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Smooth Criminal

twenty-five

“So…” Parker smirked as he stood in the doorway of my room, using his shoulder to prop himself up as he stood lazily with his legs crossed.
“So?...” I mimicked him, lacing my voice with confusion and lofting an eyebrow at my brother’s direction as I sat on my bed with my book gripped between my fingers.
“Don’t play dumb with me, booger,” Parker rolled his eyes as he entered my bedroom. I huffed with an unappreciative attitude as his long legs carried him to my bed. “How was Texas?”
The millions of memories made in the Lone Star State replayed in my head - the good, the bad, the horrendous, and the exhilarating - but I just gave my brother a nonchalant nod as the word, “Good,” pressed through my lips.
“You were gone for four days with your best friends and all you have to say is that it was ‘good’?” I watched as my brother collapsed on to my bed, landing on his back. “C’mon, Stells. What happened?” I nudged Parker’s head with my big toe, urging him to leave me alone. I was too exhausted to go into detail about the dramatic events that had taken place in Texas. And I really didn’t feel like getting scorned again for the dumb mistakes that I had made during the visit.
“Flyzik appointed me to be the band’s new media manager,” I offered with a small shrug. I could tell by the confused look dwelling on his face that I needed to elaborate on my new-found position with the All Time Low crew for my brother’s better understanding. “It’s a fancy way of saying that I’m the band’s personal photographer and I post the pictures I take on their MySpace page or any other form of social media that I find useful.”
Parker nodded his head, his lips forming a very articulate ‘O’ shape. “I didn’t know you were into photography.”
“Neither did I until they shoved a camera in my hands and ordered me to click away. Apparently I’m some kind of natural or something.” I chewed on my bottom lip as the conversation hit a lull, leaving me bored and irritated that Parker was still laying on my bed.
“How are things with Gaskarth?”
The question sent my heart into a frenzy; the butterflies giddy and shifting eagerly in my veins at the mere mention of my boyfriend’s name. A lopsided grin I knew couldn’t hide even if I tried to played at my lips.
“We’re official,” I stated proudly. “The last day we were there. He finally asked me to be his girlfriend.” I would never tell the real story to anyone in my family of how Alex asked me to be his any time soon. That would pretty much be the equivalent to selling drugs to a cop.
“If he hurts you, Stella, I swear to God…” Parker’s voice trailed off. “He’s a good buddy, but you’re my baby sister. If he as much as puts a scratch on your body, I will personally murder himself.”
I forced a nervous chuckle out of my throat, consciously gripping the sleeves of my jacket and pulling them further down my arms. The bruises from the fight Alex and I had gotten into were still a bit fresh, the dark purple finally settling in as the healing process awaited to take over. If Parker found out about the little reminders of my stupidity, I’d never hear the end of it and Alex would lose his life. Neither of which sounded like something I’d want to endure anytime during this lifetime. The hickey from Benjamin, I had later remembered to be his name, left on my neck was easily hidden underneath many layers of makeup lent to me from Amanda after she furiously worked on trying to hide the blemish before riding in a van with the moms for hours on end. So that situation was easily avoidable. The Alex-caused bruises, on the other hand, were much more bigger in size and in quantity. I had never been more thankful for the chilly Maryland falls in my entire life; hiding these marks was made easier with the help of the long sleeved clothing I’d be forced to wear due to the weather conditions.
“He won’t hurt me,” I finally spoke with confidence. “I can assure you that.”
Parker eyed me cautiously before pushing himself into an upright sitting position. “Just say the word, and he’ll be six feet under.” I felt my face drop and rolled my eyes at the threat.
“You’re so weird.” I picked my book up and began reading, hoping that by ignoring him, Parker would get the hint and exit my room. I was immensely let down when he started with a new string of questions.
“So do you think you’re gonna start a career in photography now that you have this new kick ass job?”
“I don’t know, Parks.” I let out a long, aggravated sigh, slamming my book down on the desk next to me. “I don’t know what I want to do with my future. I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow.”
Parker let out a boyish chuckle at the blunt statement. “We have family coming over tomorrow for an early Thanksgiving, doofus.” I felt my eyes twitch as the information processed in my head. My family would be coming over tomorrow. Meaning I had to interact with a bunch of stuck up, judgemental assholes for an entire day, unable to retreat to the safety of my bedroom while they were here.
“That means,” I groaned. “I’ll be up all night cleaning.” I grabbed a pillow and shoved my face into it, letting out a frustrated scream. “Damn it.”
“Welcome home, Stella Lucille. It’s glad to have ya back.” Parker sent a shit-eating smirk in my direction and I wanted to slap him. But I already lost all and any energy I had by just thinking about the extensive cleaning list my father was probably already locked away in his room writing up for us. “Just think about it this way. If we start right after dinner, we should be done cleaning by about two in the morning.” I threw the pillow resting in my lap at my brother’s face.
“Get out,” I ordered him, my voice drowning in exhaustion.
“Wow. That was rude,” Parker deadpanned as he stayed in place. I kicked him lightly in the shoulder to get him moving.
“If we’re going to be up until the ass crack of dawn cleaning for Satan’s flying monkeys, I need a nap. Now get out.”
Parker sat up and leaned in to plant a kiss on my temple before finally exiting my bedroom, finally leaving me in peace. I let out another groan from the news that had just been shared with me. My mother’s side of the family all lived in upstate New York, and they only visited once a year and that was usually only during Christmas. My dad’s side of the family lived on the other side of Maryland and for whatever reason, my father offered our house to be the residence that we all sat around in, pretending to enjoy each other’s company for hours upon hours for any holiday. My cousins were alright, I guess. I was just far too different from any of them to ever make any real conversation. My aunt and uncles never really made any effort to talk to me or my sibblings, which was fine by me. The casual “How’s life? How’s school? Any love interests?” were usually thrown about when we all greeted each other for the first ten minutes of their arrival, but other than that, nothing more was ever said. And then there were my grandparents.
My father didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be the strict man he had become so famous for around Baltimore. Oh no. He was raised to be that way. My grandparents were only best to be compared to two prison wardens who refused to even listen to anyone else’s opinion. And that was the nicer way of describing them. These people were awful and mean and the feeling of utter doom was impossible to rid of in my stomach as I laid on my back, staring at the ceiling fan sputtering in circles as I prayed for sleep to wash over me. When I woke up, everything would be gone. My family would not be congregating in this house tomorrow afternoon for early Thanksgiving festivities. I would not be going back to playing the role of Cinderella tonight, hoping and praying for the relief of a fairy godmother that would never come. I would close my eyes and fall asleep, only to wake up in a hotel room in Texas with a peaceful, dreaming Alex curled up next to me.

