(Fr)Enemies

Chapter Three

After showing me how to work the washing machine and which car I could drive, Mr. Vincent left me to unpack.

I didn't unpack, instead I curled into a ball and cried for a little bit. I did that sometimes. Just cried randomly because life was a joke and there was always something to cry about.

It didn't make me feel better but it helped me to sleep. I ended up drifting off into a nap and waking up at ten at night.

I felt disgusting so I rummaged through my bag for my toiletries and some pajamas before stepping into the shower.

After getting out of the shower I decided to actually unpack.

It felt weird to put my clothes where Rory's once were. It felt weird to put my things in her drawers.

When the light knock came at my door I raised a brow.

"Come in." I said in a slight shout while I transferred my jeans from my suitcase to hangers.

Aiden pulled open the door, a blank look on his face. He was in a tshirt and basketball shorts and his hair was wild.

"My dad wanted you to eat something when you woke up." He said with no emotion in his tone.

My heart clashed against my chest as I sighed carelessly. I had practiced my response to Aiden. Nonchalant.

"I'm not really hungry at the moment." I said sarcastically going back to what I was doing.

He frowned taking a step into my room. "He wants you to eat something." He said again.

I narrowed my eyes dropping the jeans. "I'm. Not. Really. Hungry." I said slowly spacing the words out.

Aiden sighed. "Are you going to eat something?"

And that pissed me off. "Are you not listening?" I said standing up now. "I'm not hungry. I'm not going to eat anything."

Aiden crossed his arms. "My dad says you haven't ate since you got here. He's not going to stop nagging until you eat something."

Because I probably wasn't going to be able to sleep for a while and I remembered how stubborn Aiden could be, I decided to give up.

"Fine." I walked quickly, passing Aiden and heading towards the stairs before he caught up to me.

"Are you mad at me about something?" He asked in a confused tone.

"Nope." I said quickly not wanting to get into this conversation.

All hope went out the window when he grabbed my arm and spun me around.

My face must have showed more emotion than I wanted it to because his anger dropped and turned to concern immediately. "What did I do to you Grace?" He asked in a low tone. His voice seemed desperate.

The last time Aiden had touched me I had been a sophomore. I had said some vile shit to make sure he'd leave me alone. It had worked up until now.

"You didn't do shit to me." I said harshly yanking my arm out of his grasp. "And I'm not fucking hungry." Pushing past him I ran back up the stairs into my room.

I quickly locked the door before lying in bed and staring at the ceiling.

***************************

I didn't sleep. Instead I daydreamed until I saw the sun shining through the curtains.

When I looked at my phone and saw it was eight I got up and brushed my teeth. After washing my face and applying spf I walked downstairs hesitantly hoping Aiden either wasn't there or had forgotten about our spat.

It turned out to be the first option and I found Mr. Vincent alone drinking coffee.

He raised his brows when I poured me a cup and joined him.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked lightly.

I smiled. "Great, and don't worry I ate something." I lied.

When his face displayed confusion I realized that I had been played.

"So, what's the plan for today?" He asked adding a bit more sugar to his coffee. I scrunched my nose up. I liked my coffee black.

"I was hoping I could hang out with some friends."

Mr. Vincent didn't seem to mind if I hung out with my friends but he didn't know who my friends were. I was going to keep it that way.

"Sure. You can take the car. It'll be good to see them before everyone ships off to college huh?"

I shrugged. I didn't want to get into the college talk with him.

As if sensing my discomfort, he continued,"what are your plans for college?"

I pursed my lips because the truth was I didn't have any plans for college. My grades were shit and I had barely graduated. I knew I would get a large sum of money when I turned Eighteen. Another when I turned twenty five. I didn't plan on going to college.

So I lied again. "I think I'm gonna go to a community college first and transfer."

He seemed to like that answer.

"You've always been like a second daughter to me Grace, so I'm going to give you the same speech I gave my kids. If you want to study business and you keep your grades decent there's a spot for you at Vincent and Meyers."

I was at a loss for words. Life was continuously throwing me curveballs. Clearing my throat I nodded. "Yeah, I'll look into it."

He nodded his head before raising to drop his cup in the sink. "The keys to the car are in the garage."

Again I simply nodded.

*************************

"Aiden's dad is hot." Morgan said as she handed me the quickly shrinking blunt.

I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to talk about my living situation but that seemed to be all they wanted to talk about.

"Get over your old man complex." I said with a straight face as I inhaled deeply. The weed was working to relax my thoughts.

Bryan grabbed the blunt from me. "Seriously, how are you handling being stuck in a house with the one who got away?"

I rolled my eyes. Bryan romanticized everything. "He's not the- fuck why are we still talking about this?"

Cedric- Bryan's twin brother agreed. "Seriously guys. I'm tired of hearing this shit."

Out of all my friends, Cedric was my favorite.

Bryan passed his brother the blunt before sitting up straight on the sofa and staring at Morgan. "You really think his dad is hot?" He asked.

Morgan shrugged drawing obsolete patterns in the carpet with her finger. "Not as hot as you." She said weakly.

He put his hand in her face. "I don't want to hear it."

We finished the blunt and headed up the stairs to raid Morgan's kitchen. While the twins stuffed their faces with Mrs. Friedman's leftover lasagna Morgan pulled me aside.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, and I promise I'm going to drop it after this but be honest." She tugged at one of her long frizzy braids as she eyed me. "Are you doing okay?"

I sighed. I knew she was just being a good friend but I really didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm doing fine. It's just for four months anyway."

She didn't seem suspicious of my answer. No one ever did. Not my friends or my teachers or even my therapist.

I wondered if it was because I was so good at lying or if deep down they didn't really care.