He Had To Go

Chapter Eight: Wildcard

I sit on the edge of the tub, rubbing moisturizing lotion on my legs after taking my shower. I find myself in a trance, rethinking the texts from last night. Still, there is no response on his end, but I guess that is my fault for my response. But there's nothing to do about it now, I guess it will blow over, and by the end of winter break, none of it will ever happen at all.

"Maya." Laura knocks on the door.

"Give me a minute." I say, I stand up and tighten the towel around my body, before opening the door only giving a peek inside the bathroom. "Yes?" I ask, trying to figure out why my privacy is hard to give.

"Your brothers will be arriving soon. I am going to need you downstairs when they get here... not like last-"

"Alright. I am almost done." I say cutting her off, not wanting to be reminded of last year.

"Okay, I put your Christmas sweater on your bed. The photographer will be here to take our photo at noon."

"Okay," I say closing the door, finding this conversation to take valuable time, for I could finish getting ready. "I'll be right down."

I get downstairs about thirty minutes later, in a knitted green sweater with a red letter that reads 'Tarver's Christmas', golden leggings, and a reindeer antlers headband looking but not feeling quite festive. Immediately, I go straight to the kitchen and make myself a cup of coffee, I miss Rosemary already.

"There's the Queen of scholar." Andrew jokes, with a steaming cup of Joe in his hands already. I force a smile not really in the mood for any of his jokes. "How did you sleep? With the pressure of school being finally off you."

"Like a baby." I lie, hitting the start button on the coffee machine. "Just waiting for the professor to enter our grades, I think they have to end of the week."

"Well, you're a Tarver." He laughs. "I am sure you did amazing."

"Thanks," I reply, basically whispering my response not sure if he meant it or not. "Are Leo and Oliver bringing their girlfriends?" I ask, trying to get away from the conversation.

"Last I've heard they were." He answers, before starting to whisper. "But you didn't hear this from me, I hear a very important question may be asked soon." He says hinting at an engagement in the works, but it seems like the only thing in the works at the moment is the doorbell.

"They are here!" Laura shouts from the foyer. "I'll get the door." She says, like anyone else getting it makes any sense. Andrew gets up from his stool, leaving his coffee on the coaster. I stay behind finishing making my coffee, hearing the warm welcome from afar.

"How was your flight?" Laura asks, the boys, I hear the door shut, making it hard for me not to roll my eyes, for I am now officially locked in.

"It was good," Leo answers with that dry voice of his. "The meteorologists were slightly dramatic with that snow storm reports. It was a slight delay, but once we got on board nothing was stopping us from getting home." He says giving an unnecessary itinerary of their trip. I continue to make my coffee, adding vanilla creamer and ice to my tumbler bottle.

"Not bad." I say admiring the taste, I place the coffee on the counter, to get my phone out to send to Rosemary. Only to remember my cellphone is upstairs because I have no back pockets. "Great." I say rolling my eyes. I pick up my drink trying to escape the group of six in the foyer, but it's too late before I can take a step, I hear their voices and laughter echoing towards the kitchen. I freeze in my steps, for I am slightly nervous, and not too fond of being here.

The girlfriends walk in first, both covered in fur coats and knee-high boots. In my opinion, the boots are not very resourceful for this weather. Once they enter it seems they don't even notice me, and I am okay with that I prefer for it not to be this way.

"Your Home is so beautiful." The blonde girlfriend says taking in everything.

"And I love your Christmas decorations." The brunette one adds.

"Aw! Thank you. You girls are so sweet. It's nice to see my hard work paid off." Laura says with a playful laugh at the end, totally neglecting any attributes that Andrew and I contributed. Once everyone is in the room, the attention unfortunately turns to me. "And this is Maya, Andrew, and I adopted her...."

"11 years ago." Andrew says, but he doesn't even sound too confident himself. "But I am sure the boys, told you all about her." An awkward silence fills the room and with the glance Oliver and Leo give each other, I am sure they forget I existed themselves.

"I am sure they have." I say, ending the silence. Both girls give each other a convincing smile. And without a doubt, even though this has been my home for over a decade, I still somehow feel like the odd one out. "What's your names?" I ask walking over to each one and shaking their hands for the conversation isn't friendly enough for hugs.

"Brooke and Claudia." Oliver answers, taking the blonde one by the hand who I presume to be Claudia, for she grinned when he said her name.

"Lovely names, and lovely meeting you both." I compliment them. "But I am afraid I have to go finish some of my schoolwork... extra credit and all that other stuff. I was only taking a coffee break." I shrug, hoping they aren't catching my bluff while raising my tumbler for proof. I can walk past the couples, and none of them say anything but unfortunately, it's not the same for Laura.

"Hey, I know your schoolwork is important and all. But don't forget about our family photo shoot."

"I know, at noon." I fake a smile reassuring her, that it is still on top of my list. But with truth being told, I don't know how I am supposed to participate in this. While walking to the foyer I feel Andrew's eyes on me, judging me in a way for he knows the truth.

"Maya." He whispers to me. "I won't say anything if you don't want me to, but you don't have to lock yourself in your room pretending to do school work. I know your brothers didn't mean any harm."

"Sure, maybe." I shrug, before leaving the group behind me. The moment I get upstairs, I lock my door behind me and faceplant into my bed, beginning to cry into my pillow.

I know that Oliver and Leo never accepted, which is probably the psychologically strange reason I never really accepted them, but to not even mention me once is disheartening. On top of that, both Laura and Andrew only use the adoptive term and do not even refer to me as like or as a daughter, which was hurtful too. I am just tired of the feeling of never really being wanted, that's all I want is to be wanted. Truly wanted with no other expectation. I continue to cry, wanting to be alone at the moment, but I know that's not the best thing for me. I pick up my cell phone and attempt to call the two people who always have back, Rosemary and Xavier. Yet, unfortunately, both of their phones go straight to voicemail. This outcome is practically presumable, with Xavier studying for his finals and Rosemary being out of town. But it leaves me one more option, the wildcard option. There is a chance that he won't answer, but he's all I have left. I lay on my side with my phone between me and my silk pillowcase. The phone begins to dial, and I place my thumb on the red button expecting it to go to voicemail, but it doesn't. He answers but doesn't say a word.

"Elliot?" I ask over the phone. "It's me Maya." I say wiping my tears.

"Is everything okay?" He asks sounding verbally concerned.

"No. Not really." I answer, kind of laughing because that's all I can really do at this point. "Listen... Are you busy?" I ask.

"Uh... no. Why what's up?"

"Do you think we could do something?" I answer.

"Yeah, sure. What do you want to do?"

"Anything, I need to get out of here." I stress.

"Okay, sure." He says sounding a little hesitant. "Just send me your location, and I'll be there within the hour."

"Okay, see you soon." I say.

"See you soon, Maya." He says before hanging up.