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Chapter 27

I went upstairs to look for Maria and found her sleeping soundly on her bed.

"Maria, wake up," I said and shook her shoulder. 

"What?" She mumbled.

"Where did you go last night? I mean did you ever come back? What happened?"

"Hmm, oh yeah, you looked peaceful; I felt bad to wake you up." She said and snuggled closer to her pillow.

"Maria, if Abigail would have walked outside and seen us...I don't want to start the school year with some stupid high school drama." 

"Relax, Abigail went home yesterday; I saw her leave. Plus, no one goes out to that garden. I don't think she would even know to look for it," she lifted her head from the pillow, finally opening her eyes. 

"What time is it?" she asked covering her mouth as she yawned. 

I looked at the clock on her nightstand.

"7:30"

"Too early. Come snuggle with me. We can wake up in a few hours and get breakfast." She said, putting her head back down on the pillow.

I sighed and considered her for a moment. I was still upset and I didn't understand why. 

"Fine," I said and undid the zipper to my dress, shrugging it off my shoulders.

"Ooh, girl, slower."

"Shut up," I said shaking my head as I took off the dress. 

"Skootch over," I said, standing on the side of the bed, "I want to be the little spoon."

"Fine, but then you can't be mad at me anymore," she said and lifted the covers, making it possible for me to slip under them. I lay on my side, and she hugged me with one arm as I snuggled the pillows.

She softly laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just thought of something funny."

"What?" I asked again, insisting.

"Nothing. Nothing. Just, who spoons you better me, or my brother?"

"You suck."

She giggled.

"For the record, Lia, I like you 1000 times better for my brother than Abigail."

"Whatever," I said, closing my eyes. There was a pause. I tried to fall asleep and was about to when Maria spoke again.

"Lia, do you like him?" she asked her tone shifting from playful and teasing to serious and pensive. 

"Robbie?" I asked. 

"Mhm."

If I was honest with myself, I didn't know. I hadn't really thought about it, and I didn't think it should even be considered. When we were apart like now, no. I didn't. Robbie was arrogant; he had treated my friend badly and disrespected me. Still. When he was in front of me, something was different. It's like his presence cast a spell on whatever logic I had and completely did away with it. His touch made me dizzy, and once he offered it, which he was incredibly generous of last night, I wanted it constantly. It was unsettling thinking about it. I wondered if it was obvious to him, and he found it amusing or something.

That would be really cruel.

"No. I mean, I think Robbie is attractive, but I think we're—different," I tried to put it as nice as I possibly could. 

"Okay." She said and sounded disappointed.

We woke up again when my phone rang. 

"Make it stop," Maria whined. I got out of bed and found it underneath a pile of clothes. 

"Hey, Dad," I answered.

"You didn't come home last night?" He sounded concerned more than anything else.

"No, we stayed late at the party, and I thought it was safer to just sleep over her house."

"Alright, next time, a heads up would be nice."

"I'm sorry, I was exhausted and fell asleep without meaning to." At least I wasn't lying about that part.

"Alright, are you sleeping at home today?"

"Yeah, I'm going home in a bit. I also left food for you in the fridge."

"I know I saw it. Thank you."

"Well, don't just look at it, eat it as well."

I could hear him sigh, caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing.

"Fine. I'll see you later?"

"Yep."

"Alright, love you."

"Love you too."

I hung up my phone.

"Was he upset?"

"No, he sounded tired. He was probably too exhausted to get mad."

I sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm starving," I said

"Want to get breakfast?"

"Do you think there are leftovers from last night? That cake looked pretty good, and we never got to eat it."

"Oh, totally, I didn't think of that."

We went downstairs to her kitchen, and she pulled out a glass container with cake and another with some cold empanadas.

One of her cooks came into the kitchen.

"Do you girls want me to heat something up for you?"She asked.

She was new; I had never seen her before. She looked young, like in her early to mid-20s.

"Oh, sure, thank you, Gemma," Maria said, putting the tray of food on the counter.

She was pulling out a barstool when someone knocked on the door.

"I'll get it," She yelled, standing up.

I sat down on the counter and looked at my phone.

"Oh, Hi Abigail. Sure, why don't you come in?" I heard maria say.

Abigail walked into the kitchen, looking worried.

"I have sent your brother text messages all morning, and he has not responded. I wanted him to come with me to lunch with my family, and he wouldn't pick up."

"I think he's just sleeping," Maria said.

"Hi, Abigail," I said from the counter.

She looked me up and down with her usual look of disdain.

I looked down and realized I was still wearing Maria's slip dress. I should probably put on a robe, I thought to myself.

Abigail ran upstairs, and Maria shot me a look.

"Just one day, one day is all I ask." She said, looking up at her ceiling.I chuckled.

"Hey Lia, you want to run today? It's nice outside." I looked outside the window. She was right; it was a nice day. We hadn't run as much because our coach went on vacation for the last week of summer.

"Sure, a quick one, though; I want to go home and get ready for Monday."

"Booo. Boring. Can you at least stay for some lunch?"

"I don't know. I want to get everything organized."

"How about we drive to the city and then go for a run there. Then we can get something to eat, and I'll drop you off right after."

"Fine."

"Awesome, let's go get dressed; I'll lend you running shorts."

As we were going up the stairs, we heard a door slam. Abigail was storming down the stair.

Maria and I looked at each other and shrugged, then continued upstairs. A second later, we heard the door slam open. This time it was Robbie. He rounded the corner.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah," Maria said, putting a hand to his chest to stop him.

"I'll explain later." He said, pushing her hand off and continuing down the stairs.

My cheeks turned red, and I wondered if he told her about us falling asleep on the trampoline.

Maria looked at me with an amused look on her face.

"Okay, we have to snoop."

"No, it's none of our business."

"Lia —"

"No."

"Fine, I'm snooping without you."

"Fine, I'm going to go change in your room."

I finished changing into some of Maria's leggings and a sweatshirt, went downstairs to look for her, to go to our run.

I found her looking out of a window in one of the back exits of the house.

"They're out there?" I asked.

"Shhhh!" She whispered in response and pulled me down next to her.

"You're acting like a crazy person," I whispered back to her.

"Can't he see us from here?" I asked, realizing that if we had a clear view of them, they could probably see us.

"Privacy windows, especially with this sunlight. No way they can see inside."

I looked out to see Robbie and Abigail standing outside the door. She looked like she had been crying, and he looked tired.

"She's mad at him because he refuses to go to some lunch her family is having. He told her that he isn't her boyfriend, so why should he go?"

I rolled my eyes.

"She brought up the family business and how their presence at this dinner would be good for it, and that caught his attention."

She scoffed. "Corporate slave."

"Maria, he's just dutiful."

"Now she's going for the kill and trying to seduce him to go with her. What will win the head or the—little head? Stay tuned, kids."

"Maria, we should not be listening to this. It's not our business."

"Did you not hear the way this girl spoke to me last night. She made it my business."

"Are you sure this isn't some power play for Robbie?"

"What?"

"Well, there's an obvious powerplay between you and your family and Robbie, and I think you have made Abigail an extension of your family and thereby an enemy."She looked at me.

"Okay, when did you become a fan of Abigail?"

"I'm not. I just don't think snooping on your brother while he fights with his—whatever she is, is okay."

She stared at me with a contemplative look on her face.

"Fine," She said and leaned back. Unfortunately, there was a bag filled with lacrosse equipment in her way, and she ended up pushing it off the stool it was on and sending the bag and the stick crashing onto the floor.

The noise was a lot louder than you would expect, and we looked at each other with wide eyes.

I could see Robbie stiffen through the window. He rolled his eyes and started walking towards the door.

"Think of something fast," I said to her.

Robbie opened the door and looked at us expectantly.

"We were going for a run," Maria said.

"Through the back door? You never leave this way."

"Well, Lia and I wanted to try a new route."

"Those are your PJ sweats."

"They are also running sweats."

"Stop listening to my conversation."

"Stop leaving your Lacrosse equipment where it doesn't belong," She shot back.

He looked down at the bag, surprised to see it there.

"I didn't put that there. I'm not playing this year."

"Anyway!" I chimed in, "Time to go for a run! I want to get home before sunset. Let's go so we can make it to lunch on time, Maria." I said, starting to jog in place.

Tense situations made me uncomfortable, and my brain decided to push hard on that exit button.

Robbie looked at me and narrowed his eyes.

"You know I expected this from my sister. I didn't take you for the snooping type."

"I was no—" I started.

"She wasn't snooping." Maria said and crossed her arms in front of her body, "She was annoying and self-righteous and tried to make me stop. Don't try to scold my friend's, little bro."

"Where are you guys going to eat?" He asked, ignoring what she said.

"Manhattan, why?" she answered with an annoyed tone to her voice.

He shrugged.

"We are probably going to eat at Chez Frederique." She said, sighing.

"Enjoying your lunch with Abigail. Come on, Lia, let's go."

She pulled me towards the stairs.

"Are you running in those pants? It seems very uncomfortable," I asked.

"No, I'm going to change into some leggings." She said sadly, and we ran up the stairs to her room.

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A/N

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