The Rebellious Host | ✓

Jamie

O'Shea? How is she an O'Shea? Ian and Kyle didn't have any other siblings, I thought.

They look just as confused. "How are we related?" Kyle asks. Sure, she has the same blonde hair as them, but hers is lighter. Not only that, but her eyes are green, and theirs aren't.

"Cousins. Our parents stopped talking after my aunt- that would be your mother- married your father. I don't even know why. My dad never talked about her much, until after you two disappeared off the face of the earth, never to return." She shakes her head, and says in a storyteller-like voice, "And the poor, lonely little girl never met her only cousins."

Ian raises an eyebrow at her. "Oh? And how old are you?"

"Thirteen." She grins. "Almost fourteen.And my God, you do not even know how crowded it gets in there with two people!"

Laina nods. "Too cramped. Like being in a little kid playhouse."

April- Alexis- nods. "Like Alice in Wonderland when she eats that candy-thing and grows ten feet tall. So terrible, for short."

Ian and Kyle move closer. "What happened to our parents?" Kyle asks.

Her mouth curves downward a little. "They're, um...hosts. Like my parents. They came after me and...I wasn't fast enough." She looks at her hands in her lap. "Sorry."

Ian and Kyle don't look upset. They look like she just confirmed what they already guessed. I look between Laina and Alexis. Alexis is pretty, more suited for brighter colors. She seems like Wanda- nice to anyone and everyone, though she's definitely not a pushover. 

Laina is pretty too, but different than Alexis. More dark, and more negative. She didn't take anyone's shit before, and I doubt that she would now. That's why she got into so many arguments at school, and why I was her only friend- she did what she wanted, dressed how she wanted and didn't care what they had to say about it.

She glances at me, almost as if she knows that I'm thinking about her. I faintly hear Kyle and Ian talking, but I'm mostly lost in my own thoughts. I don't think she realizes it, but every time she looks at me it's like she's mourning how different we are, like she thinks that because everything has changed, because we've changed, that we can't be friends anymore. And maybe we can't- maybe Alexis will take my place, and this wall that's there will always be there, both of us afraid to break it down.

I don't want it to be like that.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up and see Mel standing a little behind me. "It's fine, you know." Jared is engaged in a conversation with Uncle Jeb and Wanda, and Ian, Kyle, Alexis, and Sunny have a conversation while Laina sits next to Alexis, adding in her opinion every now and then.

"What do you mean?"

My sister doesn't reply for several minutes. "I mean several things. Mostly, I think, you and her, though." I know who 'her' is.

Laina looks up at us and gives me the smallest smile, before returning to her conversation. "Maybe, maybe not." I say.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see, then."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After dinner, I pull Laina aside. She doesn't say anything. "Where we're going...you have to be quiet." I tell her. She nods. When we're close, I stop and turn to her. "Close your eyes, okay?"

She blinks, closes her eyes and reaches out, her hand wrapping around mine. I lead her into the dark, and sit her down on a rock. I remember this is where Wanda told me that Mel is still alive. I sit next to Laina and lean close. "Okay, open your eyes."