chemical confusion.

chapter sixteen

august sixteenth

   "kids! i'm home, we're going out for dinner!" my dad yells from down the stairs.

i back away from rodrick's lips hesitantly and push my hair out of my face. he bites his lip and brings his hand up to his neck; he chuckles nervously and says, "well, does my eyeliner look good at least?"

    well rodrick, if you want me to answer that honestly, not just your eyeliner looks good.

   "yeah, yeah it does," i smile. tension lingers in the air and we sit in silence for a moment before my door opens abruptly, and without warning, causing my head to snap in that direction.

   "lee, we're- um," symere says shocked seeing rodrick and i in the current position we're in. "what is going on here," he says walking into my room with a smile on his face.

   "shit," i roll off of rodrick and fall onto the floor with a slight thud.

   symere starts laughing and rodrick stays in his position trying not to laugh.

   "don't tell me you guys were having s e x," symere teases wriggling his eyebrows while spelling out sex.

   "i would never, rodrick probably has genital crabs," i joke and crawl onto my knees. "ouch, i think i broke my ass."

    "genital crabs!?! what the frigg is that?!" my younger brother gasps.

   "ask rodrick," i smile and walk into my closet.

    thank god for symere interrupting us. it would've been deathly awkward if he hadn't. why does this keep on happening between rodrick and i? one minute we're buddy buddy then we're inches away from kissing. i blame it on the alcohol!

    i tune out whatever is going on outside of my closet and focus on my clothes, trying not to overthink the dynamic between rodrick and i. my eyes land on black patched jeans i made and i search through my closet once more to find a black bustier. i get it and change right there in my closet. once i'm done i walk back into my room to find rodrick gone and my three brothers sitting in my room wreaking havoc.

   "xavier! you cannot climb on that! you're not tarzan!" caï yells as xavier attempts to climb my plant.

    symere jumps on my bed watching everything go down. i quickly walk towards xavier and grab him like a football, then i walk towards symere and push him so he sits.

    "why are you guys 'conjugating' in my room? out of all places," i groan.

    "your room doesn't stink unlike caï's, plus your room is the coolest," symere admits.

    i look around my room and not to toot my own horn, but he is correct. whenever i was home i tended to light a candle from my collection and i have a nicely designed room.

   "twerp," caï mumbles and thumps symere in the head.

    the two boys begin arguing while i swish xavier around. out of the corner of my eyes i spot a figure and i realize it's my dad who is standing in the doorway watching us. he's smiling contently.

"i wouldn't dare ruin whatever is going on here, but we have to go," dad interrupts the chaos.

"vámonos," i yell with a smile.

the rest of the night is spent with me trying to cover up the fact that i'm deathly drunk and conversations between my family and i. it's nice to spend a night with them like we always used to before we moved. one thing, or person shall i say, was on my mind though, and of course it was rodrick. he didn't say bye to me before he left and hasn't texted me. caï notices my incessant phone checking and asks what i'm looking for.