Little Dove (Gene x Reader) | Phoenix Drop High

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 - Humiliation

"That's my brother"

Gene gave me an odd look before bringing the picture frame closer to his face, squinting to get a closer look.

"You never told me you have a brother, Little Dove."

I took the picture from his hands and set it back on the dresser, "You never asked, Romeo."

"Back to name calling?" He laughed at me, cocking an eyebrow.

"Hey, you started it," I responded, pushing him playfully.

Gene bit his lip, eyes drifting back over toward to picture. "So, did he move away or something? Clearly, your brother isn't living here."

I turned my head as my smile dropped. I didn't want to talk about it, it was already still fresh in my head: the phone call, my mom's heartbreaking sobs.

"He- uh, Can we talk about something else? I don't really want to get into it."

Gene, sensing my distress, turned around, walking to my bookshelf. I watched him carefully as he pulled out an old black book. My heart stopped when he opened to the first page of the book, smiling mischievously.

"Give it back!" I yelped as I lunge out for him, but I fell short when he stood up, raising it above my reach. "Gene, I screeched, trying to clay my way to the book.

"Aw, look at you! So cute!"

I slumped down in defeat, covering my flushed face with my hands and crouching to the floor to hide my embarrassment.

I groaned when I heard him let out a big boisterous laugh.

"Quiet!" I hissed at him, "We're not the only ones in the house, remember?"

"Bummer," Gene pouted before turning back to the humiliating black book full of all my old childhood photos. "You were so cute, Little Dove."

"I know, what happened?" I chuckled, trying to drown my embarrassment out with jokes.

"I don't know Little Dove, but I think you got it wrong." I uncovered my face to look at him, confused to what he was getting at. "I think you're even cuter now," Gene said, sending me a wink.

My warm red face couldn't get any worse; I felt like I was suddenly locked in a sauna and I was about to burn to death.

"Gene, stop it!" I whined.

"Fine but the next time I come over, I'm going to look through the rest of this book." Gene closed the black book and put it back on the bookshelf.

"Leaving so soon, Romeo?" I asked, still screaming at myself to cool my face down.

"Unfortunately. I would love to spend the night with you, Little Dove, but I do need to get some sleep."

"Big bad Romeo needs sleep?"

"The secret to beauty is sleep."

"Clearly, you don't get enough," I rolled my eyes, pushing him toward the window he came in through.

"Ouch," Gene chuckled, putting his hand on his chest, "That one hurt."

"Yeah, well, get used to it."

"Love you too, Little Dove," Gene grinned, before climbing out of the window.

•••

I yawned as I rolled out of bed, rubbing my eyes furiously in an attempt to wake myself up. I didn't have to look in the mirror to know that I had giant dark circles under my eyes.

It was impossible to get much sleep last night with Gene's last words running through my head, playing over and over like a broken record. I couldn't stop to even think about food, which is very abnormal for me.

Then I thought about how maybe I was caring too much. Maybe I was getting too attached like a tick on a dog. I shook my head, trying to get rid of that horrid thought.

I was worried, to say the least. Worried that everything would start to crumble underneath my fingers again. Worried that there would be another late night phone call. Worried that I would be left alone again, not able to find a way back up.

What's a world without worry?

If you worry about something, that means that you care in one way or another. If you worry about something then you're more apt to work hard to accomplish it. A world without worry would be a world without success.

I felt like banging my head on the wall, anything to stop my brain from constantly rambling. When I don't get sleep, it's either I'm zoned out all day or my brain is so scattered that I can't focus. There really is no in between.

I groaned and stood up from my bed, trudging doesn't he stairs and into the kitchen where my mom was already awake with waffles set on the counter.

"I figured you were up late last night with all the commotion I heard," My mom spoke up, having me a pointed look.

I was toast. Was I really caught with Gene during the middle of the night? It really wouldn't surprise me with how loud we were being.

"If you wanted to invite your friend over, you should have just told me."

I grabbed the plate of waffles and started to eat, keeping my head down. There really was no hiding it. "You heard us?"

"Of course I did, but I didn't want to embarrass you." I smiled at her, grateful for how good of a mother I have. "Who were you with though?"

Now comes the hard part. Did she really not know that was Gene? Are you kidding me? She probably would have kicked him out in an instant if she knew it was him.

"A friend from school," I shrugged, stuffing the rest of my waffle in my mouth to avoid any more conversation. "I'm going to go get ready, have fun at work mom!" I said, sprinting up the stairs, my heart pounding.

༺༒༻

So I haven't proofread this at all, I'm just going to publish it because I'm a rebel. It's actually mainly because I haven't updated in over 2 months now whOOPS.

I'm sorry for being so inactive lately but I will hopefully now have more free time if everything goes well. I don't have any more ACT class so now all I have to worry about is my APUSH class and band.

I hope you all liked this chapter! Like always, it was fun to write. Get ready for the ride though. I'm planning to stir things up soon. ;)