That Summer (Completed)

Chapter 24

Before I could utter a sound, Miranda turned around and disappeared down the stairs. Mom ran after her, bewildered. The rest of the room was left in a tense, awkward silence and everyone quickly shuffled out afterwards.

I jumped out of bed to go find Miranda but Jake's voice stopped me short. "Don't go after her right now."

I spun around. "Look, I don't know what's going on but I haven't seen Miranda cry in over a year."

Jake hesitated and I turned to leave again. "Wait Lauren, just hold on for a second."

My mind was on Miranda and I just wanted to shake him off but something in his voice made me pause. I turned to look at him, waiting.

"Miranda tried to kiss me yesterday," he blurted out.

Well that was the last thing I was expecting.

I reeled back in shock. "Sh-She what?!"

Jake ran a hand down his face, clearly distressed. "Look, I made it clear I wasn't interested but there's stuff going on with her. I think she just needed someone."

"I can't believe you're telling me this now," I said shakily.

"I couldn't. I promised her. Look, you need to talk to her," he stressed. "There's nothing going on between us. There never was, she doesn't like me like that."

I wanted to throw something at him. How could he be so dense? "Are you kidding me? Even my own mother thought you would end up dating when we were kids. I thought that since she's been seeing someone else, she moved on. Clearly I was wrong. Back to square fucking one."

"Fine," he snapped. "Go ahead and push me away again. But do yourself a favour and don't put words in my mouth."

"Where the hell are you going?" I shouted as he walked by me and out the door.

As he walked down the hall, I heard, "I'm leaving before you do something irrational."

Irrational? I was being irrational? ME? I just found out my sister has feelings for my boyfriend and I was the one being irrational by wanting answers?

I didn't bother going after him. I hastily threw all my belongings into my suitcase and shoved it into the trunk with more force than necessary. I wanted answers. I needed to talk to Miranda.

I went back into the house and walked around looking for signs of Miranda and Mom. They were nowhere to be found.

I spotted Anne packing up in our room. "Where's my mom? And Miranda?"

She looked surprised to see me there. "You're still here? They left with Jake a while ago."

"Excuse me?" I asked, dumbfounded. "They left?"

"Look, I'm not sure exactly what happened back there but clearly there are some issues that you need to talk to Miranda about," Anne said, avoiding my gaze.

"Yeah, I got that," I said sarcastically. Anne pursed her lips but didn't reply. She knew me too well.

Dad's voice echoed from down the corridor. "Lauren? Let's go, I'm driving you home."

This day just kept getting better and better.

After debating whether I should just walk the whole way home, I finally got into the passenger seat and put on my headphones. I relaxed back against the seat and closed my eyes. I could feel Dad's gaze on me but I think he knew I wasn't in the mood to talk. On the way home, I thought about what I was going to say to Miranda.