Metamorphosis

Burned

Chapter 31

Burn

Paige had just returned home from a trip to the mall when she saw a text message on her phone from Mira. Her heart sped up momentarily as she opened it.

I'm sorry about our fight. To make it up to you, I want to have a girl's day tomorrow. Come over to my house around noon.

The platinum blonde sighed in relief and texted back; sure.

Paige walked into the kitchen and was in the middle of making a salad when Zack walk in through the back door, his arm around a teary-eyed Marli.

"Its ok," he said to the crying girl. Paige frowned.

"What's wrong?"

Marli's blue eyes narrowed dangerously, reminding Paige again how much she looked like Mira.

"None of your business." The younger girl snapped angrily before Zack began leading her away from the kitchen.

But that didn't mean that Paige missed the icy stare her brother shot at her.

Paige shrugged it off, assuming it was some stupid preteen thing.

Seth had just gotten out of the shower and was stepping into his pants when his phone vibrated from the bed. He picked it up and saw it was a text from Mira.

You and I need to have our important conversation. Be at my house tomorrow at noon. Ok?

He let out the breath he did not even know he was holding and sent a text to her saying he would be there.

For the last several hours, all he could feel was guilt. His stomach muscles were clenched so tightly that they hurt.

Seth could only think of a handful of times he regretted sleeping with a girl- Mira was one of them- but regret was not even a strong enough word to cover what he was feeling.

He had thought of every excuse in the book; it meant nothing, he was drunk, Mira had lied to him, he was just being who he was...

But none of them seemed appropriate for his actions.

Seth was not one to feel guilty, but in this case, it seemed to be his only emotion.

Mira stared at the webpage in front of her. Her finger hovered over the mouse button. One little click... and she could get away from all the hurt in this city.

She knew that her visitors would be arriving soon, so she stood up from the computer and pulled on a dark purple maternity shirt.

Mira had seen the purple shirt at the mall and immediately fell in love. It was a tunic with wide kimono sleeves, a tie around waist, and plenty of room for her growing bump.

And at almost five months pregnant, Mira needed all the room she could get.

Smoothing her hands over her tummy, she stared at her reflection. Since she read that paper yesterday she had been praying that it was wrong.

Because, honestly, she didn't know how many more hits of betrayal her sanity could take.

Paige stopped her car in front of her best friend's house. She grabbed her purse from the front seat, sauntered up the snow-plowed front walk and up to the porch and rang the doorbell.

She almost had a heart attack when Seth Elsen answered the door.

When Seth had showed up at Mira's house, he immediately knew that something was wrong with her. She was pale, for one thing, and she seemed oddly distant and quiet.