Falling for the Frenemy

Chapter 1: The One Where My Friends are Liars

"Are you sure you have to go?" my four-year-old cousin, Olivia, asked sadly. She clung to my leg like she would die if she released me and looked up at me with sorrowful eyes.

"Yeah," I said, smiling down at her fondly, "My mommy and daddy miss me. I have to go make sure they're all right." I ruffled her blonde hair gently.

Her lower lip wobbled. "But you'll come back and visit, right? I'll miss you!"

I leaned down and picked her up. "Of course I will!" I reassured her.

She hugged me around the neck and sniffed. "I love you, JJ."

I hugged her back and kissed her head. "I love you, too, Livie."

My aunt walked into the living room, accompanied by Olivia's older brother, Evan, and my uncle Mark. Her three other children, Stacy, Alex, and Josh, loudly followed suit a few seconds later, chasing each other and screaming around the room. Jane smiled, and Evan rolled his eyes in annoyance, fiddling with his shaggy red hair. Uncle Mark just chuckled. They, like me, knew that Olivia was a sensitive soul (aka dramatic beyond belief.) She reminded me of Kat back in my old town: sweet, friendly, and energetic, but quick to turn on the waterworks. "Jackie, you ready to go? I've got all of your bags loaded," Aunt Jane asked.

For some reason, my parents had all of a sudden decided that I had had enough time away from home. Apparently, it was important to them that I finish off high school surrounded by the people I grew up with. Something about making lasting memories with them so that I wouldn't regret never coming back after I graduated. Personally, I didn't really get the logic, but children don't really get to decide where they live if their parents are determined to have the final say, so it was back to Mirton for me. It's not that I wasn't excited to see my friends and family again. With the distance between my aunt's house and my parents', I hadn't been back to see them since I moved away, and they hadn't had the money or time to come and visit me, either. I was ecstatic to see their faces again. We had been able to keep in touch through text and calling, but it just wasn't the same as being able to physically hug them and spend time together in person. The only problem was that Mirton held the worst memories of my childhood. 

I nodded and set Olivia down on the floor. "Do you want me to just go and get in the car, then?" I asked.

Jane nodded and smiled sadly. "It's sad to see you go. We'll miss having you around the house," she said. 

Evan seemed to disagree, and he just shot me a dirty look. "I'll miss you guys too," I said. I chose to ignore his glaring.

When I first got here, me and Evan had been fast friends. We used to play together all the time despite our age difference, but now that he had gone through puberty and become a teenager, he had chosen to become a sullen shut-in with no friends except for the heavy metal bands always blasting from his bedroom speaker. There was nothing wrong with the genre--I enjoyed some occasional Black Sabbath just as much as the next girl--but combined with his exclusively black closet and questionable hairstyle choices, it gave him a very particular vibe. If Aunt Jane and Uncle Mark allowed hair dye within a 50-foot radius of their house, I was positive he would have dyed his hair black and gone full emo by now.

"Aw, come on, Evan, you know you'll miss me!" I teased playfully.

He just glared silently at me and didn't respond. I rolled my eyes and walked towards the front door. Oh, well, Evan will be Evan.

Some time later, my aunt turned to look at me in the passenger seat. "You excited to be going home? Oh, and Evan finally managed to remember to return 'The Hourglass Door', I think it's around here somewhere," she said. Neither of her statements related to each other, but I was used to that by now.