Not In The Same Way

Chapter 2 ~ Wanna get wasted?

       When I hear the door to the house opens and aunt Cristina comes into view. "What in the hell is going on here?" Christina look between me and the boy "Henry why are you holding your cousin like that!?"

That's how all six of us are sitting in the living room with aunt Christina and uncle jack standing in front of us. Christina brings her hands to her head and starts rubbing her temple in frustration "Okay let me get this straight. You" she points to the unnamed guy "thought she was going through our property and tried to remove her. And you" she turns to look at me "was smoking behind the barn?"

I lean back in the armchair. "Sounds about right." I can feel all the guys eyes on me. "But that's not what important. Who even are these guys?"

One of the taller boys with dirty blond hair scoffs and miminks a high pitch women voice "who even are there's guys!" He drops back down to what I'm guessing is his normal voice "who the hell are you!?"

For a split second it feels like the whole room is looking at me. How do I even respond to that? I'm the girl who's parents died who's now living with strangers? As I'm racking my brain for some sort of answer Christina jumps in and saves the day. "Henry, honey we talked about this." Henry, I'm guessing this is my cousin. Now looking at him he does look like jack. He's tall, not as tall as the mystery guy but taller then most. His dirty blond hair is short but suits him well and his blue eyes match his fathers. But I can definitely tell he didn't get any sort of brains from the two of them, cause he's looking at his aunt like he has no idea what she's taking about. "Henry, your father and I left this morning to go to Kelowna to pick up your cousin? Do you listen to us when we talk to you?"

Once he finally puts two and two together the colour drains from his face. Ah so they had a talk of 'hey Henry you know your aunt and uncle we never see, we'll they died and your cousin who you don't know is coming to live with us.' His eyes are darting between his parents and I unsure of what to do. The only positive thing about this is the clueless look of his friends faces, so at least they don't know. I push myself off the couch I'm sitting on and walk towards the group "I guess I should introduce myself. Hello I'm Charlotte, but I prefer Cher as it's more, well me."

It only takes Henry a moment to catch up "okay um we'll at this point you know I'm Henry. The three guys on the couch with me are Luke, Zach and Mason." They all give me a tiny wave. "And the guy you almost beat with your purse is Jessie but everyone calls him Jess." Jessie, the name fit him well. He's standing behind the couch watching me. He doesn't smile or wave, he just stares at me as if he's looking right through me. "Look, we're sorry we just thought you were some bum making there way through town on there way to Vancouver. We're sorry. Right guys?"

Most of there heads nod in agreement and a few mumble a pathetic 'sorry'. Ouch do I dress like a homeless person? I look down at my leggings and crew neck, is this what they thought a bum would wear? For fuck sake I'm wearing Lululemon. "It's fine, I guess. I should have maybe mention who I was before I started swing my bag around."

One of the guys jumps off the couch "No way! It was bad ass! If Christina hadn't come and save Jess I'm convinced you'd kill him in 5 minutes with those moves." The boy jumps around wailing his arm around. He's cute, his brown shaggy hair wipes around with him. It seems to join my cousins friend group you have to be extremely hot.

"Thank you for the demonstration Luke but sweetie you can sit down before you hurt yourself." She looks at him with an adoring smile. But it doesn't last for long as she turns back to me. "But Charlotte we should talk about the smoking. You can't be doing that it's fire season and a nasty habit. Besides where did you even get them?" I give her a cheeky little smile "Nevermind I don't even what to know! If your living here you'll will not keep up this filthy habit."