Little White Lie

Chapter 21

|21|

•Charlotte•

"Good luck." Dad said to me, a smile on his face as he slowly started walking out of the kitchen. I smiled at him as I held onto one of his hands and walked him to the living room. 

He no longer slept upstairs so today after school, Mary and I were going to bring his bed downstairs. Lizzie was coming to help us redecorate the living room to make it a room for my dad. Walking upstairs was a nightmare for him. It was too hard, and Mary said we shouldn't strain his legs too much. 

"Thank you." I smiled at him as I helped him sit down slowly. Mary brought his bowl of porridge inside the room and she sat beside him on the couch. 

"I'll try to be home early today." I told Mary who nodded and smiled at me as I headed out of the house. 

The bruises from my face were healing quickly though I still needed to cover it with concealer so the marks were close to invisible. I pulled my jacket closer and the strap of my bag over my shoulder as I walked it to school. 

Lizzie didn't have her car today so she was walking it. She always set off earlier than usual because she never wanted to be late. To have those eyes on you when you walked into class. She hated it. 

I took a left on the sidewalk, and entertained the main road. I wanted for the traffic lights to turn red. 

"Charlotte!" A voice called out behind me. 

I turned around to see Alex, his eyes squinting to see if it was me or not as he ran a hand through his black hair. He walked towards me, a smile on his face, confusion in his eyes. 

Why was he here? 

"Hey." I said to him, forcing a smile on my face as we walked across the road together. "What are you doing here?" I asked politely. 

"I had a job interview at Joe's diner yesterday but I missed it so I came to apologise. What were you doing here?" He asked me confused as we walked together on the sidewalk. 

Lying seemed to be too easy, slipping past my tongue without a single thought. "I was just checking to see if the 24 hour shop was open. I had to reserve something for my dad." I told him and he nodded. 

"You come here often?" He asked me, his voice curious as I moved around a couple of people. 

"I work at Joe's diner." I chuckled as if the answer was obvious. 

"I didn't see you there yesterday." Alex pointed out. 

I tried to keep the frown off my face. "You just said you missed your interview yesterday." 

Was he lying? Mandy never needed new employees. Her and Tim worked perfectly and me helping was a bonus. 

"Sorry, I meant I did go yesterday but the man with tattoos, said she wasn't in. So that's why I missed it." He tried to explain and I nodded, not believing a word he said. Mandy was always in. 

Something was wrong with him. He was asking too many questions. He smiled at me, and looked away as well, probably knowing he fucked up.