Don't Say You Love Me

Chapter TWENTY SEVEN

Teegan

This is not at all how I anticipated my night going.

I went out for a long walk just after early dinner, which I had with my mom and the kids. Mom made tacos and Josie told me about how they watched some of Finding Nemo at daycare today. Oscar said he doesn't like the movie because he hates how Nemo is separated from his dad. I agreed that it's pretty sad. While I was walking back, I got a text from Cohen.

    Hey, do you want to hang out tonight?

Just reading the text makes my whole body warm. Kissing him was unexpected but fully wanted and I laid in bed last night for two hours thinking about it. I thought about how he wasn't rough or pushy, but I knew exactly what he wanted. I could still remember how his tongue felt in my mouth. But then the mood changed when the kiss ended. He walked me part way home and gave me a hug, but I wanted more. So reading this text excites me. A lot.

I text him back that I'll let him know when I'm home, since I'm about fifteen minutes away. I'm already planning what I'll wear when I go see him again when I get home, and see Lola's car. I think it's her mom's car, but whatever. It's too fancy for an almost eighteen year old to be driving. I had totally forgotten that Francis told me she was coming tonight to hang out with the kids.

Inside, I realize pretty quickly that my mom isn't home and Lola has the kids eating chips and ice cream, watching a movie I've never heard of. She's on her phone and looks up as I enter the room. Something feels off and I can feel the energy shift as her eyes narrow on me.

    "Just who I needed to talk to," she says, still sounding mostly casual.

    "Uh, okay," I answer, waving at Oscar who smiles at me. He waves back but then turns his attention back to the TV.

    "Stay here, guys," Lola says to the kids and then stands up and leaves the room, assuming I'll follow her.

In the kitchen, she turns back and looks at me again, but now her face is dark and angry. How did she change so fast? She's staring me down as if I should be making some confession but I'm mostly just confused.

    "Why, Teegan? Why him?" Lola finally asks.

I swallow hard, feeling like I'm being interrogated. "What?"

    "You thought I wouldn't find out, in this stupid ass town? Seriously? These are my friends who you're hanging out with. These are my people, you're just a little visitor," she goes on, now pacing back and forth across the end of the kitchen.

"Lola, I don't know what you're really talking about," I manage to say, leaning back onto the counter. I don't want her to know she's affecting me.

"What else would I be talking about?" she asks, and I shake my head because this just feels weird. "Cohen. You chose Cohen to start hanging out with, or messing around with, or whatever. Cohen. Luke told some of the guys, who told my girls, and..."

I don't know why she cares this much, but I immediately feel defensive. "I didn't choose him. It just happened, we just sort of became friends."

"But if you cared about me at all, which obviously you don't, you would have made sure you steered clear of him."

"Why does it matter?" I ask, and I see the confusion on her face now.

"Yeah, right. Like you don't know." She shakes her head and I see she's trying to figure this out.

"Know what?"

"I dated Cohen for almost eight months. We were, like, really serious. And then he just left town, ghosted me. Like he never cared about me at all."

These words hit me like a ton of bricks to my chest. No. It's not possible that Lola is the ex that Cohen has talked about. How would I have not put two and two together. He never said her name. But he has to know that Lola's my step sister. He wouldn't keep that from me, would he?