, you're supporting my parents. What great friends I have." I roll my eyes at their behaviour.

"At least we didn't say we had no idea about this boy in your math class who you made up." Reagan says.

"Yeah, and I pulled you out of there. It was gonna get heated, you know. Your mom called us both and she was genuinely worried. Besides you weren't answering your phone." I check my phone to see it on silent.

"I swear I didn't put it on silent. My phones always beeping." I say turning it off silent.

"It was probably him. Ugh." I groan, placing my phone face down on the bed.

"Do you still not know his name?"Avery asks.

"Nope. He said I'll get to know if I wait."

"Yeah, he's a jerk. Why can't he tell you his name? There's something off about him." Reagan says, putting a finger to her chin as if she was thinking.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Anything he doesn't want you to know about. Maybe he's done bad stuff and doesn't want you to know about it all. A criminal record maybe? He does seem badass."

"He's just trying to get you to trust him so you can't just leave him afterwards. Don't get too close, Erin. It's for your own good." Reagan says. After all, she's the wise one. I just nod, taking in what they both said.

"Okay, Aiden texted me saying mom wants me home for dinner. I'm gonna go. See ya bitches Monday!" She yells with a wave, before grabbing her phone and walking out the door.

"I'm gonna go too. It's getting late. Take care sis." She says before leaving.

"Yeah." I mumble as the door clicks close, followed by their footsteps padding down the stairs.