WHITE LIAR

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 

Chloe came to a stop on the bottom stair after hearing the front door slam with a bang.  Curious, she peered around the corner and noticed Erica standing there, looking at the floor and mumbling to herself.  She was waving her hand in the air, totally unaware that Chloe was watching her. 

Chloe couldn’t help but to wonder what in the world her cousin was doing.  Her interests were now piqued and she hopped off the bottom stair before walking around the corner to confront her.  “Who was at the door?”

Erica's head snapped up and Chloe didn’t miss the slight curl of her lip.  “A nobody,” she snorted and lifted her chin.  Before Chloe could say anything else, Erica started to push by her, mistakenly thinking that was the end of the conversation. 

Not in this life time, Chloe thought darkly. She was going to get some answers.

Before Erica could escape, Chloe lunged and grabbed her by the arm, bringing her to another stop.  “That doesn’t answer my question Erica.  Let’s try this again.  Who was at the door?”

Erica let out an indignant huff and rolled her eyes.  “It was stupid and I’m not in the mood to deal with stupid today, okay.”  She jerked her arm out of Chloe's hold hand and stalked back up the stairs.  Chloe watched her until she disappeared, seriously contemplating throwing something at her.  Her continually changing bitchy attitude was about to get on her ever lasting nerve.

Chloe didn’t have a clue as to who ’stupid’ might be so she took it upon herself to see who it really was.  Going over to the door, she pulled it open and when she realized who it was, she couldn’t stop the deepening scowl that formed on her face.  The person standing on the stoop wasn’t ‘stupid’ as Erica had called him, but it was someone that Chloe didn’t want to deal with right now.  “What do you want?” she finally asked, not bothering to hide the curtness in her voice.

Justin stood at the bottom of the steps, and turned around when he heard Chloe speak.  His hands were shoved deep into his Letterman jacket and he offered her a shy smile.

“Chloe,” he started, sounding a little surprised to see her.  “I didn’t think you were here.”

She just stared back at him, feeling a little bit dumbfounded and a whole lot of confused.  First of all, she wanted to know why Justin Pennix was standing on her door step and secondly, she wanted to know why was he looking for her in the first place.  It's not like the two of them could stand each other.

Holding on to the edge of the door, more to keep up her own balance than anything, Chloe continued to stare at him.  She wasn’t really sure where to start or even what she should say.  The whole situation was just plain awkward. She started by clearing her throat, and then placed her hand on her chest, settling on the simplest response.  “As you can see, I’m here, so what’s it to you?”

Okay, it wasn’t a classic answer but it was better than just staring at him.

For a flicker of a second, she could have sworn that she saw a shadow pass through his eyes, but before she could make anything of it, he quickly averted his gaze.  He casually lifted his shoulders in a small shrug.  There was a subtle up and down movement in his chest where his lungs took in a large gulp of air and then he loudly exhaled.  “Is there…” he started and stopped, turning back around to face Chloe.  “Is there somewhere that we can talk?  Alone?”

Her thoughts immediately went to Erica and as much as she didn’t like her mega bitch attitude right now, she had to keep in mind what this guy did to her to make her that way.  He was a player and a master at his game.  He seduces, he uses and he moves on.  Justin was not someone that she wanted to consort with and if it hadn’t been for John’s accident, she wouldn’t be standing here now, conversing with him.