Undeniable Temptations

Part 3

Slipping on my white tank top over my leggings I headed down the hall to Alden's room fixing his clothes that I folded from the laundry room. Alden never kept his room tidy whenever he had to go out on a trip. He would leave his clothes on the floor and all his shoes tossed around from the corners of the room. Shaking my head at his poor choice to clean his room I quickly headed out hearing some commotion outside.
Squinting my eyes at the sun I notice our mailbox filled with envelopes. It looked like it was about to explode any second. My feet started to burn from the heat as I rushed down the cemented sidewalk shoving all the letters towards my chest. I swiftly moved into the house through all the chairs tossing all the letters onto the table. Most of the letters were junk mail or advertisements for some sale going on in a grocery store. Neatly I placed all the letters in a pile then went straight to the living room. It was already late afternoon so Alden should be here soon. He couldn't stop texting me about being home to tell me about the nerd convention he went to. If he were here he would defend the convention saying it wasn't a nerd convention and it helped him with his job, which is all lies.
I sprawled myself across the couch grabbing my phone scrolling through my social media. Luckily there wasn't much going on in the world except for the fact that everyone is talking about the countdown to Ariana Grande's album. Strongly I believed that Ariana Grande's will top the charts because her voice is absolutely amazing and speechless in a good way whenever you listen to it. I'm a huge fan of hers, but I never got to see her in person before. It would mean the world if I actually got to meet her one day. Her voice always gave me chills down my spines and I'm always dancing to her music. There was about month or two left until it was released and it was driving me bananas because I really want to hear her album already.
After mindlessly reading comment about the new album I heard the door jingle open in hopes that it was Alden. A voice calls out from the distance which doesn't sound like Alden's at all. It was too high pitched to be his voice and all to familiar to me. Getting myself to my feet I walked out through the living room finding a tall Asian dirty blonde taking off her sandals.
"Excuse me, Miss! You're trespassing." I said firmly.
Her soft hair swings past me over her tan shoulders. Her dark brown eyes meeting my soft ones as a cheeky smiles forms on her lips matching mine. She stretches her arm towards me running after me. "KATE!!" She shouts hurling herself at me.
"LAUREN!!" I shouted as she wrapped her arms around me. Pulling me into a close and tight embrace. Lauren was supposed to come back from Australia next weekend. I didn't understand why she wanted to leave early. It made me wonder if something happened back in Australia with her family, but then again I really miss Lauren and we had a lot to catch up on.
"Did you get taller? You seem taller." Lauren questioned, her eyes rolling up and down my small figure.
"Maybe you got shorter." I teased back giggling. She pulled me back into her embrace again. Her arms never left me until we sat on the couch. She edged her body more towards me as we catches up on the latest gossip in the neighborhood and from all our friends. There wasn't much gossip, except for the fact that one of the girls from our graduating class was pregnant and she was probably going to turn down her scholarship to her favorite college because of it.
  Lauren sets her hands on my arm squeezing it lightly. Her eyes going into a darker shade of brown if that's even possible. There was an uneasy expression on her face. I think I knew what she was going to ask, but I was to afraid to confront her about it. "Kate,  I heard you and Nathan are off again. What happened?"
  Releasing a frustrated sigh I slid her hands down from arms. Playing with my fingers in my lap. The thought of that night made me want to cringe all over again. It was just a giant mess. I took a deep breath then said "Nathan came over that day and started yelling at Alden to see me then threw punches at him. Afterwards he tried to drag me out of the house to talk and give me his bullshit of an excuse that he didn't mean it and wanted to make out in his car. When I refused him he came back after me and slapped me then he started insulting me like usual."
    Lauren sat there silently speechless. I knew she didn't know how to react to this. No one ever understood or knew how to react to Nathan. She rubbed my arm softly giving me a sympathetic weak grin. Her mind floated around trying to string a sentence together. I laid my hand on top of hers smirking at her.
"Kate, I'm... I'm so sorry." She finally managed to say.
"Lauren, you don't have to be sorry. You did nothing wrong." I chuckled weakly at her. I felt the tears stinging my eyes again. Biting my bottom lip I tried to hold back all the emotions I was feeling.
"Yes, I do, Kate! I'm your best friend and I should've done something about it!" She said defensively punching her suddenly curled fist into the couch. Her body tensed with anger. Frustration and worry was wiped across her face. "I should've been there to protect you from that moron!"
"Lauren, it's whatever. I don't really care anymore. Can we just stop talking about it? Nathan already called it off between us for now and if he comes back the he comes back." Sounding more flustered than I expected. Running my hands through my dark brown hair.
"He better not come back because if he does then I'm gonna kick someone's butt!" Lauren grit her teeth at the thought. She sighs releasing all her anger and frustration towards the situation. Her muscles loosen and her body relaxes a little. "Anyways did you hear a new family is moving in a few blocks across the street?" Her voice calm and peppy like she wasn't angry two seconds ago.
"Nope, I've been at home for the past two days avoiding the world since the moron came and made a scene. Do you know anything about the family?" My body falling deeper into the seat on the couch.
