The One

Chapter 13: Dinner.

Alyssa's P.O.V

"No Shannon, something's wrong with her. I know it." I argued.

I lazily stood up from my warm, comfortable bed and stretched, my phone still hooked in between my ear and shoulder. I just woke up from a short evening nap which was my priority every Sunday.

Yes, Sunday naps were my priority.

I'd been meaning to talk to Shannon about Rowan. How she had been acting all strange of recent, like she was trying to keep something from us. I mean this was Rowan for crying out loud! She's like to last person I'd expect to keep anything from anyone because 'secrets turn you into what you're not'.

Her words not mine.

So why wasn't she following her philosophy?

"Aren't you over thinking this a bit too much, Alyssa? I mean it is Rowan we're talking about. Say there was anything bothering her that she couldn't handle, you know she'd tell us." she pointed out.

I headed towards the kitchen.

"So what you're trying to say is that there is something wrong, but she can take care of it which is why she won't tell us?" I questioned.

I know Shannon's probably right, but all I wanted was a straightforward answer. I heard her sigh from the other end of the line, obviously tired from my bombarding questions.

"Don't twist my words. I'm not sure anything is wrong per say," she paused.

I rolled my eyes, pushing open the kitchen door and freezing almost immediately.

"I'll call you back Shannon." I whispered into the phone and cut it.

He was home again, after four long days. I hadn't seen him since I skyped with mom, and once again he shows up, like it was the most completely normal thing to do.

Like he didn't leave his two kids behind.

I could feel myself growing angry, just seeing him there. He hadn't noticed me yet, he was busy... cooking?

Was he for real? I strolled silently to the fridge and opened it noisily instead. The noise startled him, making him drop the pan he was holding. He  turned around finally noticing me.

"Alyssa, I didn't see you there."

I snorted and pulled a bottle of yoghurt from the fridge, training my gaze on him as he bent to pick the pan.

I wanted to say something sarcastic about how I hadn't even seen him at all since last week, but something stopped me. I remembered our conversation with mom and he truthfully didn't deserve any form of mercy from me but mom had insisted and I had promised.

I try my best not to break promises.

"Yeah, what's going on here?" I was curious as to why he was cooking. The look of suprise on his face was a bit funny. He was obviously  expecting a reply hundred times worse than the one I gave him.

It felt good to know he was infact feeling some guilt deep down, considering the fact that he was shocked at my civil reply. Maybe he still cared underneath all that ignorance and stupidity.

"Well, Christine's coming over for dinner, so I..." I stopped listening afterwards.

He invited her over for dinner?

All the hopes of him still caring about us died along with those words. If he cared even one bit, then he could've at least asked us what we felt about it. He obviously knew we didn't like Christine, so why would he even think of doing something as foolish as inviting her over for dinner?