collarbones

18 ~ chemistry

Anna stood in the immaculate gravel driveway that belonged to Trent as she waved to her mother, who was driving away to work.

One thing Anna had noticed immediately as Elise, her mother, had parked their Mercedes on the pavement was the size of Trent's house. It wasn't a mansion, but that didn't mean it wasn't big. It was a detached house that looked fairly new, which made sense because Trent was new and he lived in the area with the recently renovated housing estates.

She walked over to the oak door, ringing the doorbell as she took her phone out of her pocket to text Trent. The time on her phone told her it was 11am and Anna smirked to herself, pleased with her immaculate timing.

She'd argued with Trent when he'd asked her to arrive so early, especially since she'd rather be sleeping, but he quickly replied to all her resistances with the simple statement that their chemistry work was extremely difficult and so they'd need a lot of time to complete it.

Anna snorted. He just wanted an excuse to keep her at his house for longer, but she wasn't complaining either. Katie would be thrilled to hear about the progress in Anna's relationship with Trent, but Anna couldn't tell her because Katie was currently on a family holiday in Portugal.

Anna was jealous, but knew that it would be unfair to ask her parents to go on a holiday when they were both busy with their careers. Her mum had a very controversial case about unnecessary prescription of medical care and her father was dealing with an assault case that had been in the news recently, so both parents were flooded with witness statements and other paperwork.

Needless to say, becoming a lawyer was the last thing Anna wanted to do when she was older.

The door opened suddenly to reveal a beautiful woman who looked to be in her forties. Her curly blonde hair reached what appeared to be her waist – Anna couldn't tell because the woman was adorned in a cooking apron.

The woman smiled suddenly, the teal in her eyes seeming to shine as her eyes radiated with the evident joy she was feeling. From her eyes alone Anna knew this woman was with no doubt Trent's mother.

Anna's thoughts were cut off as she found herself immersed in Trent's mother's arms as she hugged Anna, her lavender-scented perfume soothing Anna's nerves. Tentatively, Anna raised her own arms shakily after pocketing her phone and returned the embrace, awkwardly patting her back slightly.

She was released just as quickly as she was hugged, his mother still smiling widely at her. Anna noticed that, like Trent, his mother's teeth were also immaculate.

"You must be Annabelle!" she greeted warmly, moving out of the doorway so Anna could enter.

"That's me," she replied shyly as she took off her shoes and delicately placed her worn converses on the carpet in the entrance hall. Trent's house was fairly large and modern on the inside too, his entrance hall void of any mess. In front of Anna was a large staircase that lead to a landing, before splitting off into two opposite directions. Anna was impressed. Their shoes were stored neatly in a mahogany shoebox by the front door, and there were a few family portraits that hung on the cream walls.

She analysed them casually, her eyes lingering on one of Trent and his family at the beach. The sunset shadowed the perfect family who were stood in the wet sand, the waves gently lapping against their feet. Trent was at the centre of the image, his arms wrapped around his mother and another beautiful blonde girl. A skinny blonde girl.

She's probably his sister, she thought as she followed his mother into the kitchen. At least, that's what Anna was hoping.

"My name's Evelyn," she introduced as she walked around the counter in the middle of the speck-free kitchen. Anna felt like she was in a showroom, her love for the house growing by the second. His kitchen had white drawers with dark brown wooden countertops, and like the entrance hall everything was tidy and clean. There was a vast range of modern kitchen tools scattered around the kitchen, the sandwich presser catching Anna's eyes as she perused the contents of the kitchen.