Troubled

14: Father.

Megan Crawford.
Saturday, July 18th 2015.
09:21.

Chloe was back home.

I had almost forgotten that she would come to town. So much had been happening in my life that I had not been thinking about her. But when I saw her, I could think of nothing but how much I had missed her in the time we had spent apart.

I had shared a room with her from the time I was born up until I was thirteen. She had moved out because I bothered her too much, she was older than me and would be so annoyed when I went through her things. But still, when she was on the other side of the house, I knew that I could always go to her room in the middle of the night when I could not sleep and she would tuck and cuddle me in.

I could not help but feel guilt. I had not even remembered that she would arrive home that morning, I had been too occupied thinking about Kyle and The Book Escape and the new employee Olivia and cinnamon rolls. I had talked to her over the phone a few times, and we had spoken about her coming back, but I had not quite been looking forward to it, I had not really cared much.

But when I did see her, I felt excitement wash over me. She was in the kitchen reading the newspaper, and I screeched and ran to hug her. I whispered into her ear so many things about how much I loved and had missed her, about events she had missed out on and details she had to know about what had been going on with me. She had laughed and agreed, and had told me to get dressed so we could go out for breakfast and talk for hours.

And there I was now, with my older sister that I had not seen in months, in a small restaurant where we could converse peacefully, wearing a white plain shirt and jeans because it was still too early to care about my appearance. I had ordered French toast and orange juice and I took a bite from my fork.

It was so strange to have her there in front of me. She was the same, her long blonde hair and dark blue eyes that resembled the ones my mom had. She smelled like lavender perfume and her voice was still so feminine and gentle. But she was also different in a way I could not explain, she seemed more mature and less innocent. She seemed experienced.

I had so much to ask and to tell. I was not sure where to start, but I wanted to do so as soon as possible. Before I could even swallow, I started to speak, almost choking, "You have to tell me everything now. How has college been? Have you done anything wild? Tried drugs? Had a threesome?"

I knew my sister like the back of my hand and I could tell before she even talked that she had not done those things. She was calm and quiet, she had taken this from our mom, she preferred to stay out of trouble and to be home studying rather than out with her classmates.

"No, nothing like that," Chloe assured me as she shook her head and chuckled. She scratched the back of her neck thinking about what she had done and started to explain, "I started to work in this coffeehouse. My grades have been amazing, as always. And I am really good friends with my roommate."

"That is boring," I told her as I rolled my eyes. She was not affected about this, she never was, because she just took a sip of her black coffee and said nothing at all. I teased, "My life is more interesting than that and I live in this stupid town."

At this, her eyes sparkled in mischief and she pushed my shoulder from across the table in a playful manner. "Oh, yes. I heard your life is really interesting right now."

I gave her a look of pure confusion. I was not sure where she had heard that, since none of the people she spent time with even knew me. And if someone had told her that, then they were not telling the truth, because my life was not quite as alluring as I would have wanted it to be. "What are you talking about?"