Rayston Point Road || Editing

Chapter Thirty-Three

"Where the hell have you been?" I hadn't even fully shut the front door when Leighton came barreling towards me from the sitting room to my left. She was still wearing pajamas, half of her short hair pulled into an elastic at the back of her head, baby finger-smudged glasses over her bloodshot eyes. She looked as if she hadn't slept, and judging by the time stamps on the multitude of missed texts and calls from her, it was even more obvious she hadn't.

"I was with Isaac," I sighed, forcing myself to keep my tone even despite my entire body going on edge at her attack. As I leaned back against the door to click it into place, Dan emerged from the back of the house, catching my eye as he lingered in the hallway. I wasn't surprised that he was around, or that he opted out of intervening. Leighton and I had hardly spoken all week, since our fight about the boy's birthday party, and Dan had always found himself available when necessary to be the middleman between us, simultaneously catering to our refusal to talk to each other while prompting us in solitude to be the first to call a truce.

Leighton had tried, more than once, including her out of character allowance of letting Isaac into my room to kidnap me to the marshes, but our interactions remained minimal. I couldn't bring myself to forgive her for the insinuation she made about my last night with Nolan, and I had a sinking feeling that, after the impending fight between us, it would be even harder for me to do so.

"You couldn't call, or text? Dammit, Loren, I know you're nineteen, but I still need to know where you are!" She had continued before I could even try to explain why I was with Isaac, launching right into the lecture I knew I was in for.

I was sure, from her perch in the loveseat, she had watched Isaac drop me off anyways, and her question was more rhetorical than inquisitive. Knowing where I was had taken the worry from her voice and expression, leaving her with anger that I hadn't let her know myself.

"Look, Leighton, I-" She didn't give me a chance to finish. Her voice rose over mine, and I bit down on my lip to attempt to stop myself from yelling back at her, feeling us rapidly falling back into the vicious cycle of arguments we had been having all summer about my behavior, my relationship with our parents, my friendship with Isaac.

"And with Isaac, of all people? After you've promised me for the last five weeks that you wouldn't get involved with him, now you're spending nights at his house."

"Leighton, I-" My attempt to explain once again went interrupted, Leighton's voice pitching over mine. I shot a pleading glance at Dan over his shoulder, begging him to intercede before I lost my rapidly depleting temper and made the situation worse. He stepped closer to us, watching closely, but still stay tight-lipped.

"That family has enough going on, Loren, they do not need their son getting in trouble on top of everything else they're dealing with." I was momentarily too stunned to say anything, my mind working to unpack the multiple revelations Leighton had just dropped while still somewhat listening to her berates, listening for what I needed to defend myself. "I thought this summer was about you moving past everything that happened last semester, about you starting over and doing better, but you haven't changed, Loren! You're still drinking, you're still smoking and you're still-"

It may have been the look on my face, or maybe it was the words that Leighton had already spewed, or something that she was getting ready to say next that had been hurled at Dan all night in my absence, but he finally stepped forward. He reached for Leighton and wrapped a hand around her upper arm, pulling her away from me, quietly asking her to calm down. She shot him a hard, deadly glance, but still pushed her lips together anyways, crossing her arms tightly over her chest as she turned back to me.

"Wait, so you know about Isaac's parents?" I asked, my eyes focusing on Dan. If either of them had the information, it would be Dan. Working so closely with Isaac's father, it shouldn't have been so surprising to me that he knew there was something going on.