Chapter 6

Bree looked really happy with my question. I swear she was turning a little red in the cheeks. She was playing with her hair when she said, “I’ve been fine. Things are looking better for my cousin Erin too by the way.”

“Whoa. You two know each other? And how do you know Erin?” asked Steven.

It was at this moment that I realized that Bree wasn’t just the roommate of Steven’s half-sister, she was his half-sister. I felt kind of silly for not having figured that out sooner. I would have felt worse longer than I did if I didn’t find Steven’s reaction a little funny. He looked so cute. Whoa did I just think that? Please say I didn’t just say that out loud. Good nobody seems to have noticed anything.

I was about to say something when Bree spoke, “Yeah. He’s the guy Erin and I told you about the other day.”

“Which guy? You talked about several different guys. Was he the annoying guy who couldn’t take his eyes off your, uh, shopping bags,” Steven responded.

From his facial expression, I could tell he was joking but obviously, Bree couldn’t tell that because she turned even redder before she quietly said, “ No, not that one. The cute one that asked if he could help Erin.” When Steven smiled and chuckled Bree got mad and pushed him a bit and added, “Just for that you’ll have to get the rest of my stuff from my car by yourself while I hang out with Kyle here.”

Steven threw his hands up and sighed, “Okay. I guess I was pretty much asking for it,” he lightly hugged Bree and then turned to me, “Be good to my sister.”

In her dorm room I sat down and she was taking things from boxes and putting them away. Finally, I couldn’t help but ask, “It’s kind of weird that he used the words shopping bags in the place he did. How did you not slug him for that?”

She stopped and looked confused, “Why would I do that?” Realization set in, she chuckled, “Oh, no. It wasn’t wordplay or another name for boobs. This weird guy seriously couldn’t take his eyes off of our shopping bags. I just don’t think Stevie really believed us when we said that’s what the guy was looking at.”

“Well he should still at least get the look for not believing you when you said shopping bags,” I told this girl.

Another chuckle, “Believe me he gets that plenty already.”

“You mentioned that things were looking better for your cousin Erin. I’m glad,” strange I actually felt glad, “If you don’t mind me asking, oh, never mind. It’s not my place.”

She looked worried that I was ending the conversation, “No, it’s alright. I feel I can trust you.” Bree then looked to the floor for a bit then back at me, “Um. My cousin. My uh, wow. She turned up pregnant one day, and wouldn’t tell her parents who the father was. They originally took her there to see if they could get a blood test done. Erin had been so worried that they were going to have her have an abortion. She told them that even though things didn’t work out between her and the guy and that she no longer feels romantic feelings towards him,” Bree looked sad at those words, “she still loved her baby and didn’t want to kill it. But it turns out they couldn’t go through with it either and we were there to also make sure that the baby was going to be healthy. They decided they had been angry at her long enough and wanted to help her. I guess they loved their daughter more than either of us thought.”

I was shocked. It hadn’t been that long ago that it looked like they’d want to kill their daughter or at least wanted to severely punish her. They were really pissed off that day they dragged her from the graduation. Were we even talking about the same people?

“Wow. I guess you’re right. From how they acted at the graduation I never would have thought they could turn it around like that,” I said. Now I was kicking myself, I hadn’t meant to say that.

“Graduation? Were you there?” Bree asked. “Oh, right you’re Carter Hamill’s kid. You must have been there for.” She looked like she was going to go into shock, then she came back to reality, “Kyla’s half-brother. Just like me and Stevie.”

I breathed hard and said, “Yeah. Do you know Kyla?”

She shook her head, “Not really. I mean we met a long time ago. She probably wouldn’t remember it. And if she did she probably wouldn’t recognize me.”

“You’re right. Oh, I mean yeah I talked about you to Kyla after our run-in. She didn’t seem to remember you,” Well it was kind of true what I told her.