she's mine.

15

"Who was that??" I called to Lea as she stormed ahead of me. When she didn't answer, I jogged to catch up to her, but she had already reached the car by the time I had gotten to her. She didn't look at me, just waited impatiently with her hand on the door handle.

With a grunt, I walked to the other side and climbed in, waiting until the last second to unlock her door. She climbed in and immediately glared out the window. I started the car, but made no move to pull out.

"Who was that?"

Silence.

"Ugh." I decided we couldn't wait all day to leave. I pulled out. We rode the first ten minutes in silence. Lea didn't break her deathly glare out the window, and I clenched the stirring wheel as I thought of all the ways I could force Lea to tell me. Why would she not tell me who this guy was!? What was she hiding?? What could this boy have done that was so terrible? Why did he give me such a bad feeling in my stomach in the way he looked at me?

"Rai you are going to miss the turn," I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even realize I was about to miss the turn for my (fairly) new small town.

I whipped the car to the right, hard.

"Who was that?" I said in my most venomous tone.

"Dillon," man, she must have been trying to get on my last nerve, too bad I didn't play this game. I pulled the car to a halt on the side of the road.

"Okay, i'm not playing this game. You people are way to freaking secretive and i'm done with it. I keep letting whatever you guys are hiding slide, hoping you guys will eventually trust me, but i'm done. I will have your back, and defend you, obviously." I point to my stitches. I hated using that against her because she never asked me to punch Kaitlyn in the face, but she really should trust me. I wasn't going to keep putting my life in danger for people who didn't even trust me. "But you cannot keep me in the dark with every single aspect of your guys' lives!"

I let out a huff when I finished. I hated when I let my emotions get the best of me. I wasn't the type to get angry, sad maybe, but anger wasn't something I liked to dabble in. I watched too many lives be ruined by ill tempered people.

Lea turned to me, "It's none of your business Raina! Now can we just go!?"

"Fine," I wasn't going to fight with her on this. My skin was boiling, but there was no relationship if there was no trust, so obviously there wasn't even a friendship here.

I pulled the car back onto the street and headed for my house. "Where are we going?" she looked around as we headed away from her house.

"I'm going home," I paused to let her squirm a little. "And Jake hasn't called yet, so looks like you are coming over."

She turned back to the road and stared out the window once again. I pulled into my drive and didn't even wait for her before I got out of the car and stomped inside. I heard her jog to catch up to me.

"Rai," she called. I continued though the front door. "Rai please," she called again as we walked inside.

"What!??" i turned with my voice raised. "What do you want? To feed me more lies? Hide things and get me to do your dirty work??" I knew this wasn't true. She wasn't doing any of that, but I couldn't help feeling betrayed by her hiding things from me. She was my only friend, and this hurt. I didn't want to yell at her, but I also know that if I want her to tell me anything I have to push it.

I watched the pain cross her face, and I almost wanted to take it all back, but then I watched the respect show through. She looked at me with even eyes, "okay fine. But we should at least get ready while we talk."

I couldn't help the smile pulling at my lips as I walked straight past her to the car and grabbed our dresses then led her to my room. I felt slightly uncomfortable when she stared at how bland my white walls and white bedding were. I didn't even decorate or have any pictures. It was the polar opposite to her colorful messy room. I tried to ignore her stares as I pulled my chair up to the vanity to start re curling my hair.

"So tell me," I said as she shut the door and sat on my bed. "Who was he?"

"His name is Dillon Chuck and he used to be friends with Eli," she said before pausing. Why is Eli always at the center of everything? Even if I wanted to go about my day with out any thoughts for him, I couldn't. Just when I wondered if she was going to continue she said, "They had a falling out over the summer when my parents passed."

I looked up at her through the mirror with questioning eyes. She sighed and continued. "It's not really my place to talk about, so please don't tell Eli I told you." I gave her a small nod. She averted her eyes to the ground before continuing. "My parents did fine with money, but nothing to support all of us for the next year before Eli could work. We didn't think we could do it, so he was going to dropout and get a job. But even then, a 17 year old boy with no work experience wouldn't be able to get a job that paid well enough. We knew even when he turned 18 at the end of the summer, he still wouldn't be able to do it.

Dillon was involved with some... dangerous people, but he offered Eli a gig he couldn't turn down. It was only supposed to be a one time thing, but he lied. He had every intention of blackmailing Eli." Lea kept her eyes down and I stared. What did Dillon make Eli do? Was that why he was so hateful? Was he still involved? I hate him. I hate Dillon with every fiber of my body for taking advantage of Eli and his family during this time. It's sick really.

"One night he didn't come home." She whispered. "Then the next day, when he did get home, he didn't say anything at all, but we knew. Whatever had happened that night caused Dillon to leave him, be afraid of him even," she laughed with no humor. "And we never spoke of it again."

I was staring at her. I knew there were details she had skipped over and things that I still didn't know, but that was more than I had ever expected. My mind raced with all the possibilities of what could have happened and what they could have been making Eli do.

"Can we get into our dresses now?" she looked up with a forced smile. "I have to look good when Reece gets there."

"He texted back??" I quickly jumped up and raced to her to grab her phone. "What did he say?? Why didn't you tell me?"

She laughed and snatched the phone back, "You were too busy yelling at me," she gave me a fake glare. "But he said he would love to n he'd see me tonight." She was grinning ear to ear. I clapped my hands proudly.

"Let's get you ready then!" I said and pulled her to the vanity. I curled her hair and touched up her makeup, but kept it light and beautiful. Her dress was extravagant and she didn't need to be too much. Then I told her to borrow some shoes. I finished curling my hair, then teased it. I had messy hair, it was my signature. I did some light makeup and red lipstick then we both pulled our dresses on. I pulled on some black combat boots to complete my look, while Lea went for the nude pumps I had in my closest.

We turned back to each other then the mirror, admiring how good we looked. We sat down on my bed and waited for a call from Jake, ready for a night to remember.