Love Is Stupid |✓

|8|

I stared at my reflection on the full-length mirror inside my room. My shoulder-length brunette hair was pin-straight and dry. There were probably a million split-ends lurking at the tips. My brown eyes were tired behind the blue-framed reading glasses that I only wear when I was at home. I scrunched up my nose when my hand reached up to trace the dotted freckles along my cheeks - they weren't my best asset and getting rid of them, came in thought, maybe once or twice every week. Too bad, I just couldn't.

I sighed, running my hand along the smooth fabric of my baby blue chiffon dress - trying to smooth down the almost invisible wrinkles. It was Saturday, and my mom thought it was nice to have dinner outside of the house with my dad and siblings.

She said that her work as a lawyer was eating too much of her time for us. And according to her, the fact that Dad was a Psycholigist with his own clinic, didn't help much either. She also told me, Brandon - my sixteen year old brother and Mandy - my fourteen year old sister, that providing us with the best future was never an excuse for them, not to give time to the family.

So with the suggestion coming from Dad, she decided to have a formal dinner at some Italian restaurant where I couldn't even read the menu.

If I were being totally honest though, I couldn't care less about this so-called family time. To me, it's just a waste of both time and money. Because after this dinner, both of them would just disappear into their own worlds as professionals and forget about us. They only do this just to make sure that we keep in mind that we still had parents, and we shouldn't do something stupid and reckless.

Surprisingly though, Brandon seemed to be very excited about this dinner. It surprised me a lot, seeing as he was almost as emotionless as I was. So, being the semi-kind person that I was, I did my best and acted as the good older sister and agreed to this stupid dinner.

"Pheobe! Hurry up hun!" My mom hollered from downstairs, her soft voice booming throughout the house.

Releasing a long sigh, I removed the glasses off my face, quickly dabbed some peach lipgloss onto my lips and slipped into my silver pumps.

Scurrying down our staircase, I groaned when I saw Brandon's teasing smirk. His lips was jutted out - pointing to my newly bought pumps. I managed an eyeroll. Yeah, I knew, I rarely wore heels but I had to. It's an Italian restaurant! Mom's words.

"Oh good, finally you're here! C'mon, c'mon. Dad's waiting in the car," Mom said. She was walking ahead of us, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor of our home.

"So, Pheobe, heels huh?" Mandy teased, walking beside me. I sent her a sharp glare making her giggle.

"Shut up, Amanda."

The teasing smirk on her face was easily wiped off. She scoffed and follwed Mom, leaving me with a chuckling Brandon beside me.

"You know how much she hates her name."

I chuckled lightly. "Oh, I perfectly know. So she should also know not to mess with my heels."

Brandon only shook his head, his blonde hair that he inherited from our dad glistening against the soft yellowish light from the lamppost. That moment, as I watched my brother laugh, I couldn't help but see the image of you flashing through my mind.

I remembered you. You were laughing and shaking your head at some random joke I spluttered. We were at Jenny's Diner that day, stuffing our faces with fries and strawberry milkshakes. I was so happy that day, and I hated it.

I remebered you, Jason. I remembered the good things about you, and I hated it.