The Clean Ones

Chapter 6

The next morning I awoke to the neatly pressed covers being ripped off of me. A cold shiver spasmed throughout my body. The sun seeped through the curtains and into my squinted eyes that were still crusty from sleep.

"Time to get up, sweet cheeks." A female voice said. I rubbed my eyes a little and removed all traces of sleep from them. I screamed as I looked straight ahead. Delta sat on the bed, her face only inches from mine. "WHY ARE WE SCREAMING?" She yelled along with me.

"Dammit, Delta. You scared the crap out of me!" I said after our screams subsided.

"Good. Now come on, up up UP!" She yelled and pulled me out of bed. Only then did I remember that I was still in the thin nightgown I had been dressed in since my arrival. And Cale saw me in it last night. Crap.

"Um, Delta?" I asked. She had begun to rummage through some plastic bags that made their way up here sometime while I was sleeping.

"Mhmm?"

"What time is it?"

"3:30 in the afternoon." She replied nonchalantly. I jumped a little. How in the world did I manage to sleep eleven hours? Before I could even ask about it, Delta turned around and tossed a bundle of clothes to me, as well as a bag of toiletries. "Bathroom's down the hall. You might want to shower, if you want to catch the attention of my brother at all. You reek of wet dog."

I stood there, stunned. "It's not like th-... How'd you even-"

"Kid, you read like an open book." She said. My eyes felt as if they were going to pop out of my skull. Was I really that readable? Delta began to laugh, "Don't worry, it's not just written on your face. I may or may not have heard you guys talking into the wee hours of the night."

My cheeks flushed. "Oh... It was honestly nothing. We were just getting to know each other." I explained.

"Yep, just what I thought." She smirked. "Just getting to know each other. How cute."

"Delta!" I shrieked. "Not like that!" My face felt hot. Wether that was due to anger or embarrassment or both was anyone's guess.

She laughed so hard I thought she would fall over. She clutched her stomach and bent over, her face turning pink as she laughed. "I'm sorry." I said between her fits of laughter. "But I don't understand what's so funny about that."

It took her several minutes to recover enough for her speak. "Oh Perri, you're too cute." More laughter. "You actually thought I was serious?"

"But I-"

"I didn't really hear you two talk last night. I was out like a light. I wouldn't have even known you two met if Cale didn't bring it up at breakfast this morning." she explained. Thankfully, her laughing had ceased and she was able to form coherent sentences. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" I asked. I wasn't aware my face bore any sort of expression at all

"You're giving me that 'he actually talked about me?' look. No, don't you dare try to question it. I know that look well enough. My sister used to give it to me all the time. It all starts the same- the confused expression, leading to the giddy smile once the person elaborates. Then, you walk around like you've just seen a rainbow, or something like that."

"You had a sister?" I asked quietly.

"Is that really the only thing you got from that? Jesus, kid. We're gonna have to work on your attentive listening skills. Well, anyways, to answer your question, yes, I did. But she's dead now." She said, blatantly. She did not look upset, nor did she look happy. Her face remained placid, despite the topic of conversation.