Allyson In Between ✔︎

Chapter Ten

|photo by Willy Wo from Unsplash|

Noah and I finish our shakes with minimal conversation. It's uncomfortable and so incredibly awkward that by the time he parks in our driveway, all I can think about is getting inside and finding someplace I can be alone. I need to finish reading.

But when I reach for the car door latch, I freeze. Lindsay is standing in the front yard, no more than five feet away—a stone-faced teenager wearing running shoes and earbuds.

I take a fortifying breath and open the door. "Thank you," I tell Noah. "For um, everything."

"No problem," he says, but the sentiment doesn't match the tension on his face.

I definitely should not have told him about my dream.

Noah doesn't linger like he did at Faircrest. He shifts into reverse as soon as I'm out of the car. After I close the door he gives me a quick, tense smile and backs out of the driveway. I watch him go, because I don't want to face my sister. I'm not ready to talk—or even think about this weird mix of guilt and resentment that's making my stomach feel like it wants to reject the chocolate-raisin-infused milkshake I drank thirty minutes ago.

"Are you okay?" Lindsay asks.

"I'm fine." I take another breath as I turn around, reminding myself that both of my doctors, Dabney and Greene, said my move here would be a big adjustment—on the entire family. 

"What about you?" I ask.

"All good." She pulls on the black wire draped across her boobs and the tiny speakers pop out of her ears. "Can we go for a walk?"

"Um, sure. But first, I should probably tell Mom I'm home."

"No, don't," Lindsay says, grabbing my arm. "If Mom knows you're back, then we won't be allowed to go for a walk."

She puts a lot of stress on the word we. Meaning Mom won't allow me and Lindsay to walk together?

"Has she texted since you left the house?" Lindsay asks.

"No."

"Then we're fine," she says, dropping my arm. "She hasn't started worrying yet. Why should she? You're with Dodge. He's literally your hero." She blows a sarcastic blast of air out of her nose. Like it's stupid to think of him that way—which I never have until now. But then her eyes get wide with some revelation that makes her smile. "He's your Dream Hero," she says. And she laughs like it's the funniest thing she's ever heard.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask, equal parts annoyed and confused. Because it's almost like she can't control herself. And that's not like Lindsay at all.

She stops abruptly and does this dramatic twist, giving the house a quick glance before she turns back and grabs my arm again. "We should go before Mom looks out the window," she says, leading me into the street.

I don't argue, because now I want time alone with her. I want to find out what the heck that was earlier—that weird argument between her and Mom.

But first, I owe her an explanation. "I'm sorry I left without telling you," I say. "But I swear it wasn't something I planned. I mean, Noah did ask if he could text me, but I never said I would go anywhere with him. I didn't even mean to call him back, but when he offered to come get me, I just...I said yes because at that moment, I was feeling overwhelmed and like, I needed to escape. But that was wrong. I should've knocked on your door or—"

"Nah, it's okay," she says. "I would've done the same thing. That's why I'm out here. This is how I escape."

Her tone makes it sound like an inside joke, but I'm not sure I get it. Is the walk her way of escaping? Or just being outside?