Chapter 11

"Lunch for my girl." Cody placed a plate in front of me. When we got home he finally gave in and made me lunch. We were sat outside at the table on the decking. "Chicken!" I cheered and shoved some in my mouth. Chicken salad with dressing.

"You like it?" He watched me eat. I nodded. Cody was on his phone while I ate my lunch. "Aren't you eating?" "I had some while I made that." "Right." I took another mouthful. "Who are you texting?" "Work." "You're texting work?" "Yup." "Who?" "I'm organising something." He stayed vague. "What are you organising?" "Work." He looked up and smiled. I rolled my eyes.

"You're not gonna tell me, no?" "Why should I?" "Beca-" "You're not my girlfriend so why do I have to mention every detail of my life to you?" He got up and went inside. "Where did that come from?" I asked myself but then carried on eating. Once I was finished I took my dish into the kitchen and left it in the sink before going to Cody's room.

"Cody, what wa-" "Get out!" "I didn't know you were getting changed!" I defended and went back downstairs. Cody came down after a few minutes. "I've gotta go do some things, where do you want me to drop you off?" "I guess I'll go back to school." I sighed at got up. "Who are you doing things with?" "No one." "I'm not stupid." I pointed out. "Just get in the car." He instructed.

"I hate it when you're private like this." I watched him while he watched the road. "I guess you'll have to live with it." "But why aren't you telling me?" "Why should I?" "I thought we were getting somewhere, Cody." "So did I." "Well why are you hiding this from me?" "Because you don't need to know." "Are you meeting a girl?" "Lauren!" He scolded and shot me a glare. I watched the road out the window.

The rest of the car journey was silent. I wouldn't call it awkward, more like full of tension. Extremely uncomfortable. Cody pulled up in his usual spot and waited for me to get out. I didn't say a word to him, he didn't seem like he wanted me to speak. I walked into the school and past the front desk.

"Miller?" "What?!" I snapped. "Where have you been all morning?" "Not here." I stated and went through the doors into the hall. "Hey." I smiled at Marcus who was talking to my old friend, Abby. "You want to talk to me now?" He looked me up and down. "I'm sorry for what I said." He looked back at Abby. "He doesn't want to know, Lauren. Go tell your boyfriend that you're sorry." She spat at me.

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrows and put my hands on my hips. "He doesn't like you." "Are you sure?" Marcus spoke up. "You said you were annoyed with her?" She looked at me. "Yeah well I still like her. Come on." He took my hand and pulled me away. "By the way, her, not a good choice." I said.

"What makes you so sure?" "I was friends with her before I started dating Cody. She kind of changed." "I got on the football team!" Marcus told me. "Exciting." I smiled. "How come you came back?" "I think I owe you an apology." "Hmm." He rubbed his chin and pulled me into an empty classroom.

"Tell me how sorry you are then." He sat me on the desk and stood between my legs. "I shouldn't of said what I said. I was tired and you and Cody annoyed me with your little stare out competition and he was already getting to my head. Then I guess I just snapped at you." "I accept your apology but you better be careful." He rubbed my cheek with his thumb the way Cody does.

"Why's that?" "I might not take it so easy next time." His eyes flicked from my eyes to my lips. "So are you guys a thing again or what?" "We haven't put a thing on it." "Would he mind if you were here with me?" "He doesn't need to know, he annoyed me and then he brought me back here." I watched his eyes as they watched my lips moving.

"Well I guess what he doesn't know won't hurt him." He smiled and pressed his lips against mine. I hesitated at first but then kissed back. He pulled my body closer to his and then cupped my face. I pulled away. "I think we better get to class." "I think we should stay here." "Come on." I took his hand and lead him through the school.

"What do you have now?" "I'm supposed to be in gym. You?" "Math." He groaned. "So that's why you wanted to stay there." I giggled. "We both know that's not the only thing holding me back from class." He looked down at me. "I'll see you after school, yeah?" "Do you have a lift home?" "I'll find one." "I'll walk you." "It's a half our walk." "That's cool." He smiled and walked away.

After school Marcus was waiting outside for me. I smiled and went over to him. "I won't get murdered if you're seen with me, no?" "Who's gonna be mad?" "Fans.." "Nah, it's different for girls. If you were the famous one then maybe there would be a problem but my fans will just be happy that you're hot." I said and guided him the right way.

"But Cody might kill you if he finds out." I shot him a smile. "Why? You said you guys were over.. But then you said you didn't want to put a thing on it. What's going on?" "He's protective and he doesn't like you." "Why doesn't he like me? What have I done?" "You kissed his ex girlfriend." "Before that." "I kinda brought you home the night after we'd had- Um- Sex." I avoided looking at him.

"You basically invited me over to make him jealous?" "No! I was already friends with you then. And anyway we were drunk and it wasn't anything important." "So you're not a virgin?" He smirked at me. "Why'd you get so mad when I asked earlier?" "It's not something you ask a girl." "Oh yeah?" "Mhm." I nodded.

"Would it be totally inapropriate for me to ask who the lucky guy was?" "It wouldn't be inappropriate but I won't tell you." "Worth a try." He shrugged it off. "Why'd you move here?" I moved the conversation along. "My Mom and Dad broke up." "I'm so sorry!" I covered my mouth. "It's alright." He smiled. "I'm getting through it. I have to be strong for my little sister anyway." He said.