"According to my mom the family is just two people. I believe the mom and her son. I don't know much except for that. We'll find out what their reputation is in the neighborhood when they finally settle in. I kinda hope her son is hot." Lauren half giggles imagining him. I rolled my eyes when she mention the word reputation. I hated that word with a passion.
"Lauren! You have a boyfriend so stop fantasizing over our new neighbor. You don't even have enough information on the family." Pushing her body down, playfully. "Why do we have to base everyone off reputation in this neighborhood?" I huffed looking at her hard in the eyes.
Reputation was one of the things I hated about this neighborhood. Whenever you were new to the neighborhood they would be polite and nice to you, but they'll try to figure something odd about you or dishonorable about your family. It's not like the neighborhood is judging you, it's just they figured something out about you and try to be sensitive towards you about it. Others would either avoid you giving the cold shoulder or they would humiliate you about it. Either way it wasn't pretty. Luckily the neighbors that surround our house were very kind and helpful to me and Alden, especially Lauren and her family when we moved down here a few years ago. Maybe that's why we are best friend to this day.
After Lauren tried to defend herself about fantasizing over our future new neighbor we heard the door jingle open. The clicking sound of luggages being rolled in made my heart jump. Alden and Maine are home. We both turned our heads finding Alden murmuring to himself in frustration while Maine trailed behind him in agony. There was a fierce expression in his eyes. He tossed himself against the counter gripping the edge of it tightly.
"Hi Alden. Hi Maine." I smiled walking into the kitchen. There was a weird tension in the air. It almost suffocated me.
Alden didn't care to respond seeing he was already angry. Frustrated at someone as he continued to murmur curse words to himself like no one was in the room. "Hi Kate. Hi Lauren. Please excuse your brother he's only angry from earlier." Maine apologetically smirked at us.
"What happened earlier?" I asked looking at her as I pulled myself into the kitchen counter.
Alden exhaled a deep breath clenching his fist together before he finally decided to speak "Some idiotic teenager hit the back of the car. He was in rush to leave or get to wherever that he hit the car. When we went to exchange information he was such an asshole and rude. He didn't want to exchange information and was aggravated that I was wasting his time." His eyes rolling to the side. He pounded his fist into the white tiles of the countertop. "I swear if I see his moron face I'm gonna throw a punch at him."
"Did you hear we have new neighbors moving into the neighborhood in a few days?" Trying to change the heated subject. Clearly it worked because Alden's mood shifted from anger and frustration to curious and calm. Lauren started to tell him about the new neighbors. Alden started to argue about the whole reputation thing in the neighborhood. Alden and I hated the fact that some neighbors would just give you a random reputation. It was never something easy to talk about because many people would find it offensive and annoying. I'm one of those people including Alden.
We went from talking about new neighbors to talking about their trip to Vegas. Maine talked about how many cute guys tried to come up to her, but Alden would block their view and stand in front of Maine with his arm around her stealing kisses from her. Usually that would turn them away from her, but that didn't stop Maine from being polite toward them. She constantly had to remind him that those boys were nothing compared to him. I didn't know Alden could get so jealous. It was kinda ironic because he kept telling me to trust Nathan and what not when it came to girls when we dated.
    Alden quickly changed the subject from Maine's fantasy of cute boys to talking about his convention.  He talked about how the place was packed with people. It felt like a shoe box when they tried to walk around the venue. However he said the food was amazing despite the fact that it was stuffy and limited space around him. Many people were able to recognize him from the distance. Always walking up to him for a picture since he's supposedly he was named the hottest CEO in New York. Whatever that means. I could imagine the place being packed with many people trying to get a picture with Alden even though Maine was there. I'm guessing they both go jealous of each other when some random guy or girl went up to them. It makes me miss that feeling of actually being loved for who you are and not being a tossing toy like I was with Nathan.
"Kate, are you okay? You've seen a bit weird today." Alden smiles breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Huh? Oh I'm fine. Just over thinking some things." I mumbled rubbing my temples with my fore finger.
"Would I be able to cheer you up with some presents?" Grabbing a large bag from his luggage filled with wrapped gifts.
   He places the bag on the couch in front of us. Laying all the gifts out to see which one belonged to who. Maine helps Alden fix the gifts then slides a stack of wrapped gifts in front of Lauren. Alden hands me three boxes encouraging me to open them. It doesn't take me long to rip open the gifts. Each box was filled with a pair of shorts that I've been dying to have, a tank top or shirt and a pair of shoes or sandals. Glancing up at Alden giving him a confused look. His eyes meet mine and there was sympathy in his eyes. He must have thought about mom and dad when he went shopping for me. He was trying to keep himself distracted from thinking about it like how I listen to music to keep myself from thinking about it. I sat in his lap hugging him tightly. He joins in my embrace hugging me tightly.
"Thank you for always being there for me." I whispered into his ear, burying my face into his left shoulder.
"You know I'll always be here for you." He smiled rubbing my back in comfort. "Just promise me you'll try to stay single for a while. Please, I can't keep up with all these boys coming in your life."
"Promise."
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