Notes

They're baaaack...

Super short, super shitty chapter. I apologize. But I can't sleep and I have to be awake in like 5 hours, so I thought that if I wrote a little bit, some energy would be released. And I was right! Too bad it was a really boring filler. But after all of the excitement that just went down in the previous chapters, I really don't see the harm in a few uneventful fillers.
As always, thank you for reading. My readers are the greatest and I love y'all so much.
Hope you had an amazing 4th of July. And if you're not from America or just simply don't celebrate holidays, then I hope you had an amazing regular day that was not prompted by spilling a shit ton of tea into a body of water by a bunch of angry assholes. You're the best.
-Kate.<3

Comments

This was one of my absolute favorite stories. I am very curious to know if you are going to continue with this? Because I have to know what happens next.

BreaClift. BreaClift.
6/14/21

I want to know if there is going to be sequel to this story?

BreaClift. BreaClift.
3/26/19

I don't remember anything. I need to restart this. Damn, all I remember is loving this. Only more reason to read it all again.

Haha, keepin' it real. :) No worries, the only one that was kind of concerning was the Blink-180 because I think that's the first time I've ever seen that. XD But I figured it was a typo.
:)

Nanook Nanook
1/4/19

@Daydreamers her big reveal will be in the last chapter ;) hang tight.

katybear18 katybear18
1/4/19