Abel Clearwater's Quest for Love

.ONE.

Hi, MEW here :) thanks for clicking on this book! If you like my story be sure to vote and comment! I wanted to write something lighthearted and romantic. This is just for fun. Sorry about any spelling mistakes!

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Abel Clearwater didn't remember the exact moment realized he had fallen in love with Lois Macon. It happened slowly, so slowly, over the years, that he had never taken the time to even notice the developing feelings in his chest. Nothing hurt him more than the fact that they were starcrossed; he was pining after a girl who would never be his.
    Reason number one: The Clearwaters and the Macons were worlds apart, separated by class and general interest. The Clearwaters were, for lack of a better word, loaded. Their family often yielded haughty businessmen and businesswomen, all keen on increasing the family fortune. Abel grew up in a large house on an even larger estate with his parents and older brother, James, who had recently graduated from law school. Alyssa and Morgan Clearwater, Abel's parents, couldn't have been prouder. During icy family dinners and family gatherings, Abel knew that his parents had every intention of seeing him become a lawyer as well. Their expectation filled stares made him uncomfortable. He had a lot to live up to, and no desire to follow in James' footsteps.
    The Macons, however, were far from rich. In fact, one could say that life had handed them the short end of the stick. Although the Clearwater estate was more than Abel could ever ask for, he never felt more at home than when he stepped foot inside the two bedroom apartment lived in by Lydia Macon and her twin children, Lois and Carter.
    Reason number two: Lois's brother, Carter, and Abel had met during a school day at the age of ten and had been best friends ever since. Carter punched a boy in the face that had been harassing Abel and thus sparked a friendship that was more like a brotherhood. Carter had always possessed a temper that rivaled anyone who challenged him. Abel spent most of their teenage years helping him recover from fights he'd picked over stupid things, patching him up in nearby gas stations or the school bathroom. Fights that Carter rarely lost. Sometimes Abel cleaned his wounds in the Macon's kitchen, but only if the boys were certain the girls weren't awake or home. Carter didn't want Lois or his mother to see him the way he looked after a fistfight, covered in blood that wasn't his or his flesh in ribbons, or the almost murderous glint in his hazel eyes. Abel understood the concept of hiding one's true self from one's family and picked his friend up from whatever mess he'd gotten himself into without a single complaint.
    On this particular occasion, seven and a half years after Abel and Carter became friends, however, as Abel half carried a bloody Carter up the stairs and through the door to the Macon apartment at two in the morning, the sound of a dropped cup was enough to stand Abel's hair on end.
    There, standing in the kitchen, looking like a deer in a pair of headlights, was Lois Macon.
    Lois cursed. "God, Abel, what are you two doing?" she hissed intensely. She rushed towards them, quickly assessing her twin's injuries. Abel tried to ignore the way his heartbeat picked up when she was close to him. He had more pressing issues on his hands.
    "He got into another fight," replied Abel hastily, watching the way her earrings gleamed in the moonlight streaming from the kitchen window. "It was bad this time."
    "I can see that," replied the girl. "Help me get him to his bedroom." She slid Carter's other arm over her shoulder and aided Abel in dragging the nearly unconscious boy to the bedroom across the hall. Carter groaned quietly. He hadn't been this hurt in a long time.
    The two slumped Carter into his bed. Lois flicked on the light. Abel's eyes widened as he took in her nighttime attire, which consisted of only a long t-shirt that fell to the middle of her pale thighs and a pair of mismatched socks. Gulping, he looked away. Get it together.
    "What are you doing awake?" he asked dumbly.
    "I was thirsty," replied Lois, crinkling her brows. "My mom is at work. She won't be home until tomorrow." Lydia Macon, the twins' mother, worked third shift in the ER as a nurse. Abel sighed in relief. Lydia would be so disappointed if she saw her son like this.
    For the next thirty minutes, Lois and Abel worked side by side to clean Carter up. Abel slid a new shirt over his friend's head as Lois swabbed the cuts on her brother's face with rubbing alcohol, ignoring the way his face scrunched in pain as the alcohol stung him. It was a necessary evil. Finally, after the job was finished, the two sat back together on the floor in a comfortable silence as Carter slept fitfully on the bed. The alarm clock on the bedside table said that it was nearly three. Lois yawned.
    "You should go back to bed," Abel suggested. Lois snorted.
    "No way in hell. Not after that. I'm too wired," she replied. Abel sighed, stuck between wanting her to be well rested for work in the morning and wanting her to stay with him a little while longer. She leaned her head back against the chipping wallpaper, twisting her knotted caramel hair between her fingers. She had taken her contacts out earlier in the evening and was now wearing her thick rimmed black glasses. She always said she hated the way she looked with them on, but Abel thought she always looked beautiful, even when she felt her worst.
    "Does this happen a lot?" Lois queried suddenly. She gazed at her twin with such affection. Abel didn't know what to say. "With Carter, I mean," she elaborated. "Do you do this a lot? Clean him up?"
    Abel hesitated, fisting his hand in his curls. He knew Carter would be livid if he knew Lois knew the truth, but Abel never was able to lie to her. "You know how your brother's temper is," was all he said. "And... Lois? Please don't tell your mom." Lois stared at him. His palms started sweating. She had hazel eyes like Carter, but her's were always much more tired and serene than her twin's. Carter wore all his emotions out for everyone to see. Lois was much harder to read.
Finally, she looked down at her lap. "I won't."
And that was that.