Just Pretend

Chapter 9

Kenna's POV

I drive around the corner, the rain pounding on the window. I'm jamming out to Kelly Clarkson, this was after she won American idol! "Can you slow down a bit?" She asks me from the base her seat. I do as requested and continue singing.

Everything around me becomes a blur. I look up and see her again. My sister who died 2 years ago in a car wreak. The bright light is enough to make a blind person see again. I smile at her innocent 16 year old face. She's exactly how I remember her.

"Kenna. I miss you." She says, but still smiling. I don't see any tears or any signs of emotion besides happiness. "I miss you too Kylie." I respond, but no words come out. I just thought it and she seemed to hear me. "Be careful tomorrow." Is all she said before I woke up, drenched in a pool of sweat.

"Hey. Are you ok?" I hear Ashton ask beside me. I jump when I hear his voice, forgetting he was here. "You scared the shit outta me!" I yell, grabbing my heart. What did Kylie mean by be carful tomorrow? Was it a warning dream or just a made up fictional dream?

I rub my eyes, no doubt smudging my mascara to make me look like a raccoon. "I'm sorry." Ashton says, his face filled with concern.

No one knows about my sisters death. Everyone who knew her was told she went off to boarding school. Another fact, we were twins.

"I need some air." I say getting up, but stop when the house shakes yet again with booming thunder. "Hey. You can't go outside. It's not safe. Just stand in front of the fan." He says, getting up and placing his hand on my lower back.

I nod and sit on my knees in front of the fan. "Better?" He asks as a strike of lightning lights up the room. "A little." I say, wiping the sweat from my forehead. "Good." He says, rubbing small circles on my back. I take some deep breathes, closing my eyes. It wasn't real. It was just a dream. What she said was a dream. I tell myself.

When I calm down my heartbeat, I open my eyes and stand up. "What time is it?" I ask him. He walks over and grabs his phone. "It's 6:34am." He says, unlocking his phone and looking through his messages. I don't think I can sleep anymore. I'm too scared.

I loved my sister and I'm numb to the fact she's gone and I don't want a reminder of that day in my mind.

"Who's this?" Ashton asks, holding up a photo that was laying on the side table. It was a picture of me and Kylie when we were younger. "That's my cousin, Kylie." I hit myself for using her real name, and I'm guessing Ashton caught on to something because he looks at me with a crooked head. "Okayy." He says, his emotions showing he still didn't believe me.

"You look so much alike in this pic. We're your mom and your aunt twins?" He asks. They a truly were. That's how me and Kylie became twins, from the genes.

I just nodded. "Cool. Which ones you?" He asks, looking at it closely. "Guess." I say. He points to the one on the right and that wasn't me. That was Kylie. "Nope. I'm the other one." I say, looking away from the picture, tears threatening to fall. "I need to use the restroom," I say standing up and walking towards the door to the bathroom. "Ok then." Ashton says.

I completely break down when I get to the bathroom. I try to stay as quiet as possible, the fear of Ashton finding out. I want him to like me for me. Not because he feels bad that I'm a broken person. I wipe my eyes with a piece of toilet paper and look in the mirror at myself. The black mascara is wet now, allowing it to come off easier, but I didn't succeed well in trying to remove the stains.

I do the best I can and open the door, walking out and seeing Ashton on his phone. I sit next to him and see him playing solitaire. His back is against the couch and he's sitting in the floor, his knees bent and his forearms are resting on them. I sit down next to him, putting my head on his shoulder.

I don't know where all this confidence came from because I used to be a quiet, non social, hermit type of person and now I have a guy spending the night with me in my basement and cuddling with him while it's storming.

I think I'm really starting to like Ashton and how sensitive he is. I feel like Michael has a slight crush on me too though, but he hasn't put in as much effort in getting to know me as well as Ashton, but then again, I haven't really given him any time.

"You okay?" He says, looking over at me. I lift my head up and look at him. "Yeah." I respond. I know my eyes are bloodshot, but considering it's still dark outside, he can't really see that.

He continues to play his game. I look out the window, the sun not even threatening to peak through the thick, grey clouds. I stand back up and stretch out and grab the blankets, folding them up. After Ashton finishes and wins his game, he also gets up and stretches.

"I'm hungry." He says, rubbing his belly. I laugh and wipe away a stray tear that left my cheek. "Me too." I say, folding the last blanket. "Let's go eat. And I need to find my phone." I say, mostly to myself.

We walk up the stair, thunder still echoing everywhere in the huge mansion. "We have cereal with no milk because it's probably hot now." I say. "Or pop tarts" we both decided to go with pop tarts, but not toasted, which kinda sucked.

After we eat, I get a warm water out of the refrigerator and drink it all down, now that I'm starting to get a migraine. I don't know what to do now. I'm running out of ideas.

"Can I ask you something, and you can say no if you don't want to." He says. I nod my head. "Can you play the guitar and sing for me?" He asks with pleading eyes. "Oh....um.... I don't-t k-know." I say, shuddering. I haven't preformed in front of anyone in a while.

"Please." He asks, smiling, knowing good and well that I'll give in. "Fine." I say, walking over to the trash and throwing away the wrapper. I walk up the stair, slowly, so I could gain a little bit of confidence.

"You don't have to. It's ok." He says. "No. It ok. I want to." What I'm not excited about is showing him my music room, but I think it'd be fun to let someone else who likes music use the room too.

I go to the door and stay there for a minute. The lights flicker back on slowly, and I sigh with relief. "COLD AIR!" I scream, laughing. Ashton laughs too, his smile contagious. "Why are we here? I thought your guitar was in your room." He says, looking at my curiously.

Oh yeah! I forgot I had my guitar in my room! But now that the lights are on, I can plug in my amp and play electric.

"I wanted to show you something." I say, unlocking the door with a key I hid. I tore a piece of carpet off against the wall and slid the key in the, making it not noticeable to anyone. "Where are we going?" He asks. I walk up the stairs, him following behind me. "This...." I say opening the other door. "Is my music room." I finish.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED!