Fascinated by Him

Chapter Thirty Five - Sister Time

** This chapter has been edited.

It didn't take long for the mask of happiness to slip off. For everything to come crashing back into our lives. All those happy memories would soon be forgotten, shrouded by the events that would take place. I had no idea what was to come. I was only riding the bliss of our vacation away - everyone was.

          The Sunday before Ben and I went back to school was great. More than great. It felt as if everything was finally falling into place. I'd put everything that had gone wrong into the back of my mind, believing it was over with. Luke wasn't having problems at home lately, with his dad mostly gone. The problems at our home were almost non-existent. I'd never seen our parents get along so well since we were kids. They were serious about working things out.

           They were so serious, that we sat down for supper on that Sunday - we ate as a family for once. Our parents asked us about our time at the cabin, never once disapproving of things we said. There was even laughter between them. It was the closest we had ever got along in forever. There were moments that Ben and I shared a look, wondering if this was real or not. I could read the look on his face like he could mine.

           But it lasted. It lasted all week, and I started giving up on the fact that I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong. Instead, I started to get excited about the end of the year. The girl and I chatted excitedly about our prom night, wondering what we were going to wear and if they would have good music playing. There were girls wondering what our prom theme was going to be and the kids at school started a poll on which theme we wanted.

           The week we got back I applied to both universities like I said I would. Hoping all the while I was going to get into Septon. I knew Em and Liv were both planning to apply to Septon, too. They wanted to get away from home. It couldn't happen soon enough. Liv's younger brother tended to drive her crazy - she loved him - but he drove her crazy like any pre-teen brother did. I knew Emma just wanted to get out in the world and if that meant going to school two hours away from our hometown, then that was perfect for her.

           Some of the other guys were going to other places. I knew Finn and Elliot applied to places farther away. The only ones that opted to stay were Luke, Ben, Ethan, and Mickey. That didn't mean that they were going to stay here and we made a promise to each other that afternoon we left the cabin - that we would keep in touch. We promised that every year we would come back to Finn's cabin, to have time to see each other; that we would make time to see each other.

           The week we came back went great and so did the weekend. I spent time with Ben and our parents. I spent school with all our friends, and even Alexis left everyone alone. The end of the year coming up kept everyone busy. We didn't have room to fight with each other. I managed to spend time with Luke - alone, which wasn't really easy with my parents and Ben. Everyone was constantly around. It wasn't something I was used to. I was trying to get used to the fact that mom and dad were around more. They went back to work but scaled back on their work hours. If I was being honest with myself, it was really nice not to have an empty house anymore.

           Luke and I made plans on a Wednesday to spend time with his little sister. He usually spends some days after school with Isabella and he invited me to come along with them. I was a bit nervous to be around his sister. She was nice when we first met, but I was worried she wouldn't like me. Kids could be so unpredictable.

Pulling into Luke's driveway, I immediately spot two vehicles already parked in the driveway. I recognize Luke's car but wasn't familiar with the sleek silver one sitting next to it. I hoped it was another nanny for Isabella and not who I thought it could be. I could go our entire relationship without seeing that man, and I prayed it stayed that way.