Conspicuous Secrets

Chapter Seventeen

I posted chapters 16-17 so make sure you read them in order!

At lunch, I didn't speak much. Now thinking back on it, most of my time was spent yawning.

"How about you go to the nurse's office and get some sleep before you try going back to class?"

I shook my head and held my hand over my mouth as I yawned again. "I'll sleep when I get home."

Happening to glance behind Aria, who was sitting in front of me, I spotted the one and only Miles Anderson staring rudely at me. As always. An arrogant smirk pulled at the corners of his lips as he stood from his seat. Just a moment later, he was standing beside me, at the end of our lunch table. "Why does the little lady look like she hasn't slept?" he questioned with an annoying grin on his face.

"Lay off, Miles," Kason growled from the seat beside me.

The blonde boy shrugged and looked at his nemesis. "I'm just curious," he replied.

"Why?" my brother joined in. "Just go away. What goes on with us is none of your business."

Miles, however, clearly didn't see a problem with it. "Why? I know nothing about the girl." I hated how he was talking like I wasn't sitting directly in front of him.

"Yeah well, curiosity killed the cat," I retorted.

It was then when he finally looked down at me with his deceiving green eyes. "There's more to come," he told me directly without any context. After staring at me for a moment longer while my baby-blue eyes silently questioned him, he turned around and walked out of the lunch.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Marla asked from the other side of the table.

I looked at my brother who shared the same confused expression as my own. I didn't need to hear the words, to know he was thinking exactly what I was.

"Did he have something to do with last night?" Kason whispered lowly in my ear.

I shook my head. "No, he had nothing to do with last night," I admitted honestly.

He nodded and going by the look in his eyes, I knew that he knew I was telling the truth.

#

I had been lying in bed since I had gotten home from school, but I still couldn't sleep. My racing mind was overpowering the exhaustion. Climbing out of bed, I trudged my way into the living room, where my brother was sitting. He heard me walk in. "Hey, I invited Marla over," he informed me. "I hope you don't mind."

I waved it off. "I don't care. Just try to keep it down while I'm trying to sleep."

He nodded and glanced back at me while I slipped on a pair of sneakers. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get sleeping pills."

"Want me to go with you? Or I can call Kason. He would go with you," he said all too quickly.

I shook my head immediately as I finished slipping on my shoes. "No, I'll be fine."

"But he's been watching us—he might—."

Shaking my head again, I spoke, "He won't. Not today. He wouldn't leave all that crap on our doorstep and then show up a day later. He's creepier than that." I grabbed my keys off the counter. "He'll wait a while like a psychopath."

"Then why can't you fall asleep without worrying yourself?" I ignored his refute and walked to the front door. "Call me even if you feel slightly uncomfortable. I don't care where you are, or if it is just a slight feeling of being followed—just call me, okay?"

I nodded, knowing I would in an instant. "I will."

I went and picked up a bottle of sleeping pills without a single problem. The grocery store wasn't busy and I even took a few extra minutes to have a conversation with the cashier, who seemed to be having a bad day. I had taken the time to go to the store on the other side of town, just for the opportunity to have more isolated alone time. When everything seemed to be going wrong, it always seemed that a little bit of time by myself was good for my state of mind.

On the way out of the grocery store with my one item in a small bag, I spotted a lit up fountain in the middle of the parking lot. It made the older store look nicer than it actually was. Grabbing the change I had been given back from my purchase, I tossed them into the sparkling water and silently made a wish, just like I used to when Gavin and I were kids. "I wish for everyone around me to remain safe," I thought. Hoax or not, it made the chance seem a little more hopeful.

By the time I pulled back into my driveway, my quick twenty-minute trip had turned into an hour. As I walked through the front door, I heard my brother race to meet me from the living room. "Delilah, what took you so long?" he asked, sounding worried.

I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped when Marla walked in from the living room. She had heard him say my real name. Frozen in place, the only thing running through my mind was "He slipped up. He slipped up..." My eyes diverted between the both of them, panicking, and not knowing how to fix it. I could lie and say Delilah is my middle name. She might believe me if we said my family only calls me that...but then again, if that were the case, he would've called me that before in front of them all.

"It's okay," my brother spoke up. "She knows," he told me.

I remained frozen, freaking out even more. "What?"

"Gavin told me the truth," Marla informed me.

My heart was pounding hard in my chest as if it would explode if it went any faster. "How much?" I asked more to my older brother than her.

His shoulders dropped, knowing I wouldn't like the next words to pass his thin lips. "I told her everything."

His words stabbed me in the chest and stopped me from breathing. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, she knows every detail about everything that's ever happened to us."

Everything. She knows every detail.

"What happened to 'telling people is a horrible idea'?" I raised my voice to a yell.

Marla raised her hands as if she were taming an animal. "It's okay," she said. "I'm not mad or anything."

Honestly, I didn't care if she was mad or not. It wasn't her fault that my brother decided to open his mouth and spill all our secrets. "It isn't your secret to tell," I told the boy standing in front of me.

"Actually, it is," he replied calmly. "It's ours."

"That's exactly why you should've asked me first!"

"I did, Delilah!" he finally raised his voice. "But you were so persistent on dealing with all of this ourselves! We can't! We can't, Delilah! We are going to end up dead if you don't realize that we are in need of help!" I stared at him, breathing heavily. Without a word, I turned to walk down the hallway and to my room. "Delilah—," he started.

"I need sleep, Gavin," I interrupted him as calmly as I could. "I don't have the energy to deal with your bad decisions right now."

***

So Gavin told Marla everything... 

Was this a good idea or a bad idea on his part?

Will this cause a rift between him and his sister?

Did Marla promise to keep their secret or will she end up telling others?

Thanks for reading!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter:) If you did, don't forget to VOTE!

Next two chapters will be posted on 7/6/18

~Emily