“Weed now?” I asked, as I picked up the joint.
“It’s like, totally not even a drug now,” she argued.
“Oh yeah? Would you like me to call up a nice police officer, and ask if he can verify that for me? Oh and you’re like totally grounded now,” I told her, mocking her tone.
Her mouth dropped open. “Thea!” she shouted, outraged.
“Don’t you dare raise your voice at me! First the nose ring, then the failing grades, now the boys and drugs? Who are you? Because my baby sister is smarter than this.”
“Some of us want to have fun and live! Fun? Have you heard of it?” she screamed at me.
“This is not the way you have fun!”
“Maybe not for you. I don’t even know if you have fun bone in your body. All you do is study and study, until your brain feels like exploding, then you get drunk, and sleep with some random guy. Well you’re just living it up, aren’t you?”
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked her.
“Nothing is wrong!”
“Bullshit.” I was doing my best to stay calm.
“We’re just different people.”
She walked toward the door but I stepped in front of her blocking her path.
“I swear to God, Selene, I will tackle you to the ground before I let you walk out that door to go do something even more stupid.”
“Whatever, by tomorrow he’s probably going to tell everyone my sister is a weirdo,” she replied, heading towards her room.
“If you try and climb out your window, I will know, and I will find you and embarrass you wherever you go,” I warned her.
She slammed her door.
Sighing, I fell onto the couch before I remembered what they had just been doing. With a grunt of disgust, I stood back up and headed to the kitchen in search of the disinfecting wipes.
Teenagers are just awesome.
But I also knew that she was going through a lot more internally.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
LEVI
“Run brother, run as fast as you can,” Bethan said to me, as she came out of our parents’ home in her dark blue, midnight-evening gown. Her stomach protruded like a beach ball under a blanket. Tristan came up beside her, and helped her down the stairs. He was dressed in his best suit, the one I had bought for him last Christmas.
“Didn’t the party just start?” I asked, amused as they tried to make their escape.
She shook her head at me, messing up her dark curls. “I just couldn’t deal with it anymore, Levi. When mom brought out the pianist, I had to get out of there.”
I nodded. These events took a lot out Bethan. She—well, we— both felt like as though we were on display for all of the elite members of Boston to ogle at. However, because of my profession, and my frequent dealings with the media and general public, I was better at faking my interest than she was.
“You used your pregnancy, didn’t you?”
She grinned,
but bent over quickly as another couple walked around us, and into the house.
“Hey, this belly is good for something other than hiding my toes,” she winked, grabbing on to Tristan’s hand.