Invisible

Chapter 3

The smoke alarm suddenly went off. We all got up and started to walk toward the door.

"Everyone relax!" Mom yelled. "I just burnt the cupcakes. No need to be alarmed!" We all just burst out laughing.

"Yep, just like our mom!" Matt said. "Always burning our food." The alarm stopped, and Mom came into the living room with a tray of charred cupcakes and said, "Afternoon snack is served." It couldn't have been funnier when she said it with a straight face.

Then Matt walked up to her and grabbed a cupcake and took a bite. "Yum!" he said after swallowing the first bite. "These are delicious!" He took another bite. In two minutes he managed to eat the entire thing. I just hoped he could hold it down.

"Oh, quit being so modest," Mom told him.

"I'm not. These actually are really good. Try one!" Mom set down the tray and removed a cupcake, unconvinced. Addison and I each took one, as well. We bit into them at the same time. "Mmmm..." we said almost as if it were planned.

"These are good," I said, surprised. "What recipe did you use, Mom?"

"Oh, a new one. I found it on the internet right after you texted me."

"Well, it's a keeper. I wonder if they'll taste better if they're not burnt." I grabbed another. Matt was on his third, eating it in quick, neat bites.

"Help yourselves. I'll go make another batch and try not to burn them, but no promises."

I grabbed the tray and took it to the couch. I sat down, not wanting to drop them, and Addison sat on one side of me and Matt on the other. Once again, my heart hopped and I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach. That time my entire face turned red and I set down my cupcake to hide it before Matt noticed. He laughed. Too late, I thought. Then he took my hand away from my face. I stared at him with one eye and took the other hand off my face. He put a finger under my chin and turned my face toward his and smiled back. My face wasn't red anymore but my cheeks were still pink.

"Well, I'll just go to the kitchen and leave you two lovebirds alone." Addison said teasingly. Neiter of us argued. I pulled my face shyly away and stared at my lap. My boxer, Asher, came trotting in the house from her afternoon run, saw Matt, and immediately came up to say hi. I was really glad she decided that that was the right time to come back. Matt turned his attention to her.

"Who's this?" he asked me.

"That's Asher. She's just a suck, isn't she?" I replied. She was resting her head on Matt's lap as he stroked it. I started petting her, and after just a few seconds, Matt's hand brushed over mine and I stopped, resting my hand on Asher's head, Matt's hand on mine. I glanced up, but Matt was staring at my hand. He lifted it, then studied my ring.

"When Dad told me we were moving," I began, not sure Matt heard me, "he slipped it on my finger and told me that this was a symbol of home. He had had it specially made from a piece of my crib when I was a baby, deciding he would give it to me when I grew into it." Matt nodded. He slipped it off my finger, slowly, gently. I shivered.

"I wish my dad had done this for me..." he wandered, still studying the ring. "He left us on our seventh birthday."

"Oh, Matt..." I didn't know what to say. I hugged him, thinking that would cheer him up. He gently wrapped his arms around me, just like the way he had taken off the ring.

Mom had a knack for walking in and making things awkward for everyone. She strolled in with a tray of perfectly cooked cupcakes. "Well," she said, surprised. Matt and I quickly let go of eachother and he gave me back my ring. Mom tiptoed over and set down the cupcakes. I didn't notice Addison until after Mom left and she finally spoke.