The Bad Boy's Sister

Chapter 14 - Boys Are So Confusing

Boys are so confusing.

Why, you may ask? It's simple enough, really. They handle their emotions so much differently than girls. When girls have a problem, we usually sulk, shed some tears, and we avoid people. Not Jace. Jace gets all social and he relives his title of Oakland High's bad boy. Ever since our little incident with Mom, he's been absolutely awful. Jake has even noticed and he doesn't live with the scoundrel.

It's the Friday after our incident and Jace claims he has some other things to attend to, so Jake offers to drive me home. It's really just the perfect excuse to hang out with me, right? I certainly don't mind at all.

"What should we do today?" I ask as we throw our backpacks down by the stairs. I put my arms out in front of me and stretch while he adjusts his lovely hair with his fingers.

"Anything you want, sweetheart," he says. He's so sweet, I can't even handle it sometimes.

"You should choose for once. I always choose and I'm out of ideas," I admit, pouting.

"You know what I'm going to say, though, don't you?"

"'Anything with you, Sam'," I say, imitating his voice. He lets out a small chuckle and brings me into another hug.

"You know me so well," he smiles, petting my hair down.

"Well I hope I do," I say. "After all, you are my boyfriend."

"Yep," he nods. I wrap my arms around his and hold him around his waist while he continues to pet my head gently. It's times like these that are really nice. I can't help but laugh when his stomach lets out a loud growl.

"The king has spoken," I joke. "Would you like a snack?"

"You know what? I would love one," he nods, grinning. I let go of him and we walk into the kitchen to find a quick snack. I don't know if there's much in there at the moment, but anything will do. If all else fails, I guess we could go to the grocery store for a little bit.

I look in the fridge while Jake leans back against the counter, chilling. I find some yogurt along with a couple of string cheese sticks. Hopefully he won't mind it too much. I pull two yogurts and two sticks out, handing Jake one of each, and I'm just about to pop the lid off my yogurt when I hear a banging noise from upstairs. Jake and I both jump, but he recovers quickly. My heart picks up like a helicopter.

"What was that?" I gasp. "It came from upstairs."

"Could it be Cody?" Jake suggests, dipping his spoon into his yogurt.

"I didn't see the car he uses out in the front, but it could be. I think I'm going to check it out."

"Would you like me to come with you?" he asks. He looks really calm and it almost surprises me. Jace is more overwhelmed about things than he is.

"Nah, it's okay. I'll just hurry. You can sit down on the couch and flip on the television if you get bored. I'll be right back," I say, jogging toward the staircase. My feet fly underneath me as I run all the way up and head toward my parent's bedroom. That's where the noise originated from at least.

When I walk in, my dad's office is wide open. I get a really hopeful feeling that maybe, just maybe my father is finally home when I'm not asleep. It's been days and even weeks since I saw him and I miss him a lot. Maybe one of these days I'll go see him at the hospital in between his surgery appointments. But right now would be better.

"Dad?" I ask, peeking my head in the door. It isn't my dad though, that's for sure. My jaw drops when I see who it is and I put my hand over my mouth. Casey?!