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I held up a shirt for Emily to see, "Look at this one, it would look good with your skin tone." She turned her head toward me and smiled.
"You think so?" She asked pushing her hair back. Today she was wearing no makeup, and before we came to the mall she told me that she felt more welcomed around me to not wear makeup. It was a nice thing to know she felt important and as her new friend I wanted that for her too.
"Definitely, go try it on." She grabbed the shirt from my hands and walked toward the dressing room leaving me there so I could look for clothes for myself. I looked at the casual shirts they had and some wind breakers that would be nice for when it was raining or cold outside. I had started walking over to the side of the store where the shoes were when I heard my name being called, "Hey (Y/n)."
I turned around and automatically regretted the decision, "Hey."
She flicked back her loose hair near her face and smiled at me, "So what are you doing here alone? Where's you dad?"
I shook my head and sighed, "I'm here with a friend, and my dad isn't here."
Her smile was threating, that same smile that scared me in middle school when I met her. She had dark hair and this overly white smile, her cheek bones were lifted. She had always been a plastic surgery addict, but I hated that she looked okay with it. Maybe if she hadn't used her fake boobs to lure my dad into adultery than my mom wouldn't have felt worthless.
She wore high end brands that my dad owned also, but since he only wore them once a year for coach dinner parties than I never saw them often. "How is he?"
"I don't know. Why don't you ask him behind my back like last time?" I snapped as I remembered what she did. All she was was a home wrecker.
"Honey." He tried to put her hand on my shoulder but I stepped back. A small roll of her eyes and then she smiled at me, "That was long ago, please forgive me. Plus I found out that you're playing football at the same high school as my son, so I thought it would be nice to talk to you."
"You have a family?" I asked.
"Yes, a husband who is still with me after the "incident" and two sons. One is playing football with you and another is in college." I looked at her confused, I opened my mouth to say something, but was soon interrupted.
"Veronica?" I turned around to see Emily standing there with the new shirt on. "Oh hey Emily, you're hanging out with (Y/n)?"
She nodded her head slowly and I was so confused with both of them, "(Y/n), this is Austin's mom." Oh my god.
"She is?" I asked as she had already made it clear. She nodded her head and I tried to put it all together. I was becoming good friends with the son of the stupid lady that messed up my parent's marriage.
"Well it was nice seeing you Emily! (Y/n), I'll see you at the game?" Veronica said excitedly as I stood there out of it.
"Yeah, I guess so."
She walked out of the store and I just stood there kind of shocked. Of course I didn't know Austin's family, but I didn't think that Samson and Dickson counties were so small.
"Hey (Y/n), you okay?"
"Yeah." I shook my head and then just gave her a smile. "Do you like it?"
"Yeah I do." She looked at the shirt, but still gave me a confused look. "Are you sure you're okay? Was there something wrong about Veronica?"
"I-Let's just pay for this."
"Yeah, I'll just go take it off." She walked back to the dressing room and I kept thinking about Veronica and everything she was to my father.
>
I sat on my bed and felt her curious eyes on me, "(Y/n), I know we didn't start off right, but you know you can trust me, right?"
I nodded my head and smiled, "Yeah I know."
"Then can you tell me what's on your mind?"
I contemplated whether I should or not, and I kept thinking which must've taken up some time. "How about this? You tell me this secret and I'll tell you mine."
I pursed my lips and sighed, "Fine." She smiled at me and held onto my hand. "Okay, do you want me to go first or what?"
"Sure."
She started talking. Words falling out of her mouth like honey, and laughs escaping her lips. But that wasn't what stood out at all, she was telling me everything. Things about Austin, things about her, and the relationship that stood between Austin and her. I wasn't shocked she did have feeling for him, but I was bit weirded out at the fact that Austin couldn't man up and say he liked her. "Him and I have been together, but his family doesn't know and if Veronica finds out then she won't be happy and I'll be unwelcomed at the house."
"So Veronica is Austin's biological mother?"
"Yeah."
"And they never had any issues with Veronica?"
She looked confused, "No? Is there something I don't know? Is that the secret?"
"Well I was just wondering, because she seemed like her family had never found out about what happened."
"No, nothing bad has happened openly in that family since they found out their housekeeper was stealing from them."
I held my hands together, "Oh."
"Okay, your turn."
"Well that's the thing, Veronica was the main reason my parents split. After my dad went to the bar she was "working", and then he met her." I paused a little bit, but went on after the lump in my throat calmed down. "She had sex with my dad and then after, when I found out in middle school of what they did, I thought they would stop but they didn't. Then they had an affair, and two months later my mom found out."
She didn't say anything. She sat there with her mouth gaped open, and a confused expression on her face, "Are you okay?" I asked.
"I mean, it's just I didn't know and if Austin heard this he'd probably break. Like literally, his mom is his best friend, so that would make things so different."
"What'd your mom say?" She asked. I thought about it and I felt like I couldn't really answer, like I was stuck and my brain and mouth didn't want the words to get out. But I decided to say other words that would probably make her more confused.