"Is it hard? I'm scared that my parents are coming close to divorce." I admitted. "It's hard but you'll get through it. And if they do, you'll have me to support you." "I'll support you in the ways that I can too." "That kiss helped me." He took my hand and slid his fingers between mine. I looked down at our hands. "You're a very gorgeous girl." "Thank you." I forced a smile. Something felt wrong but I don't know what.

"Thank you for walking me home." I smiled as we got to my front door. "You're not going to invite me in?" He asked. "No, she's not." I heard Cody's voice. "Because she doesn't need you. She's got me." Cody smiled arrogantly. "You can let go of her hand now too." Cody pushed me towards the wall and Marcus in the other direction as he came outside.

"I'm gonna go." "See you tomorrow." I smiled. "See you tomorrow." Cody mimicked me. "What is your problem?" I got annoyed. "Get in the house." He pushed me inside. "This is my house. Why are you here?" "Well when Lilly's big sister didn't show up to pick her up, I got a phone call asking to babysit." "I wasn't asked to pick her up." I said and went to my room.

"Why were you with him? This morning you wanted to get away from him." "He's sweet." I shrugged and opened my balcony doors. "I don't like him." "Well I do." "I don't want you with him." "Well when you don't tell me where the hell you're going what do you want me to do? Wait until you come running back asking for dates?" "Why do you need to know every single deta-" "You wanted me to wonder and you know it! You wanted me to show that I cared and you wanted me to worry about what you were doing so don't get mad when I actually react." I said and went back downstairs.

"You wanna know what I think?" He came down after me. "I think you should shut up because fighting in front of Lilly won't win you anything!" I dismissed. "I was working." He lowered his voice. "I don't care about that. It's the fact that you wouldn't give me details so that I would get worked up about it. And now you're mad because I wasn't waiting around for you." I said.

I went to find Lilly who was playing outside. She was sat on the steps in the pool with her dolls making them swim and things. "Hey, Lil." I sat on the bench. "Hi." She smiled at me and returned to playing. I watched with a smile on my face.

"Can I speak to you inside for a second?" Cody stood at the back door. "So you can shout at each other some more?" Lilly looked at him. My heart sunk. "It's okay. You can fight because you've already broken up." She shrugged and went back to playing. Cody and I looked at each other, neither of us knew what to say.

"We're not going to fight no more, I promise." He said. "It's alright. I'm going to my room so you can shout all you want." She got up and wrapped herself in a towel before going into the house. "And that's why I don't want to argue anymore." "You were holding hands?" "Huh?" "Don't play dumb. There's pictures of you and Marcus holding hands." "Already?!" I shook my head. "I couldn't care less anyways." "What else is there to tell me?" He sat with me.

"I don't have to share every detail of my life with you." I smiled inocently. "Don't." He warned in an alarming tone. "Don't go playing your fucking games. I'm not dealing with them." He whispered. My heart was beating faster than ever. "So quit it right now and tell me what the fuck you've done." He comanded. "I- I kissed him." I looked at the ground.

"What the fu-" "We're not together! I can do what I like so stop acting as if we're a couple." "You can't mess with my head like this, Lauren!" He got up and started pacing back and forth. "I'm not. You started playing games by not telling me what you were doing so I played the game too. Now you're mad because I won." "I can't believe you." "I don't need you here. I can babysit by myself so leave." I stood up too. "Call me when you're done being stupid." I said and went into the house.

I went to Lilly's room and sat on her bed. "I'm sorry." "It's alright. Like you told me, when two people love each other lots and lots they fight. So it means you love each other, right?" "I meant that Mom and Dad argue because of how much they love each other." "So you still don't love Cody?" Her face dropped.

"I do love Cody." I sat next to her. "I love Cody very much but we can't be together anymore. I'm sorry but it's just the way the world works." "I don't like it." She pouted. I laughed a little as she folded her arms. "You'll understand it when you're older." I kissed her head. "Where are you going?" I stopped at her door.

"I'm going to my room." "Can I come?" "Sur-" There was a knock on the door. "I'll just go answer that." I went downstairs and opened the door. "Hey, stranger." Paul smiled. "Hi. Hey, Amy." I bent down and gave her a hug. "Amy!" Lilly came running downstairs.

"Can you look after her for a few hours?" He asked me. "Why?" "Georgia's coming round." "But Amy loves Georgia." Georgia is Paul's girlfriend. "Yeah but Mom's out of town and I just want some time alone with her." "I see." I winked. "Can you do it?" He looked at the ground and laughed.

"I can but you have to tell me every detail tomorrow morning." I said. "I will." "Every detail." "Uhuh." He nodded. "Amy! Come say goodbye to Paul?" I called for the girls. They both came to the door again. "Bye!" Amy hugged him. "I wanna hug!" Lilly said and hugged him too. "Bye!" They said at the same time and ran off.

"Oh boy." I sighed. "Enjoy!" Paul kissed my cheek and then walked down the drive. I went to my room and found the girls sat at my dresser with all my makeup laid out in front of them. "What do you think you're doing?" I made them jump. "Can you play makeovers with us?" "Yeah." I put everything on the floor and then sat down. "And we want our hair and nails done too." Amy smiled.