Childhood Memories

Chap. 8

He sighed and slowly sat up, his head on the headboard. "Ex-girlfriend. Never got the time to change it." Leo admitted and looked at me.

"Now why the hell were you going through my phone?" Leo added and raised an eyebrow.

"Why the hell did I wake up in your bed?" I threw a question back at him. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, getting out of bed and leaving the room. I sighed and put my head in my hands, feeling stupid for exposing myself.

I threw a pillow at Derek and got up, too, leaving Derek behind to his sleep. I wasn't bothered enough to try and wake him up. I quietly got downstairs when I heard the voices coming from the living room.

"It's like... a rush of adrenaline when I see her. I can't even describe it. My brain feels so fucked." I heard the first voice say.

I stopped in my tracks to listen.

"It's because you've fallen for her, Leo. My guy, I know that's not what you wanted to hear but that's how it is. Now... as her almost step-dad, I have to warn you and say that I'll break every bone in your body if you make her cry once."

It was Chris talking now, and it felt like my heart was beating in my ears, the shock and urge to listen even more, though it was so stupid of me to do.

"I'm not—I can't tell her—she can't know," Leo said and I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath, and continued walking down the stairs and decided to turn left instead of joining them in the living room.

Meeting Aunt Cherie's eyes, it was like she read me like an open book. Like she knew that I knew she wanted to adopt me. Like she had been listening to their conversation too. It was a punch in the stomach and I had to quickly walk away from her and into the bathroom.

That was too suspicious of me, but I haven't had any time to deal with myself and my feelings, and not even grieving the loss of my mother I never knew and never will be able to.

I turned the sink on and washed my face, drying it off and just staring at myself in the mirror. I nodded to myself, some kind of reassurance, and then left. I joined Aunt in the kitchen again, holding myself still by having my hands on the counter.

"Are you okay? You just rushed out, out of nowhere." She asked me and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I responded with a terrible lie. Cherie nodded her head and held out a plate for me. There were berries, toast, and eggs on it. I didn't feel like eating at that time, like at all. I was rather feeling disgusted with myself.

"I'm not hungry right now. I'll eat it in a bit." I told her and rushed out again.

"Hey! Deliah!" She yelled after me. I ignored it.

I got upstairs and into my bedroom, closing the door behind me and noticing that Derek had woken up.

"Morning." He said. He didn't bother even looking at me, he was too busy going through his closet. I sat down on my bed and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling angry at him.

"How come everyone but me knew that Cherie wanted to adopt me?" I asked, no emotions in my voice. That froze his actions and he slowly turned around, giving me a forced smile.

"Who told you that?"

"Did Olivia know, too?" I ignored his question and asked one in return. I deserved more answers than he did at that time.

"I told her last night."

"Okay so everyone goddamn knew that my birth mother passed away and you wanted to keep it a secret as some kind of surprise for the adoption papers? I get that and it's a nice thought but now I'm never going to be able to know the tiniest bit about the woman that gave birth to me. It would've been nice if you had just told me she died and then keep the other part a surprise." I whispered angrily at him.