This Summer

Chapter 15

My eyes are closed and I'm enjoying the peacefulness of my sleep until I feel a small hand on my shoulder rocking me back and forth. It's been too long since I've had slept this well to be rudely interrupted, so I ignore it.

A few seconds later, I jolt awake to my mattress moving uncontrollably. I blink up to see James hopping on my bed, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" I groan, using the pillow to block out the noise and the bright light shining through the window.

"Seriously! There's someone at the door!" I throw my pillow at him and he collapses beside me. I grab my phone on the nightstand to check the time.

I shut my eyes and mumble, "It's seven in the morning. Ask someone else to open the door." I'm proud of my brother for not opening the door to a complete stranger but this house is literally filled with adults and he chooses to wake me up.

"There's no one home." He says leaving me with no choice.

"Alright fine." I swing my legs over and rub my eyes on the way to the door with James trailing behind me.

"Can I have breakfast too? I'm hungry."

"Yeah. In a minute." I yawn, then swing the door open.

My heart sinks to the ground when I see him standing on the other side. The blue eyes and dark curls make me regret being too tired to bother checking who's behind the door before opening it. Matthew's words echo in my mind. I hate Lucas for what he did even if Matthew doesn't. Everything I know about him now clouds my judgement. I can't look at him without being angry at him.

"You need to leave." My voice barely audible. I begin to shut the door, but he prevents it from closing by jamming his foot in front of it, scaring me in the process. "He told you, didn't he?"

"Lucas. You need to go." I tell him.

"I'll go. Just wait, please... I'm really sorry."

"Lucas. I'm not the one you need to apologize to. What you did was really messed up. Why can't you just leave him alone?" I yell at him.

"Wait—It's not what you think, okay?" All I know is that I don't need another version of the same story when I trust Matthew. There is no way he lied to me last night. There was too much pain in his eyes, too much sadness that's engraved in my memory forever. I understand the anger Matthew showed him the first time he stopped by.

I'm angry for him and it's present in my voice, "You being here will only cause problems. Just leave." It's enough that he did what he did, and for him to keep coming back as a reminder of it, is a knife that shouldn't be twisted.

To my surprise, his expression shifts in understanding. He lifts his hands in the air as if surrendering and takes steps back from the door, allowing me to close it.

I turn to see James with wide eyes, scratching at his knuckles. He only does that when he's scared or nervous, "Jade, who was that?"

I crouch down to him and grab his small hands in mine. "James it's okay. He's a boy that did something really mean and I told him to never come back." I'm a little shaken up about it myself but calming James helps me calm down too.

He looks a little more relaxed, but I can tell he's still scared, "You should be very proud of yourself for asking me to open the door." He returns my smile.

The knocks at the door brings his attention to it. His smile fades away. I swing the door open, "I thought I told y— " I yell out and stop when I see a delivery man standing with a fat yellow manila envelope in his hands and two boxes at his feet.