The Sullivan Sisters

How They Looked At You

"Thanks for the ride, I'll call you later," Quinn granted Charlie a sincere smile as she shut the car door.

The boy waved his response and pulled out of the driveway. Quinn readjusted her book bag once it slid down her shoulder and trotted up to her front door. She forced her house key into the lock before finally stepping inside and shielding herself from the growing heat emitted by the rapidly approaching spring season.

She narrowed her eyes at the darkness that welcomed her. Her vision struggled to adjust to the lack of lighting that contrasted vastly with the bright sunlight that beamed down on her all day long. Not a single light appeared to be on in the house even though Paloma's car sat right outside.

However, her expression relaxed once she saw her sister sitting at the dinette table with her back faced to her.

The girl slipped her book bag off of her shoulder and let it hit the hardwood floor with a soft thud. "Plum, I'm home. Why are you sitting in the dark?" she chuckled.

"Well," Paloma began, "honestly, I was waiting for you to get home and this lighting seemed fitting for the situation."

Quinn raised her eyebrow as the woman stepped closer to her. "And what situation is that?"

The brunette simply placed something in Quinn's hands and crossed her arms over her chest. The girl sighed and flipped on the lights before allowing her gaze to settle on the pictures that rested in her palm. Her annoyed demeanor dispursed at the sight of the other redhead and his family.

"You went through my stuff?" Quinn growled. It was the only response that she could summon.

"Is that all you can say?" Paloma scoffed. "I was cleaning up your pigstye of a room when I came across those. You know, if you want to keep things from me, you should find a better hiding place for them, maybe somewhere that's not your drawer."

"I can't believe this."

"You can't believe this?" the brunette chuckled. "I'm the one that's been in the dark this whole time! You went to go see him, that...Ross guy? You know what? I don't even know why I'm asking, it's obvious that you did. Otherwise, you wouldn't have the pictures."

"Ding, ding, ding, Sherlock solved yet another case ladies and gentlemen," Quinn snarked with the roll of her eyes. She turned away from Paloma and instead made her way into the kitchen. The teenager pulled peanut butter from the cabinet and jelly from the fridge before untwisting the tie that bound the wheat bread. Even though her eyes remained on the items in front of her, she could still feel her sister's relentless glare boring into her as she stood on the other side of the island bar.

"This is not the time to get smart, Quinn," Paloma warned through clenched teeth. "You better start talking...now."

"What do you wanna know?"

"I wanna know when and why," the brunette demanded.

"Two days ago and...I'm pretty sure you know why," Quinn hissed. Her eyes refused to meet Paloma's, instead, they were glued to the bread as she spread the peanut butter on it with a silver butter knife.

"No, I don't know why," Paloma asserted. "I don't know why you'd deliberately disobey me and go behind my back to do this."

"Then you're even dumber than you look," the redhead mumbled under her breath, but somehow, her sister heard her anyway.

"Look, little girl," the woman commanded with the slam of her fists. Quinn's eyes flashed to her's once the island bar shook beneath Paloma's aggressive touch. The teenager clenched her teeth and forced her gaze to remain on Paloma's. She absolutely hated it when her sister referred to her as a little girl, she only ever did it when she was really angry and wanted to remind Quinn of her place. It always got under her skin and Paloma knew that. "Never talk to me like that again. Do you understand?"