See You Again

XII

As I got out of bed, I yawned loudly and smiled. Kenzie got out of the bedroom almost at the same time I did. I smiled at her, but she kept walking, leaning against the wall as if she could fall.

"Good morning," I greeted.

She mumbled an incoherent response.

"Did you sleep well?"

The glare she shot was enough to answer, and I couldn't help but laugh. This time, I wasn't the one who kept her awake. She had done it all by herself, not that I had forced her the night before.

I didn't wait for her as I went downstairs, finding everyone already awake and watching TV in the living room, running away from the cold outside.

"Good morning," I greeted and received mumbles in response.

I looked through the window and saw snow all over the garden and a chill went up to my spine.

I turned around just in time to see Kenzie falling onto Peter's lap, her arms snaking around his neck too quickly.

"How was last night?" he asked as she closed her eyes and let her head fall on his chest.

She sighed, but I didn't hear the answer. I scanned through the room and noticed that neither Leah nor Vanessa were in the room.

"Where are the girls?" I asked, and Ezra shot me a pointed look.

"I don't know and honestly, I don't care."

Kenzie rose an eyebrow. "So, you guys are officially done?"

"Yes," he said. "As soon as she walks in here, I'm telling her that's it."

That didn't answer my questions, so I waited until Kenzie followed me to the kitchen to ask her. At some point, she had to have breakfast, and I was just waiting for her to come as I filled a cup with coffee.

She strolled inside lazily and only then did I notice she was still in her pyjama. I sat down on the table with the mug in front of me and my surprise was huge when I noticed she was setting a plate of pancakes for me, too.

Kenzie sat right in front of me and put both plates on the table, ignoring me completely as she filled her glass with some purple drink.

"I thought I wasn't getting any." I was surprised, but she just shrugged.

"Well, I can't eat them all by myself, can I? Besides, who else can I share with?"

A small smile tugged on my lips. "Thank you."

She shrugged once again, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"So, today there's the fair but we're probably just going at the end of the afternoon and I can't go for a walk with all the snow," she rambled, "I think I'm going outside to do a snowman, will you help me?"

I was surprised she wasn't asking Peter instead. He seemed like the only one she actually endured the presence. Even the girls looked too annoying to her sometimes. "Sure, but..." I didn't want to start another argument, but I just needed to know where they were. "I wanted to wait for Vanessa to get home... she didn't come back last night. I'm worried."

She kept quiet for a moment, accessing what she should or shouldn't say. "She's alright, she stayed at a friend's place."

At a friend's place? Does she even have friends in here? Well, probably whoever was hosting the party, but the sound of those words made me think of something else, something that made me feel sick.

"What friend?" I asked, low, careful and maybe too harshly.

"Her name is Cleo. She hosted the party last night and invited us to stay."