「 FRATERNIZING WITH THE ENEMY 」

38 | "Don't be such a party pooper"

"Let's go out tonight!" Dylan whined as him, Kyle, Megan, Mia, Chase, and Liam entered our house when Noah and I were watching television on Wednesday night.

"It's a school night," I pointed out,

"Thanks for reminding me, grandma" Dylan said rolling his eyes and I flipped him off,

"Let's go eat at Pop's" Liam suggested,

"What's Pop's?" Noah asked,

"Have you been living under a rock?" Megan laughed, joining Noah on the couch and grabbing some chips out of the bowl he sat with.

"Pop's is that new restaurant that opened up last week" Kyle explained whilst grabbing some chips and sitting next to Noah,

"What're you watching?" Mia asked, sitting on the couch next to me,

"The Fault in our Stars" I explained,

"Ooh! Are you up to the part when-" Chase said as he sat doesn't next to Mia,

"Shh! No spoilers we just started!" I said,

"You haven't watched The Fault in our Stars yet?!" Liam exclaimed, plopping down in between Megan and Mia,

"And you have?" I asked him and he gave me a sheepish smile in return,

"I think we better get going then we don't wanna miss-" Dylan started but Kyle cut him off,

"Shh! This is the part where she meets Ansel Elgort!" Kyle yells while throwing a chip at Dylan, which hits him square on the forehead,

"I guess we're not going out then," Dylan muttered as he begrudgingly took a seat beside us.

***

"What the fuck do you mean you know how she is?!" Noah yelled over the phone to Logan,

Apparently Beth had been hospitalized again.

Logan had called a few minutes after Dylan, Kyle, Liam and Chase went home for the night, Mia and Megan were staying over.

"She's your-" he paused to look over at me before his toned softened, "I- I'm coming over there",

"Don't pull that shit over me Ryder" Noah growled and Megan went over to him, rubbing his back comfortingly.

Noah looked over at me again, "I won't," he said before he walked into the kitchen to continue his conversation, you could still here Noah's loud voice but it was muffled by the space between us.

The silence was deafening as was the wait, I felt so helpless sitting here and waiting for news on Beth because I had no freaking idea about what was happening and I hated every god damn second of it.

"She's going to be alright" Mia reassured me as I played with the locket around my neck,

I hummed in response.

"You know I always see you that locket around your neck, it's so cute" Mia gushed and I felt my throat tighten, "What's in it?"

I didn't trust my mouth to form a simple sentence so I took off the locket and opened it up for her, she studied the picture for a few moments before her eyes widened and she realized that it was a picture of myself, Noah, my sister and my parents a few years ago.

Her eyes drifted off into the distance, "You know before you came none of us knew what to expect- not even Noah. I mean he hadn't seen you for five years and after what you too have been through I'd never expected you to be like this",

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" I joked and she laughed lightly,

"It's definitely a compliment... You know as soon as Megan turned legal, my parents left us by ourselves because they couldn't afford to care for us" she said, tears brimming her eyes,