The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

87. Haircut

RILEY

LAUREN'S ROOM PRESENTED two twin beds with undisturbed covers and an armchair. Unlike ours, it had a vanity with a small circular mirror. She removed her boots and sought around for a scissor, eventually unearthing one from a drawer. 

"Sit," she invited, and the heavy-looking armchair began floating toward the vanity against the wall. 

"You guys would make a fortune as movers." I dropped into the seat, eyeing her through our reflection. "Never thought of that?"

In the mirror, I saw the hint of a grin appear. "Come on, now. Luc would flip. Surely, you know that as well as I do."

"That wasn't the point but..." I didn't know much about the twins' relationship, but Luc told me he'd been controlling over her contacts. She'd been this socially-starved girl, and that bothered him the same way it did when I'd been close to Sam and Jen. "Did he upset you a lot with that?"

"Yes." Lauren stood behind the chair, scissor in hand. "But it was the only thing we argued about." Her hands bunched all of my hair together, one stopping right above my shoulders. "He was just looking out for me in his own way. He doesn't like unpredictable. You should have seen the shit-show when Emma found out."

I chewed my lip when I heard the scissor go swish swish. The mention of her name wrenched my gut with mixed feelings. Why did I miss someone I'd only known for a few months and who turned her back on us? 

"He was good around her after you left. When she was in the hospital, he watched over her, and he continued after she was discharged."

The snipping stopped and Lauren stared back in my reflection. "Hospital?"

It hit me that she hadn't caught up on that. Perhaps she hadn't bothered to check any news-related events. I was surprised she hadn't heard of it in school. "She was attacked and bitten by a Wanderer that was after me. It was outside. Homecoming afterparty."

Her attention drifted away. "I thought the others were giving her hell if I wasn't there to stop them. I didn't imagine that..." 

She said nothing afterward. The scissor neared my curls again, but there was a harsh line in her brow as she focused. It seemed like an eternity passed where just the snips and hair falls happened between us. For two different siblings, they both kept their thoughts and feelings similarly close to the vest. 

I'd yelled at Luc for how awful he was at letting his friends in and sharing the decision-making. But really, Lauren was also a big culprit. I couldn't help myself from analyzing her, trying to attach her behaviors to anything familiar so she'd seem less mysterious. 

"Indulge me," she said once most of the mass rested on the floor in heaps, surprising me. "What was it like moving there—meeting everyone? How did you meet Luc?"

I did ask her a bunch of questions. I owed her that. 

I forgot about my headache. And I drew back to the beginning as she listened intently, eyes flicking to mine on occasion. Her hands moved steady around my hair strands. She began cleaning the tips. My cheeks flushed bright red when I got to the part where I drunkenly confronted that first Wanderer. Lauren's lips twisted. 

"You know, I've seen a lot of bird-brained shenanigans in the years I had with the boys. But I think this takes the cake." 

Why did they always need to rub it in? "Anyway, that's when I discovered about your brother. But he didn't tell me he had doubts about me, not until I started seeing it myself."