~Kaylee

I gazed at the girl in the mirror. She looked so pretty dressed in her floral long sleeved gown that stopped a little above her knees, her braids pulled into a tight bun. A little bit of makeup and she was done.

She didn’t look like the girl that she once was, that cold and lifeless girl that despised everything and everyone. She didn’t look like the girl that was going through a betrayal and heartbreak. She didn’t look like the girl who had months left to live. She looked lively, she looked care-free, she looked happy…she was happy.

Even if things weren’t going the way she wanted it to, she finally found her inner peace with everything.

She was me.

I smiled.

I barely recognized myself.

I did a little twirl with my dress laughing slightly as I realized I didn’t remember the last time I had worn a dress. I just felt it would be a lot more appropriate to wear to a dinner. I still stuck to sneakers, one thing I could never cave in to was high heels. Wearing them was like a disaster waiting to happen.

Taking my phone, I headed downstairs were Rick was already dressed waiting for me.

“You look beautiful Kaylee.” he said as I came down the stairs.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“You ready?” he asked picking up his keys.

“Yeah.” I replied going out the door.

I found it ironic that we were going to drive to their house when it as just a few feet away but I wasn’t the one driving so who was I to complain.

We got there in like a minute. Getting out of the car, I glanced up at his house nervously.

Just a dinner, I repeated in my head.

“It’s not too late to head back.” Rick said coming out of the car, a wine bottle in his hand.

I shook my head. “I’m good.”

Giving me an encouraging smile, Rick and I made our way to the door, and rang the doorbell.

“Coming!” I heard a voice exclaim from inside.

Few seconds later, the door swung open. Karen beamed at us from inside gesturing for us to come in.

“I’m glad you both could make it.” She said shutting the door when we were in.

“Of course. For you.” Rick said giving her the wine.

“You didn’t have to.” she said as she took the wine. “Thank you though. You guys are a bit early, I haven’t finished setting up the dining yet.”

“Let me help with that.” Rick offered.

“Kaylee, you can go upstairs to meet Christian. He’s with a friend though.” She said and I nodded.

The two of them then left and headed to where I assumed was the dining or kitchen.

Did Christian even know I was coming? I didn’t want to go up to meet him but hanging around downstairs in someone else’s house didn’t seem ideal. Swallowing up my pride, I made my way upstairs to his room.

He was with a friend so maybe I could just stay on my own, hopefully things wouldn’t be too awkward. The only problem with that whole plan is when I eventually got to his door, I heard a voice coming from inside.  A voice that didn’t belong to him and I knew so well as Melissa’s.

My hand paused on the door knob as I listened to their conversation. You would be curious too so don’t judge me.

“Are you upset because I came even when you told me not to? Is that why?” Mel asked.

“Not really, you’re whole existence right now is annoying me.” Christian replied making her scoff.

“You really should treat your girlfriend better.”

“If you think that’s you, you’re mistaken then.”

“You really should wake up to reality.”

“And you have? The only hold you have on me now is just one little thing. Stop getting ahead of yourself.”

“And that one little thing can ruin everything you’ve built. You think Kaylee really cares about you? Want to see how she’s going to look at you different when she finds out the truth?”

Truth? What truth? What the hell were they even talking about? And most importantly who gave the she-devil the right to even call my name.

“You bet-”

“Christian! Dinner is ready, you all should come down!” his mom yelled from downstairs cutting off whatever he was about to say.

 Before I could even get a chance to go back downstairs without them seeing me, the door swung open and I almost tripped in the process. I looked up to see Christian staring at me in shock and Melissa annoyed.  

“You look…beautiful.” Christian muttered as he took in my full appearance.

I avoided his eyes. “Thanks”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Mel asked as she glared at me.

“Came over for a dinner I was invited to.” I replied with a smile as I place emphasis on invited.

“Wait, you heard us?” Christian asked snapping out of his shock.

“Yeah.” I stated dryly.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one hiding something huh. I shouldn’t even be mad at that, we both were hiding something.

“We should talk.” he said moving closer to me making me take a step back.

Hurt flashed in his eyes at my movement and I had to resist the urge to move back to him.

“I don’t think so. Whatever you two have going on is really none of my concern.”

“You got that right.” Mel muttered and I rolled my eyes at her.

“Kaylee please-”

Once again, he was interrupted by the sound of his mother calling us. Using that opportunity, I made my way back downstairs and to the dining room where the table was set.

The food on the table looked lovely and appetizing, enough for me to forget about that whole moment upstairs.

“This looks lovely.” I told Karen as I took a seat next to Rick.

She smiled at me in thanks as Christian and Melissa appeared downstairs and also took their seats.

The tension between the three of us was heavy and noticeable throughout the dinner. Melissa kept throwing glares my way occasionally while trying to get Christian’s attention. Christian’s eyes were always on me as he completely ignore Melissa. And I, I did what I did best. Ignored the both of them.

Pouring a bit of wine for everyone, Karen sat down and smiled at us oblivious to the tension around her.

