The Distance Between Us

Chapter 8

Aside from Chemistry, I only have one other class with Axel and that's English. As far as the rest of my classes go, the majority of them are free of Dylan's friends, aside from the twins, Miles, and Demetri, who all make short appearances throughout the day, but I already knew that. When I arrived at lunch, I saw my friends sitting at our table and I walked over, dropping down tiredly.

"You looked so happy in Chemistry," Oliver joked as he sipped his milk.

"I'm never leaving my Chemistry book in my locker ever again," I grunted.

"Your brother's throwing a party this weekend?" Camilla asked.

"Is he?" I responded as I glanced back at my brother's table. "I mean, this is news to me."

"We can go, right?" Camilla asked and I shrugged.

"Sure, I don't even know what's going on," I replied.

"Well, I heard that there's a party at your house this Friday night and it's open invite," Sid explained. "It's to kick off the school year."

I sighed when I remembered the conversation I had with Dylan. "Our parents are going away this weekend for their anniversary," I sighed.

"Well, I'm there," Camilla grinned widely.

"Yeah, me too," Sidney admitted as she ate a mini tomato.

"I don't know..." Oliver trailed. "I'm not a big fan of parties."

"I doubt it's going to be that wild," I told Oliver.

"Really?" he inquired dubiously.

"Yeah, it's probably just going to be a few people from the sports teams and some girls," I explained. "Nothing too huge- my brother knows better than that."

"Okay," Oliver nodded. "Then I guess I'll go."

As the day droned on, I found myself hearing more and more about Dylan's exciting party. According to students, the summer was boring and aside from one or two bonfires and one house party, there wasn't much happening. When I reached the car, I looked at Dylan with a quirked eyebrow.

"What?" he asked curiously as he got into the driver's seat.

"Well, I mean, it's all around school," I blurted. "You're hosting a party this weekend?"

"No, no, no," my brother shook his head. "We're hosting a party this weekend."

"No, we're not. You are. Don't drag me into this," I told my brother.

"You said you'd help set up," my brother reminded me.

"Yeah, after you threatened to tell mom and dad that I snuck out of the house!" I retorted.

"Well, you're helping whether you like it or not," he replied. When he saw my glare, he sighed. "You just have to put away the valuables in mom and dad's room and help move some furniture. Nothing big."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're lucky I don't tell mom and dad."

"Yeah, we both know you won't do that," he snorted.

"Do I still get car rights?" I grinned.

"Yeah, just tell me when you want them," he retorted.

+++

Forks against plates sounded throughout the dining room as my mom smiled at me and Dylan. "So as you guys may or may not know, our anniversary is coming up." She smiled at our father and I wanted to gag. Too lovey-dovey.

"What are you guys doing for it?" Dylan inquired as if he didn't already know.

"Well, we trust you guys so we've decided to drive up to your grandparent's cabin for a few days," my mom explained. We listened to her phone conversation the other day when she was home, stopping right after she informed her friend of this information. We didn't want to know anything that might be happening in that cabin. We still go there sometimes during the summer.

"That's nice," my brother nodded and I could tell he was mentally high-fiving himself.

"We're leaving on Friday morning and we'll be home by Monday morning," my father cut in. "And we trust you two won't do anything wild, but just in case something happens, we have the neighbor, Ms. Cooke watching you guys."

I could tell Dylan's plan had found it's first, but definitely not last, obstacle- Ms. Cooke, our old, feeble neighbor who always makes everything her business. You can bet that she'll stop by every hour and at one point, she'll start a conversation about tea or cats that'll last two hours, and sometimes more. Dylan slowly nodded.

"Why Ms. Cooke? Why not Danielle?" I asked. Danielle is the daughter of our other neighbor. She's cool and very lenient. We just have to give her a heads up about anything that's going to happen and she'll turn a blind eye. I'm not quite sure why my parents thought it was a good idea to let her watch us when they went away last time though because she's only 6 years older than us. It's not like anything bad happened but she's a college student and she's a pretty hard partier, according to her parents.

