𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 - 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙣

chapter five

"So, uh, that was definitely something." I tell Theo, once the vigil was finally over.

"Yeah. Dad must've gotten inspiration from 'Taken' for his speech. I mean, the whole 'I will find you, and you will be punished.'? Jesus." Theo responds, and I slap his arm.

"You know what, this is good. That was the most expression that he's ever showed, like, ever. Maybe this'll finally inspire him to start acting like an actual person." I tell him, and he shakes his head.

"Keep dreaming, man." He jokes, and I let out a little laugh. It would be nice to see, but it's very wishful thinking.

"Did dad tell you about Joe? Last night?" I ask him, needing to talk about it with someone. It was clear that dad was done with the conversation, when I brought it up this morning, he changed the subject immediately. Next thing I knew, we were talking about cereal.

"No. What about him?" He asks, leaning forward.

"He broke into our backyard. Hopped the fence and everything. We found him passed out by the trash cans. He said he was having a fever dream from the measles, but, I mean, it just doesn't make sense. Why was he not at the hospital with his sick baby? Why did he think to come here?" I question, and Theo raises his eyebrow.

"Why the hell did you not tell me? I mean, this seems like a pretty crucial piece of information that I missed." He asks, and I shrug.

"I don't know, I just kind of thought you knew already. I thought you might've seen something, I mean there's cameras everywhere in this place." I tell him.

"Yeah, but no one ever checks them except for dad. Anyway, I don't trust that guy. Joe, I mean. He's just- something seems off about him. He's like- too normal. Way too normal." He says, and I nod.

From the first day I saw him, and how Love reacted when he looked at me, I knew something was wrong. Maybe he'd cheated on her, and she was worried he'd do it again. I mean, if he did, she'd have nothing to worry about here. At least- not with me.

"Yeah. I don't know, there's a lot of way too normal guys here, though. Like Gill, across the street? Harmless, but you just feel like somethings up." I tell him, and then stand up.

"I think I'm gonna go swim. Wanna come with?" I ask, and he shakes his head. "Nah, I'm too tired. Watch out, though. The Quinn-Goldbergs have a perfect view of our patio. You don't wanna catch Joe peeking." He jokes, and I punch him in the chest, kicking him out of the room.

As I change into my bikini, I reminisce about all the times we came into the pool as kids. Almost every day, rain or shine, Theo and I had to go swimming. It was the best thing in the world. Now, I'm lucky if I get to swim once a year.

I quietly walk down the steps, and into the kitchen, seeing our tech room door open. That meant that dad was out here somewhere. We could barely have a conversation on a regular day, I definitely did not want to try to have one when I'm half-naked.

I opened the sliding door carefully, and shut it behind me, kicking off my flip flops on the steps. The second I dip my toes in the water, I remember what Theo said earlier. 'The Quinn-Goldbergs have a perfect view of our patio.' I look over to their house, and see that the window on their second story does, in fact, have a perfect view.

I see a figure walking around in the room up there, and squint my eyes, trying to figure out who it was. It became obvious the minute she took off her hoodie. Love. I watched her pull out her phone, stare at it for a minute, and then put it back down.

Then, unexpectedly, her eyes gaze over to the open window. I immediately avert my gaze, trying to act like I wasn't just being all stalker-y and staring at her.