Distorted Reflections

Chapter 5

Ross arrived at his house late last night.
It was about 4AM when I heard his motorcycle come back to the house next door.
Furious was starting to become such a weak term to tell what I was feeling.
Jesus, I'm about to lose my mind.
It was 8AM in a Saturday, and as I set my hair in a ponytail as I descended the stairs, I smelt the scent of our usual weekend pancakes.
Pretty much ever since I could remember my mom used to make them on weekends. It used to have a happy face made out of whipped cream on the pancake on top of the stack, but ever since Vanessa left, it just seemed pointless.
"Good morning mom" I mumbled
"Good morning darling" my mother turned around, a pan in her hand "your breakfast's ready."
I sat on the counter's stool, grabbing my plate.
Maia had sent me a message last night asking if I was okay.
Of course I was.
Besides from the jerk that saved me, I definitely was.
I haven't told her about it yet, but we were going to the mall after lunch.
Being seen hanging together was not a big deal, since I was friends with not exactly everyone, but a big parcel of the school.
So we were two friends hanging together.
Ha.
I glanced at the window, taking a look at the Lynch household.
How could he be so selfish then turn into a normal guy then go back to being so fucking egocentric?
"Are you trying to cut the plate, Laura?"
Huh?
I glanced down at my plate, seeing that the whole stack of pancakes were cut in half, and I was moving my knife on the porcelain.
"No" I glanced one more time to the window and smiled at my mother's curious face "there's just some things I have to do today."

•••••••••••

I stood on the Lynch's doorway waiting for him to open the door.
It was the fourth time I rang the doorbell and he wouldn't pick it up.
I crossed my arm, glancing at my wrist watch. 11AM.
Hell to the no.
I was almost late for my date with Maia, so I started repeatedly ringing the doorbell, until he opened up the door, with an annoyed and sleepy look on his face.
"Are you fucking retarded?"
I took a good look at him at the sound of his raspy, deep voice. He had a grey t-shirt and navy blue shorts on. I probably woke him up.
Good.
"No. Can we talk?"
He muttered something that sounded like 'unbelievable' before he closed the door.
Or attempted to.
I stepped on the doorway before it closed with my small foot and held back a whimper due to the force he applied on the door.
The blond opened it again, clearly more pissed than before.
"What the fuck do you want Marano?!"
"To talk. I'm not taking no as an answer."
As he stood silent with rage clear in his eyes, I continued "You have a doorbell. I can ring it all day if necessary"
He rolled his eyes and left to the inside of the house, letting me in.
I closed the door behind me and followed him.
He started to go to the second floor, but he froze in place in the middle of the stairway. The mood in the air had clearly changed.
"Is there... something wrong?"
He turned around, and glared behind me. I turned back to find an empty living room. He was thinking.
"No. Let's just stay in here."
We went down the stairs again, sitting on the couch.
The tall guy sighed "What do you want?"
"To understand, I guess." He lifted an eyebrow "Why did you help me? Why did you catch me when I jumped off the window, why did you let me ride with you on your bike to then just dump me on the street? Why do you turn so cold suddenly all the time?"
He licked his lips and looked down, to just look at me, coldly again. "I guess I'm just like that." he chuckled "not like you'd understand."
Oh. Now I'm inferior and too dumb to him.
"What do you mean with that?" I stood up, knowing that if I stayed any longer listening to his bullshit, I wouldn't make it to the mall.
He shrugged "Just that you wouldn't get it."
I crossed my arms "Try me."
He hesitated. Thought about it for a second and held the door open "Be here. Tonight, 8 o'clock."

•••••

"Hey! I'm sorry, I'm late." I said, hugging her
"Hey, it's okay beautiful"
God, her Australian accent was adorable.
I ordered my latte and sat across from her.
"So, how's been everything?"
"I've been pretty busy with that homeroom project. My group sucks." She took a sip from her frapuccino "Only me and Carrie do stuff. There's even a guy in my group that only shows up twice a week."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know the feeling. It seems like a curse, Noah is always in my group in these stuff." I laughed "Don't get me wrong, he's great. But he's also really slow for school stuff."
She just smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, I meant to ask you" her smile slowly faded as she propped her elbows on the table in an attempt to get closer "how did you get out of the party last night? I saw the officers barging in as soon as I was on the sidewalk"
"Don't even get me started on that. You'll never guess who got me out of there."
She raised an eyebrow "Who?"
"That Lynch jerk."
She sat up straight "Lynch? As in, Ross Lynch...?"
"You know him?"
"Yeah. He's the guy in my group that only shows up twice a week."
Somehow, I was not surprised
That irresponsible dipshit was giving my girl more work. Ugh.
"Hey look at the bright side" I joked "At least with him showing up only twice a week, you don't have to deal with jerk-face everyday."
And I swear her laugh right there was enough to light up this entire town.