Chapter One

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The last thing I wanted was to go to the Masterson's lake house and I definitely didn't want to be stuck there for six weeks out of the summer. My mom had been friends with Jen Masterson nearly her entire life. They were as close as two friends in their forties could be. Up until then, we only saw the entire Masterson family once a year. 

  They were the picture perfect family. Wealthy and clean cut parents. The cute little girl that had everyone smiling. And the handsome Ivy League scholar son. Every time we were with them, my mom put up this fake facade of our family. She sugarcoated my academic skills and would slide away from discussing any of our financial troubles. My entire life was an episode of Keeping Up With the Masterson's. We never caught up. In fact, they were always several paces ahead of us.

  When I was thirteen, my dad left. Leaving our family for some bimbo he met at a bar. My mother was a waitress and she depended a lot on my father's income when it came to raising me, my brother, and my sister. Now, we lived in a two bedroom apartment. My brother used to sleep on the futon until he went off to college on a football scholarship. Up until then, I shared a room with my seven-year-old sister. My mom thought hanging a sheet in the middle of the room would be enough to make us feel as if we had our own space. It didn't. I couldn't have my dates over without my sister coming into the room like a hurricane. 

  Then I came out as gay only this past year, that was when Mom put an end to the boys in my room thing. The entire time, she thought I was only friends with those guys. Little did she know that I was making out with them behind that curtain.

  Moving to the futon gave me even less privacy. But it was better than sharing a room with my sister. 

  As for now, my brother, Kyle, sat up front in the car with Mom as I sat in the back with my little sister, Isla. Mom was rambling on about something but I couldn't hear her as the sound of Lil Nas X filled my eardrums.

  It was going to be a full house once we arrived. Kyle was going to stay at a friend's house, leaving me, Mom, Isla, Jen, Brad, Cassie, and Nicholas all under one roof. Probably even their dog. I had been to the lake house before, and it wasn't big. Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, two stories. In less they got some serious renovations done in the past year, I couldn't see seven people surviving in there.

  While I was distracted looking out the window, someone yanked one of my earbuds out. It was Kyle. He leaned into the backseat and pulled the bud from my ear. "Are you even listening?" he asked me with a tone my father used to give me before he would whip my ass. 

  Kyle had been using that tone a lot since I came out. He was home once when my now ex-boyfriend came over and he grimaced at us every time we kissed or touched each other affectionately. He treated me like some sort of insect invading his space. 

  "What?" I said, desperate to put my earbud back in. Whatever they were talking about couldn't be as important as Lil Nas X's voice.

  "I was discussing bedroom arrangements," Mom told me much more kindly than Kyle. She never had a problem with me being gay. She supported my relationships. The only thing she didn't like was if I was in the apartment alone with a guy. "The girls will be sharing a room and you'll be sharing a room with Nicholas. I can trust you to behave responsibly." 

  Share a room with Nicholas Masterson? He was the devil reincarnated. I was less than a year younger than him and he always treated me like I belonged at the kids table. I didn't yet come out to the Masterson's which was probably for the best. They weren't very progressive people. Everything had to be done the old fashioned way with them. Sharing a room with Nicholas? I'd much rather be thrown into the lion pen.

  "I don't want to," I told Mom. "He's a dick."

  "Seth!" Mom exclaimed, taking her eyes off the road to scold me. "You both are adults now and this little feud you have with him will stop. Maybe sharing a room will be good for the both of you. He's my best friend's son, for Christ sake."

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