Bad Love (on hold)

Chapter 9

The car ride to their house had been painfully awkward, the Francos attempting to make conversation whilst I and Caleb remained silent. His parents weren't aware of the enmity between us, it was better that way as they would probably hate me too.

Once we had reached their house, they offered to give me a tour. I couldn't say I had seen their house before, from the party a few days ago, so I reluctantly agreed. After all, I hadn't seen the upper floor which housed the bedrooms. As soon as the car came to a halt, Caleb immediately got out, not before slamming the door on his way out.

'Don't mind him Lucy.' Mrs Franco said, watching her son storm into the house. 'He has his own way of dealing with things.' She mentioned, going through the front door. The house looked much bigger when it wasn't full of drunk teenagers clutching red cups.

'I made a special dinner for tonight, I hope you like it.' She smiled at me in encouragement, before walking further. The aroma of the food spread through the air, a blend of spices interrupting the fresh flowery scent in the room.

The Francos proceeded to show me all the rooms on the first floor, giving me detailed accounts on the ancient history of the house. I tried to stay interested, but it was getting harder by the moment, considering who their son was. We then moved to the second floor, where some of the bedrooms were. She opened the door to each one, telling me which one belonged to who.

She opened the door to one bedroom, revealing Caleb lying on the bed, reading a book. 'Do you mind?' He sighed, before his Mum quickly shut the door. I felt sorry for her, having an inconsiderate, rude son must be hard work.

'This is – will be your room.' Mr Franco said, letting me step into the room first. It consisted of a king size bed with a flowery cover. There was a balcony, which overlooked the neighbourhood. A bookshelf housed a few hundred novels, an arm chair lay with a furry pillow at the side of the room, an empty dresser with a mirror that revealed our reflection at the door.

'Once you live with us, you can decorate it as you wish.' Mrs Franco said, worrying that I wouldn't like it. However, I really liked the décor of the room, clearly a lot of thought had gone into decorating the room.

'It's lovely.' I smiled, seeing their eyes warm. They instructed me to get used to the familiarity of the house, as they both needed to check on the food downstairs. Mr Franco was also a very good cook, according to his wife.

As soon as they were gone, I grabbed my phone from my backpack and noticed the missed calls Allison had given me. I phoned her again, looking around the room once more, before she finally picked up.

'You could had told me they had a son.' I started off, not even bothering to give formal, polite greetings. I was too far gone for that in the rush of anger coursing through my body. She was taken aback by my tone, before attempting to calm me down.

'I did, but you were too excited to actually ask questions about who he was.' She said, defensively. I silently cursed myself for my stupidity. In the heat of the moment, I never put two and two together to realise that the name 'Franco' was often thrown about in Caleb's presence.

'Alright, when can I go home?' I moaned, wanting to spend the rest of the evening in my room. There was too much to process, and I would rather do that in the comfort in my own surroundings.

She nervously laughed. 'Well I forgot to tell you before, but your Dad decided to enrol in the rehab clinic today. This means you have to stay in the Francos house.' She waited for my reaction. My heart skipped a beat, the man upstairs was really intent on making me suffer unfortunate surprises.

'B-but what about my clothes and belongings? You said the paperwork hadn't been completed.' I sighed, putting my head in my hands. I was tempted to place Allison in the list of people I wanted to murder at this point. Joint in first place was none other than Lady Macbeth, aka Stacy and Caleb.

'We will both go to your house tomorrow to pack your things. I sped up the paperwork within an hour, meaning you're free to stay with them officially now.' I chided her for her forwardness to thrust me into this family. I quickly rang off the phone, going over to my new bed and lying down.

I was kind of hurt that my Dad never told me he would go to the clinic today. Maybe his reaction in the morning was his way of saying a farewell to me. If it was, then it sucked considerably. I was broken away by my chain of thought by a voice telling me to come down for dinner. Oh boy, dinner with Caleb.

Me and Caleb both exited our rooms at the same time, but not before I felt him grab my wrist tightly. 'No one can know about this.' He said darkly, eyes burning daggers into mine.

'As if I would tell them.' I scoffed, pulling my hand out of his grip. I was sure there would be bruise marks by tomorrow. I walked hastily down the marble staircase, suddenly ravenous.

I made my way to the dining room, admiring the red and gold interior of the room, before choosing where to sit. The table seated four people on each side, with the heads of the family on either side. The Francos had their fair share of large dinner parties here, I presumed. I sat at the middle of the table, Caleb choosing to sit nearer to Mr Franco.

'Caleb dear, sit opposite Lucy. This seating arrangement is giving me a headache.' She laughed lightly, her OCD playing up. Caleb rolled his eyes at his mum before obeying her. He refused to look at me, instead glaring at his plate.

The food had already been set; roast potatoes, chicken, peach cobbler and chocolate rolls. 'Dig in kids.' She said, noticing the looks we were all sending towards the food she had made.

I took a bite of the chicken before exclaiming, 'Mrs Franco your food is amazing.' Caleb stole an impassive look at my remark.

'Thank you dear, but I couldn't have done this without Mr Franco.' She smiled, giving her husband a loving look. He was quick to accept the praise, earning a laugh from me and Mrs Franco.

'Please, Lucy, call me Mum.' She smiled, looking at me gently. I stopped eating the potato, suddenly feeling guilty for all of this. I had let my own mother down by willingly going to another family. She would probably be turning in her grave at my forwardness of moving on.

'Can you excuse me?' I asked, a lump forming in my throat. I didn't wait for a reply before bolting from the room. Tears were stinging my eyes, I furiously batted them away. I was aware that the noise in the dining room was halted by my departure. I made sure to stay within eyeshot of the room, in case I heard anything directed in my case.

I could hear Mr Franco reassure his wife. 'She recently lost her Mother, sweetheart. Let her warm to us in her own right.' His words fell on deaf ears, as the only sound escaping the room was the insistent noise of cutlery against food.

I went up to the stairs in defeat. Somewhere all my problems came back to me, even when I was trying to restore some normality in my life. How could I face them after my outburst? Staying in the room all night sounded like a desirable option, so that's what I did. Facing them was not an option right now.

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Caleb POV

'Babe, you can't come today. I've got....visitors.' The lie escaped my mouth easily. I was a pretty convincing liar when I needed to be. However, this girl was hard to break through. Her clinginess wasn't deemed attractive in my eyes, but I had no complaints of how she looked physically.

'I've been to your house when you had visitors before.' Stacy laughed mirthlessly, causing me to roll my eyes at her inability to back down. 'Besides, I need some comfort after that PE incident today.' She sighed.

'I'll come to your house instead.' I offered hopefully. The last thing I needed was for Stacy to realise that Lucy was staying in my house. Sure she had her own conflict with the girl, but I didn't need my parents to hear this.

'Too late, I'm in my car now.' She cackled, the loud noise causing me to wince for a second. Why was she so stubborn?

'Wait-' I proceeded, but she had rung off. I rang her phone several more times but it went straight to voicemail. I threw my phone on the bed, before kicking the foot of the bed in anger. A throbbing pain spread through my leg, making me realise my own stupidity.

But one thing was for sure, shit was going to get big tonight.