Dream On

Chapter Thirteen

Ding dong!

Lucas sighed and stood up from the bed, dusting himself off. "I should go get cleaned up now," he muttered, wiping at his eyes once more before exiting the room.

"All right," I called after him. "I'll get the door, I guess." Standing up, I walked down the stairs and to the front door, peeking through the peephole before throwing the door open. "Lily!" I squealed, throwing my arms around my new best friend. "How'd you find me?"

She smiled and hugged me back. "Simple, I asked Lucas. My father knows everyone that lives around here, so it would be hard not to find a huge mansion, ya know? Anyway, I'm here to discuss what's going to happen in Season Four of Greenhouse Academy with you. It's insanely amazing, and I can't believe that I thought it was gonna be cringy. It's. So. Good," she finished, stepping inside and leaving her shoes off at the front door.

"Told ya," I said, smiling. "But can you believe they changed Brooke's look? She looks so weird now, and she's like, way too tall. And Alex is so annoying when they break up, I completely void any crush that I had on him. I mean, I can't believe I thought he was cute--" I was interrupted mid-rant as the doorbell rang again.

Lily shrugged and motioned for me to go get the door before plopping down on the couch and turning on the TV, switching it to Netflix. "I'm gonna rewatch the whole series while you go talk to some random pizza delivery guy at the door. He's probably some Doordash guy from Subway who got lost, I'll bet."

Snorting, I walked over to the door and threw it open. "Hi, can I help you?" I asked, annoyed that my Greenhouse Academy marathon was being interrupted. Turning back, I saw the introduction playing on the screen, with Lily's eyes glued to it. "Quickly please, I'm kind of in the middle of something."

I finally noticed the person in front of me. He was very tall, about 6'4'', with dirty blond gelled back with a little bit too much gel holding his hair in place. His eyes were an electric blue, fringed with long eyelashes. His muscular build was quite impressive, and he wore a cleanly ironed business suit.

However, it wasn't him who drew my attention, but the woman standing rigid next to him.

"Mom?" I whispered in shock, facing her and taking a few steps back. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Hong Kong on a business trip."

I took in her face. The surprised expression on her perfectly made-up face. Her hourglass body and flawlessly-styled hair. She was the image of perfection, in some way. An image that I didn't want to grow up to be like.

She stepped forward, her face ghostly-white. Turning back to the man, she questioned, "I thought you said that it was just going to be your sons?" 

"They must have taken in your kids after the fire," he muttered, rubbing his temples in frustration. "This was not exactly what I planned out."

Mom turned back to me, sighing. "Honey, you need to leave," she stated, looking me straight in the eye with the I'm-the-mom-so-what-I-say-goes look.

"I was here first," I replied stubbornly, shaking my head so that my high ponytail swung from side to side, hoping that it would help me feel more confident. "And this is technically Lucas and Jake's house, not yours," I added pointedly, glaring at the man. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Greenhouse Academy marathon to go watch."

Then I slammed the door in their shocked faces.

Oops. My hand slipped.

It was an accident, I swear!

"Who was at the door?" Lily called from the living room, her eyes not moving from the screen as she watched Hayley as she glared at Louis.

I plopped down on the couch next to her. "No one important," I replied dismissively, waving my hand in the air for effect. "Drama auditions are tomorrow, right?"

Lily squealed with excitement. "Yeah, and I can't wait! I'm so happy that I transferred schools and joined your school, it's way more fun than the private school that I used to go to. Plus, my brother loves not having to see my quote-unquote 'ugly face' every day." She smirked evilly. "It's fine, I'll just prank him later."

I laughed, trying not to make it sound forced. "What you got in mind?" I asked curiously, my mind drifting off to a different place as she started to rattle off about a billion ideas for evil pranks. Mom was here with Lucas' dad... but why?

"Talia? Talia!" a voice called, snapping me back to reality. 

Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts. "Hm?" I asked absentmindedly, twirling a strand of my hair. "What do you want?"

Lily's slitted eyes met mine, seeming to penetrate through my body. "Spill the tea," she ordered after staring me down for a couple of seconds. Shutting off the television, she added, "What's going on?"

"What?" I asked her, acting innocent. "Nothing's going on, nothing at all."

She continued to glare at me, making my skin feel itchy and the room suddenly feel crowded. "Ugh, fine," I muttered, shoving her away from me. "Just chill out, I'll spill." Once she was seated at a comfortable distance away from me, I checked to make sure nobody was listening or eavesdropping before confiding in my best friend. "You know how you were watching Greenhouse Academy while I was at the door?" She nodded, and I continued. "Well, it was Lucas' dad," I explained, stifling a chuckle at her surprised expression. 

"Wasn't he on a business trip or something? I heard he moved out a long time ago, way before his mom died," Lily mused, deep in thought. "Why would he just suddenly decide to randomly show up and come back home, expecting to be welcomed?"

Shrugging, I replied, "I have no idea. Well actually, I do have a pretty good idea."

Lily motioned for me to continue my thought. "What's the idea?"

"I think he came home because he met someone on his business trip," I explained, lowering my voice a little for the last part of the sentence.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

Chewing on my lip, I took a deep breath before responding.

"Because the person he brought with him here was my mother."

~~~

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XOXO Petalleaf