Dance In The Rain

~14~ Rules

The next morning, the sound of creaking makes me open my eyes and I see Tate struggling to get the window open.

He groans a little as he hoists the wood up as far as he can, and then shimmies inside.

"Hey Jules," he grins, and I can tell he had been drinking at some point last night.

"Are you drunk?" I ask as I sit up in bed and rub the sleep from my eyes.

"I was, but I crashed at a buddies place. I'm thoroughly hungover though."

"How do you already have a buddy?" I groan as I stand up and stretch out my sore muscles.

Forget a tv! I would like a new mattress to be the first thing on the list

"Might wanna take a shower, you stink...Holden already knows you snuck out last night."

For a split second I see terror cross over his features. After just a moment, they smooth back out to indifferent.

"Oh yeah?" He asks in a bored tone as he flips off his shoes and lays on his mattress.

"Yeah. He came in around midnight to check on us."

He nods as he stands up and goes to the bathroom, and I lay back down for a few more minutes of sleep.

~*~

When I get out to the kitchen, Holden is sitting at the table drinking coffee and eating a bagel.

"Where's Brandy?" I ask as I pour myself some Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and sit next to him.

"She went to work. How did you sleep?"

I simply shrug as I take a bite and enjoy the cold milk running down my dry throat.

"He home?" He asks lowly as he keeps his eyes off of me and takes another sip.

"Yeah"

A nod is my only response as the two of us sit in silence and eat our breakfast.

When Tate comes out ten minutes later, Holden watches him carefully as he gets the same cereal I did and sits down next to me.

"You good?" Holden simply asks him as Tate shovels in his food.

Tate looks up at him and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand as he nods.

"Good. How much did you drink?"

Tate starts to snip at him, but once he really looks at Holden's face, he simply clears his throat.

Holden nods absentmindedly as he thrums his fingers on the table.

"I think the three of us need to sit down tonight and go over the rules...I honestly thought we would be in sort of a honeymoon phase as we got to know each other, but that was foolish of me. Let's make sure we're all on the same page tonight though, ok?"

Tate just rolls his eyes as he puts his bowl in the sink and leaves to grab his book bag.

Holden curses under his breath as he rinses out his stuff and grabs his bag, looking at me with a small smile.

"Ready, Annie?"

Ready for another day of school in a town I don't know? Absolutely

~*~

My day kinda follows the same path as it did yesterday. Kenna and I chat in second hour, and it seemed to happen more naturally than it did yesterday.

"My brother snuck out last night and Holden found out," I say as class gets out and we pack up our bags.