A Fractured Lover (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 12

The Next morning I arrived at my parents' house around eleven am.

When I pulled up to the two story, white house with a maroon colored door that led into a foyer filled with photos upon photos of our family, I didn't get that normal feeling of joy that most get when they arrived back at the house they grew up in.

All that this house reminded me of now was the battle I was forced to face in high school. The nightmares that wracked my sleep in my old bedroom. The horrific memories that awaited me in the living room. I tried with every bit of strength I had to put those memories behind me when I was here, but sometimes, it was damn near impossible.

Today would be different though. I'd worked hard to get where I was today and I was not going let a silly little house with silly little memories bring me back down to that dark place that I inhabited for far too long.

With one deep, relaxing breath, I popped open my car door and headed inside. I didn't bother knocking since it was my parents' house after all. I drew the front door open and was immediately met with the smell of pot roast wafting through the foyer and into my watering mouth.

My dad could be a professional chef if he really wanted to. If he had the right connections, he would be a world renowned chef by now. For now though, he was the Merrick's family's personal chef, and I loved it.

Suddenly, I heard two sets of pitter patter coming my way on the tiled floor. My parents two little dachshunds ran full forced at me and I dropped to the ground to soak up all of their love.

"Hey guys! I missed you too!" I laughed as one of them licked my ear and the other jumped up onto my chest and pushed me to the ground to have a better vantage to attack my face with kisses.

"I see someone reunited with their furry siblings," my mom's voice rang out through the wide foyer. I pushed myself up off the ground and sprung up to give my mom a hug.

"I think they missed me just a little," I joked as we embraced.

I pulled away and admired my mom for a moment. Her blonde hair was curled to perfection and her hazel eyes were accented by an acceptable amount of dark eye shadow. Her slim frame was fitted in a green dress with small white polka dots that flowed out at the bottom.

Where's dad?" I asked excitedly. She pointed to the kitchen and I turned and skipped over gleefully but a strange sight inhabiting the kitchen stunted my movements before I even reached my dad.

My sister was standing there at the kitchen table. Her slim body was clad in an extremely short baby blue dress that cut low enough so we could clearly see all of the cleavage she didn't have. The baby blue coloring of the dress helped with the innocence that she tried to keep going around my parents though. But she wasn't the strange thing that caught my attention.

Standing next to her was an absolute stranger. A tall man with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, a slim but muscular frame and a smile that could dazzle the pants off any girl; apparently my sister included. The stranger had his hand laying just above my sister ass, centimeters away from being inappropriate.

I couldn't help but compare him to someone else I knew and how this blonde stranger just didn't exactly measure up for me. I'd never really been into blonde men anyways.

Finally, my sister recognized my presence and smiled brightly when she saw me.

"Hey, Alex!" I smiled just as wide and walked over and gave her a big hug. We may have our problems but there was no denying that we loved each other to the ends of the earth.

"Hey, Claire! How's everything going?" She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and gave her mysterious stranger a knowing look. An arrogant grin formed on his face and I abruptly felt the need to slap it off.