“I’m thankful that I get to have a wonderful dinner with amazing people. It’s not been the same when my husband and daughter died but we’ve been doing ok. At least I still have my handsome son.” She beamed pinching Christian’s cheek gently.

He tried to push her hands off but there was a faint smile on his face, it was a really sweet moment.

“I’m thankful for my beautiful niece Kaylee.” Rick smiled at me which I returned. “And everything else.”

“I’m thankful for my mom.” Christian smiled at his mom and then suddenly looked at me, his gaze lingering on me for a long time before he spoke again. “And I’m thankful for a whole lot of other things.”

I looked away immediately.

“I’m thankful for my uncle and all my friends.” I said still avoiding his gaze.

“I’m thankful for my family.” Melissa said when it reached her turn, I could tell she was still annoyed and she wasn’t even trying to hide it.

Leaning closer to Christian, she whispered something in his ear making his body stiffen and his eyes darken.

“You’re crossing a line.” Christian warned glaring at her, his voice dangerously low.

“What line?” Mel asked acting innocent.

“Christian stop that!” Karen exclaimed.

“She needs to go!” he yelled.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” Mel said taking a sip from her glass.

“Stop with the petty act.” Christian retorted.

“What did she even say?” Karen asked frowning at her son.

“Nothing. I just said I was thankful I didn’t have blood on my hands.” She sounded like she was innocent but the little smirk on her face told me otherwise.

Blood on her hands? What does this have to do with anything?

“And that’s nothing?” Christian asked.

“Yeah, it’s nothing. I wonder why you’re so agitated, did I trigger something?” she asked taking another sip from her wine.

Karen looked at her with disbelief in her eye but there was a sad look in her eyes, Christian just continued glaring daggers at her. Maybe that’s what they were talking about upstairs and it looks like his mom knew what that was all about.

A round of applause to Melissa, I really haven’t seen someone as shameless and cruel as her. Whatever was going on between them, wasn’t enough to ruin this whole dinner that Karen probably worked really hard for. And with the look in her eyes, it wasn’t just Christian’s secret but something that affected her as well.

“Look, I don’t know what you think you’re doing or-”

“Just leave it.” Karen said cutting Christian off but he wasn’t ready to drop it.

Banging his fist on the table, he got up and stormed upstairs. All the while, Melissa was hiding her smirk behind the cup. Shaking my head at her, I got up to go look for Christian.

I couldn’t help myself. Yes, things were rough between us but Melissa took it too far.

“Christian?” I called out as I knocked on his room door.

“Go away.” he mumbled from inside.

Rolling my eyes, I pushed the door open and went it. He was pacing up and down his room, his hands folded against his chest.

“I said go away.” he said turning to me.

His eyes were no longer warm, they were cold, hard and dark.  

“I wouldn’t be me if I did what you wanted.” I moved closer to him.

“You didn’t seem to want to be close to me earlier. Let’s keep that up.” he said coldly as he turned around.

 “Stop being such a jerk.” I said now standing in front of him.

“That’s rich coming from you.” he rolled his eyes and I frowned.

“Ok, I’m trying to be nice here considering all that happened downstairs. Even at that, it doesn’t give you a right to act like this or even the way you did downstairs.” I snapped. “Not much of a surprise if Melissa acted that way but you should know she wanted a reaction out of you, that’s the type of person she is and you should have known better. Your mom’s dinner has been ruined, thanks to you.”

“You would have reacted the same way if you knew! If someone tried to use your weakness against you!” he yelled. “So don’t try to act like you understand when you don’t know half of what’s going on.”

“Then tell me!” I yelled back.

He let out a dry humorless laugh as he stared down at me.

“Why should I tell you? You’ve never been honest with me from day one.” He was no longer yelling but it hit me hard.

I had no right to demand the truth when all I did was lie to him.

“When were you going to tell me you had fucking cancer Kaylee?” he continued.

My eyes widened in shock. “How did you know?”

“Ryan told me. Apparently his sister talks about you a lot, he just never knew it was you specifically.” He cut me off. “Stage four.”

“OK, yes I do. What about it?” I glared at him feeling offended at his tone. I don’t have to tell him anything if I didn’t want to. “I didn’t tell you because I was scared to then I didn’t tell you because I was trying to protect you from getting hurt.”

“Hurt?” he laughed. “No, you should have told me so I didn’t have to waste my time on a sick dying girl.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, the weight of it seemed to hit both of us. I stared up at him in disbelief as the words echoed in my head. Slowly, I nodded my head. The pain slowly registering as I took a step backwards, away from him.

Sick dying girl?

Wasting his time?

“Yeah, I’m sorry for that.” I choked out as I couldn’t hold the tears in.

He cursed under his breath as I stormed out of his room.

“Kaylee! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean what I said!” Christian exclaimed as he chased after me, his annoyance melting into guilt. “It was a mistake.”

“Just like us.” I stopped but didn’t fall. “Don’t follow me.”

And with that, I ran down the stairs and out of the house ignoring the chants of my name coming from behind me.

I didn’t want to hurt him? I let out a bitter laugh as I wiped the tears away.

 Who got hurt instead?