The Promiscuous Pact

Chapter XIII

The smell of eggs and bacon frying woke me up to reality. As the shock of last night came crashing back to me, the word coward kept playing like a broken record in the back of my mind. I wanted to shut the door on this controversy, but I had an odd feeling it would rear its ugly head back at me.

I sighed and forced myself out of bed. Melody and Wesley seemed to be the only ones still sleeping, I noted as I came into the kitchen. Alec and Elizabeth were manning the kitchen, and while Liz smiled warmly at me and waved, Alec avoided eye contact with me at all costs. Part of me wished he never confronted me last night, but it was too late to take the moment back. I shuffled to join my brother at the kitchen table. He seemed to be checking his cell and nursing a hangover at the same time. I have to admit I was feeling a lot better than I deserved.

"How was everyone's night?" I asked to fill the silence of the room.

"Good, though I wished to watch that movie," Elizabeth mumbled with displeasure. She flipped the bacon, which made the pan sizzle with spitting grease.

Justin piped in, "I told you it wasn't a good idea. Not with Melody and Wesley. You just didn't want to listen." I tried to recall last night and the conversations that went on, but I failed to recollect the one where Justin warned Elizabeth about the idea of watching a movie. I voiced this confusion.

"When?"

"Last night, of course," Justin said blatantly, but refused to elaborate. He went back to looking at something on his phone.

"I don't recall this," I stated.

"You were drunk," Liz pointed out with a glance in my direction. "I'm sure it is possible you don't remember, but we did."

Alec shook his head, "I was there, too, and I--" Elizabeth elbowed him in the rib cage and gave him a look. "don't remember a thing." I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at the two of them for a couple minutes. I feel like I was left out on some loop, which made me have a brief flashback to Andrew and his bullying days.

"I'm going to go outside," I mumbled. Alec looked like he wanted to follow me, but he resisted the temptation and stayed with Liz to help finish breakfast.

There was a light breeze that teased my hair as I slid the sliding door shut behind me. I closed my eyes to welcome the smell of the morning air. Birds were chirping merrily, and I felt at peace, regardless of the weird exchange inside. My mind darted back to last night and the complications of Alec. I wasn't sure I wanted another confrontation, but I felt one was in my future with that guy. In recalling our conversation, my thoughts jumped back to last weekend. I could have sworn he dropped in at Rolly's to see a friend, which is why him declaring his true intention of seeing me had me thrown for a loop. How could someone like him--so sweet and kind and caring--have any feelings for someone who didn't have her shit together?

He was just misguided, I informed myself to help feel better about the situation. I just had to avoid him for the rest of the weekend... right?

I heard the sliding door open and shut behind me, and I feared looking back. My mind told me it wasn't Alec, but my gut was screaming otherwise. "Hey," Melody greeted with a croak. I looked at Melody, and she looked worse than my brother.

"Are you okay?" I questioned.

Melody smiled at me. "How sweet of you. I'll be fine when I get some food and caffeine in me," she assured me.

I raised an eye brow as I took in her worn down look. "Okay," I said, unconvinced.

"So, I've got to talk to you about some things," Melody informed me with uncertainty. "I'd like to start off with an apology for how I treated you when you were in the dumps. I know you could hear me. The walls are thin." Mel scrunched her nose as if recalling some bad memory. She continued after unscrunching her nose, "Second, I would like to voice this to you first. Wes and I shared a heart-to-heart after everyone went to bed last night. I think I like him."