"Because Danielle returned to college," my mom replied.

"But Ms. Cooke likes to talk for hours..." I trailed and my mom sighed.

"I know, but she's got a new cat recently so maybe that'll keep her away," my mom expressed.

I stared at the potatoes on my plate and sighed, giving my brother a side glance. Once dinner ended and my father had to head to work, my brother and I remained downstairs doing dishes while my mom headed to her room. "What now, genius?" I asked.

Dylan paced around the kitchen with a soapy sponge in his right hand. "We can't cancel. I mean, everyone knows that it's happening. We just have to keep Ms. Cooke away from us for a few hours." As he whipped around, suds flew across the room. I walked over with the drying rag and wiped it off the wall.

"Maybe we can drop her off at a bingo hall," I laughed.

"That's not a bad idea," my brother responded.

"What bingo hall do you know that closes at one in the morning? Can she even stay up until then?" I responded.

"Well we need to slip under the radar, and we can't do that with our 80 year old neighbor breathing down our necks," my brother sighed.

"Does she have any grandkids?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe," my brother sighed.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there," I told my brother. "Who's getting what?" I asked.

"Axel and Holden are getting soda; Miles is getting chips; the twins are bringing their speakers, Demetrious is bringing some food, Colton is bringing plastic cups and plates," my brother listed.

"Who's going to risk having their phone stolen for music?" I snorted.

"Bluetooth," my brother responded and I nodded. Hopefully it doesn't glitch or there are going to be a lot of unhappy people.

"I'm locking my bedroom and mom and dad's. What are you doing with yours?" I asked and he stared at the floor so I just wrinkled my nose. "Never mind, I didn't ask."

+++

On Wednesday, my brother had his friends over, like always, and Isaac came upstairs while I was making food in the kitchen. "What are you making?" he asked me.

"Macaroni," I replied.

"I never would've guessed you have a thing for blonds," he announced as I reached into the fridge.

"What?" I asked, shocked that he'd said it so bluntly. He rested his arms on the fridge door top and stared down at me.

"Holden, he's blond," Isaac responded and I practically broke my arm trying to get up. I swore loudly as I held my shoulder, looking up at Isaac.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him as I grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the fridge, trying to play it off like I had no idea what he was going on about. I'm going to kill Axel.

"I'm not judging you. I just want to know why it couldn't have been me. I mean, I have brown hair, yeah, but I'm a nice guy," Isaac expressed.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about," I told him and he stared off into the distance.

"How long?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, actually becoming lost.

"It's okay," he responded. "I'll get over it."

Before I could question him further, he walked towards the basement, calling down to everyone. "She doesn't want to speak on the subject but I can personally confirm her feelings. On a side note she is a cheater; I repeat she is a cheater."

"What are you talking about?" I called after him as he closed the basement door. A few moments later, when I was scooping my macaroni into a bowl while contemplating whether or not I should go down there and drag Axel outside and beat him with a broom, the devil himself stepped into the kitchen.

"I thought you'd be gone," he muttered.

"What'd you tell them?" I hissed.

"Nothing," he responded with a smirk as he walked towards the fridge. I moved from my place in front of the stove to stand behind him with crossed arms. "What?"

"You told them that I like Holden?" I asked.

"So you admit it?" he questioned.

"No!" I responded. Curse me, curse Camilla, curse Sidney, and most of all, curse stupid Axel for eavesdropping. "They know? All of them?" Oh my gosh, what if Holden thinks I'm some creep now? "Even Holden?"

"Yeah, every single person in that basement knows," he explained.

I dragged my hands down my face before sighing. "This makes everything awkward now. Thank you, Axel."

He ventured toward the basement door. "No problem. Anything else you want me to tell them?"

"No," I snapped.

He opened the basement door, making sure everyone could hear him. "You want to go on a date with Holden, Lex? I'll see what I can do."

"No!" I screeched. "I don't!"

The basement door slammed and I was left standing in the middle of the kitchen with cold macaroni, a red face, and a lukewarm soda.