Since You Came

Ch. 5

"What movie are we watching tonight?"

"Probably a Disney movie." Jo tells me.

"The only movies I will watch," I say with a smile.

"Same here," Jo says, laughing.

"We're just watching it as a family, right?" I ask.

"Mmhm. Me, you, Aubrey, Ryan, and Mom and Dad. A family thing."

"Awesome." I was glad no one else would be there. I needed to bond with my new family.

"We'll start the movie at 8," she says before walking into her bedroom.

I sigh. It's a Friday night, the week before Halloween, my first holiday at this new home. My first Friday with my new family. And I wanted it to be perfect.

I put on a happy face and grab my towel from a peg in my closet. I might as well start out with personal motivation. Make myself feel good.

Crossing the hall, I close the bathroom door behind me and undress.

I turn the shower on, humming the song that is stuck in my head.

13 minutes later, I pull the shower curtains to the side of the tub and step out into the cold air.

I shiver and run the towel across my body.

My reflection was blurry behind all the steam, but I could see how the water made my dark brown hair seem black, and how my brown eyes gleamed against the water on my skin.

I wipe the fog off the mirror and run a brush through my hair. Water dripped from the tips of the strands, so I flip my head upside-down and wrap my hair in a towel.

Frowning, I realize I didn't grab new clothes, so I wrap my body in a separate towel and gather up my clothes from today.

I open the bathroom door and step outside, just to run into a hard shoulder.

My clothes drop from my arms and I rub my nose. "Geez. Ow."

The shoulder I ran into snickers. "Nice hair," it says, its voice deep and mesmerizing.

Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap. "What the heck are you doing here?!" I yell.

Dan laughs. "Your towel is falling," he says.

I grab the towel around my body and pull it higher. "It is not!"

His eyes scrunch up as he laughs, a deep, full laughter.

"Again, what are you doing here?" I ask, holding my towel tightly.

"Ryan invited me over," he says.

My jaw drops. "What?" This was supposed to be a family thing!

"You heard me," Dan says, his eyes sweeping over my body carefully.

"Stop that."

He smirks. "Stop what?"

"Looking at me. Stop it."

"Why? It's not a bad body to look at."

I scoff. "And that is why I want to cover myself. To keep pervs like you from looking at it."

Dan smiles. "And that is why I'm trying so hard to be your friend."

"Wait, why?" I ask, shocked.

He leans against the wall beside me, his body inches from mine. I feel his cool breathe on my shoulder.

"Because you're not like them. You stand out."