The Truth Is.

Chapter 19

SADIE

A doll, when Mother turned me to face the mirror, I saw a doll. Her lips pricked red, and skin a shade of pale only make-up could achieve. My hair felt foreign to my fingers, stiff from products.

        Mother smiled, so I faked one back.

        Jealously struck my hair when I saw Melanie got to dress in darker, mellow tones. Mother never let me wear subtle clothes. The blood red dress stuck to my hips showed that much.

        The Fellings gold mansion bustled with importance. Men and women dressed in designer silk, layered with imported fabrics filled the rooms. Swirls of colors, from white to black painted the room. Their importance ranged from other governors all the way down to the little maids bustling in the shadows.

        The one thing all these people had in common was money. Either they had it, or they wanted it enough to throw everything else away.

        Father and Mother disappeared into conversations with important families. Their smiles looked as natural as my foundation. Victor began shaking hands with old men in scratchy suits, all the while Melanie fluttered her eyes at their sons.

        I wandered off into the crowds. Small talk was inescapable, as every other family I bumped into stopped to talk. Father's expressed admiration for my beauty. Mothers attempted to marry me off to one of their problematic sons. I couldn't help feeling if they truly knew me, they'd hate me.

        I wasn't the Gallagher's pure, beautiful daughter. I was dirty, broken, and used. Everyone I knew used me. Mother, Father, Alex, Him.

        The cold shudder down my body stung like little needles. I found myself by the refreshments tables, staring at millions of tiny glasses, Each cup was filled with a different section of the alcoholic rainbow.

        I picked up a purplish one, and froze.

        Alex stood on the other side of the table, laughing with two older men. They clasped his shoulder, and he shook their hands the same way friends would. Not the way a high-school boy and old men would. He seemed to have the same reaction when his emerald eyes landed on me.

        Regret.

        The clock was an excuse to look away. Only fifteen minute away from meeting with Paige--From letting Scants into Alex's house, unknowingly. I downed the shot, hoping it would wash away the guilt. It didn't.

        "Careful, you're terrible when you're drunk." The chuckle that followed was dim. I tried to smile.

        "I-I'm sorry."

        He quirked an eyebrow, and rolled a green drink to his lips. "I know."

        I chewed my lip, waiting on his reaction. He was slow, taking time to clear his throat, and tease me with a frown.

        "I'll fix it."

        "Will you?"

        "I shouldn't have doubted you." He glanced around us, searching for any wandering noses stuck in our business. It might as well have been only us.

        "Say something."

        He ignored me, taking the time to carefully sip on a blue drink until his mouth curled and he set it back down. I resigned, and turned to leave.

        "You always gave up too easily."

        When I turned back around he was facing me. No drinks, or false facial expressions stood between us. It was the golden boy and I. He clasped two of the green drinks, and offered one to me. I accepted.