Hatred / l.h ✔️

43

~Iris' POV~

The drive was incredibly quiet, neither of us speaking to one another for the entirety of the ride. I could feel Andy's anger radiating off of him even as he pulled into the driveway of mom's house, but I refused still to say anything or look at him. When he unlocked the doors, I got out and immediately walked away, heading inside with him hot on my heels.

"Where the hell are you going?" Andy snapped from behind me, slamming the front door shut. I rolled my eyes and turned to face him, my hand gripping the railing of the stairs. "To my room. Is that okay with you?" I mocked, which only made him glare at me. He clenched his jaw, locking the front door. "You don't get to be a bitch to me. You know I have every right to be mad at you and Luke." He stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

I just stared back at him, my lips pursed unhappily. "And I don't get to be mad at you?" I asked, frowning.

Andy snorted. "No, you don't." He said, shaking his head. "Andy..." I sighed, dropping my hand away from the stair railing. "I might've not made the right choice in not telling you, I know that, but you're not being fair, either. You didn't even give us the chance to talk to you about it." I said quietly. "I don't want to talk about it, Iris." He stated. "Hell, I don't need to. I know him. I just don't want to see you get hurt." He sighed, a frown on his lips. He looked genuinely upset, as if he really thought Luke would've hurt me. He actually didn't think that Luke loved me.

A quiet sigh left my lips and I crossed my arms over my chest, looking down at the ground. Sure, his heart was in the right place, but he hadn't acted right in the situation. He thought Luke would hurt me, but he was the one who fucked it all up by reacting like he did.

"That isn't fair. You just automatically assume that Luke has the worst intentions and it's not like that!" I defended, my brows furrowing in frustration. Andy bit his cheek, staring at me in thought for a moment. "How do you know that, though?" He asked me, raising a brow. I stared at him right back, now frowning. I didn't know how to properly explain myself to him.

"I...just do, Andy. If Luke wanted just to use me, don't you think he'd make that clear? You said you know him, but do you really think he treats me like all of the other girls he's bed before?" I pointed out, to which he pursed his lips and looked away from me. "He doesn't," He admitted, looking up at me once again. "But don't you think that might have something to do with you being my sister? You know just as well as me that if he had treated you bad on top of it, I'd have given him a lot worse than what he got."

At his words, I just stared at him, shocked. Even with the small point he'd just made, I still didn't think he was right. I knew that Luke loved me. Something in me just was absolutely sure of it and I couldn't be convinced otherwise, especially not by Andy, not after the way he'd reacted.

Before I could respond, mom came walking into the room and the two of us directed our attention over to her, going silent. "Oh." She blinked in surprise, her gaze switching between the two of us. "What are you two doing here? You weren't supposed to be back for at least another month." She mentioned, her brows furrowing in confusion. I just kept quiet, biting my cheek as I looked at her. "Iris was feeling homesick and wanted to come back." Andy lied, glancing over at me.

Mom frowned. "Well, where are her bags?" She asked, confused. I still didn't answer. "Cassie said she'd bring them when she came here." Andy answered, lying yet again. I knew that she would bring them for me, but I also knew she hadn't said that. Once she realized I'd been dragged back home, she'd probably come back as well, knowing her. Even if she didn't, though, that'd be okay. I didn't want to ruin her summer by making her come back just because I was forced to.

I turned around and headed upstairs, deciding I was finished talking to both mom and Andy, even though I hadn't actually spoken to mom. I just wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, really. Instead, I just retired my room for the rest of the night.

**

Andy and I didn't talk for a week, nor did I talk to anyone else. I wanted badly to talk to Luke, but I didn't have his phone number. It had never occurred to me to ask for it, considering he and I were in the same cabin and I could've spoken to him whenever I wanted. Now, though, I found myself wishing I had asked for it.

After about a week, though, I decided I should probably stop ignoring mom and Connor. This decision only came about when Connor came into my room one day, a frown on his face. "Iris?" He asked from my doorway, standing shyly with a basketball in his hands. I looked up from my laptop as I sat in my bed, pausing the music I was listening to. "What?" I sighed, raising a brow at him. I'd been in quite a bad mood the past week.

"Can we play?" He asked, holding up his basketball to show it to me. There was a pleading look on his face and, for a second, I almost refused. He must've seen that coming, however, because he spoke before I could turn him down. "Please? Mom is busy and Andy won't." He pleaded, holding the basketball close to his chest.

I stared at him for a second, now feeling very guilty. Andy had been in an even worse mood than I'd been since we got back home. He used to have absolutely no problem in playing games with Connor, but lately he'd been a bit of a dick.

Connor waited patiently for me to answer, a little frown tugging at his lips as he stared at me. I already knew I was going to, but I was still feeling guilty, so I had a hard time answering. "Of course. Let's go." I agreed softly, sending him a smile as I shut my laptop. A large grin formed on his face as I slid out of my bed and he turned and ran out of my room happily. He'd probably been feeling bored and lonely the past few days and it made me feel awful.

I pulled on my converse and followed him downstairs and out into the driveway, where we usually would play. When he wanted to play with the basketball, we usually just bounced it back and forth between each-other since we didn't have a net. It was a fairly simple game, but it seemed to entertain him enough each time, so I didn't mind at all.

Connor took his stance towards the front of the driveway while I was at the end, not wanting him to have his back to the street. As he and I began to play, I managed to both pay attention to playing and also drift off into thought.

Cassie had texted me the day that I left, although a few hours after I'd been gone. She was in a complete panic and asking a bunch of questions, being that everyone there had figured out that Luke and I had had sex. It seemed she hadn't figured it out like I had thought, but obviously she knew now. After I'd talked it out with her and explained everything that had gone down and why I wasn't there, she had immediately said she'd come home.

Unfortunately for her, though, I refused. It wasn't that I didn't want to see her or something, not at all. It was just that I knew she had been having a good time there, and I didn't want her to have to leave just because Andy had forced me to come home. There was no point in ruining her summer as well.

There was nothing really to do here, either, so she'd probably just be bored. Not only that, but I was set to start a job at McDonald's in a few days, so it wasn't like I'd be around much to be able to entertain her or hang out with her. It was just better for her to stay there with everyone else.

Even though Andy and I hadn't spoken, I didn't find myself mad at him, or at least not as much as before. Now, I was mostly hurt. I just wished he'd have let us explain before he had so quickly jumped to conclusions and judged Luke and I's relationship. I'd come to understand that that was something he didn't plan on doing, though.