As I walk into Archie's house, I feel jealousy. His home is what I have always dreamed of. It is warm, inviting and looks like a real family home. It doesn't have the stylish leather couches or cold feel like my past homes. It has comfy looking couches covered in rugs and blankets. Magazines, photographs and lots of candles litter every surface.
"Home sweet home," Archie says.
"Your house is...it's amazing," I say. Archie looks at me weirdly but doesn't say anything.
"You are probably cold so why don't you take a shower in my room and I'll leave out some of my old clothes for you," he says. Maybe the badboy isn't as mean as he seems. He directs me to his room and I hop into the shower.
I let the warm water run over me. My eyes are puffy from crying and I still feel pretty stupid for what happened. Things like that aren't supposed to happen. Not here, not now. After showering, I come out into Archie's room and see a stack of T-shirts and what looks like a girl's old pyjama shorts. I put them on anyway and look into the full length mirror in his room. My blonde hair is wet and straight rather than its usually curly state. I pretty much look like a homeless person in Archie's huge black t-shirt and these odd shorties. I don't have any underwear on so I make a note to thoroughly wash his stuff when I get home.
When I come downstairs, Archie is on the couch texting on his phone.
"Hey," I mumble. He looks up at me but doesn't really acknowledge my presence. "Um, aren't your sister and mum going to come home soon?" I fiddle with my fingers.
Archie looks up again.
"My mum?" he says, his eyes glazing over for a second. Then he snaps out of it. "Oh yeah, Jane?" he replies. "She's not my mum, she's my foster parent, sort of. Lucie and I took her last name. My mum is....gone," he says suprisingly casually but I can tell he isn't telling me the full story. "And Lucie's at preschool, Jane's at work."
"OH, I am so sorry... I just assumed, I guess that..." I mutter.
"Its fine," he says genuinely. "Honest mistake."
I mentally slap myself. How could I be so naiive? He doesn't even look like Jane!
Archie stares at me and something in his eyes seem suspicious. He looks like one of those criminals in TV shows that are hiding something.
"Hey, what are doing at home anyway? Shouldn't you be at school?" I ask him.
He sort of shifts and plays with his hands.
"I, I um..." he mutters. "Why were you naked outside?" he avoids my question.
Sighing, I explain everything to him about the plumber and trying to hide and why I was naked. When I finish, he looks like he is constipated or something with his face straining. But then I realise he is trying to hold in laughter.
"What?" I ask him. All of a sudden he just bursts out laughing, tears streaming down his face at my ridiculous story. I blush and rock from side to side not sure how to react. He slaps his knee and runs his hands through his thick, dark hair. I just cross my arms and tap my foot impatiently. But he does look super cute like this.
He finally stops laughing and gets up off the couch. "Want something to eat? he chuckles. I nod my head but don't talk to him. I don't want to embarrass myself more.
We walk into the kitchen and I sit down on a bar-stool by the bench. The whole kitchen is eccentric and bursting with life. I love it. Archie starts to make a sandwich, chopping some vegetables. He has stopped laughing, thank goodness.
"So where are you from?" Archie asks me.
"Sydney." I reply.
"Oh okay," he says but doesn't look at me as if my answer hurt him.
YOU ARE READING
The Badboy's Secret
Teen Fiction*ON HOLD* (for now) *Weekly (if not, then fortnightly) updates* Lies. Deceit. Deception. This isn't a normal love story. He was trouble. He had his secrets and lies. She was unstable. She had her curiosities and questions. Sometimes, when a secr...
