Read My Sweetest Escape Online
Authors: Chelsea M. Cameron
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #General
“Hey, Jos,” Darah said, coming in while I
was putting my clothes away in the dresser.
Her voice scared the crap out of me and I
dropped the Fall Out Boy T-shirt I’d been
refolding.
“Hey,” I said, picking up the shirt and
turning around. I could never figure out
how Darah and Renee had become friends,
because they were like night and day. But
out of all of Renee’s friends, I liked Darah
the best. I hadn’t met Taylor yet, I
supposed, so I couldn’t judge her.
“Are you settling in okay?” It was then
that I noticed she had a plate of cookies.
Oh, Jesus. What next? “Cookie?
Taylor and I made them last night.
They’re snickerdoodles.
I know those are your favorite.” Yes,
they were, but that wasn’t the point.
“Thanks, but I’m fine.” I refolded the
T-shirt and put it in with the others. Darah
sighed and sat down on my bed, setting the
plate of cookies next to her.
“Look,” she started.
Here we go again.
“I
know that everyone is going to be up in
your face and scrutinizing you, but I just
wanted you to know that I’m here for you.
If you want to talk, if you don’t want to talk.
Whatever. Even if you want to…I don’t
know, eat ice cream and cry in the middle
of the night. I’m here, okay?”
She got up and rubbed my shoulder.
What was it with people invading my
personal space? It was really starting to piss
me off. If Darah hadn’t been one of the
sweetest people on the planet, I would
have shrugged her hand off and told her to
leave me alone. But she was the sweetest
person ever, and she’d brought cookies, so I
let her touch me as I gritted my teeth.
“Okay, well, let us know if you need
anything. Um, Hunter and Taylor are doing
dinner tonight, and it’s going to be
vegetarian, if you’re cool with that.” I
nodded. Back in the day I’d been an
on-and-off vegetarian. Back in the day when
I’d been in the Climate Action Club and a
card-carrying member of PETA. I might still
have the thing in my wallet. God, I’d been
wound so fucking tight back then. I’d also
done a lot less cursing.
“Come on up when you’re ready.” She
patted me once more and shut the door
behind her, leaving the plate of cookies. Did
they expect me to polish those off and then
have dinner? I shrugged, snagging one of
the cookies. She must have put them in the
microwave, because they were warm and
crumbly. Oh, wow. I chewed slowly,
savoring the spicy sweetness of the cookie.
Footsteps and voices sounded upstairs. I
heard laughter and chaos. The house above
me was full of life and joy and people. And
then there was me, hanging out in the
basement. Lurking like a creeper. I shook
my head and shoved the rest of the cookie
into my mouth and went back to folding.
* * *
When the smell of whatever they were
cooking upstairs became too much for me
to withstand anymore, I ventured up the
stairs.
“There you are,” Renee said, nearly
crashing into me as I opened the door.
She’d obviously been coming down to drag
me upstairs from my cave.
“Here I am.” I gave her a tight smile as
we walked into the kitchen/dining room.
Everyone went absolutely silent as
Renee and I walked in.
“Awesome. I was totally going for that
reaction. Well played, everyone,” I said as
they all tried to resume their normal
activities. It was weird seeing some of them
in person, because I’d only seen them in
pictures. They really
were
three-dimensional.
Hunter was the first to come over and
offer me his hand. I got to give him the
once-over and I understood what Renee
had said about not allowing him near
anything flammable because he would set it
on fire with his hotness. Yeah, he had the
whole tatted-up, muscled thing going on.
Plus his smile was genuine when he said
he’d been looking forward to meeting me.
Taylor was next, but she didn’t touch me.
Thank God. She was also just as freaking
adorable as the pictures I’d seen her in. It
was easy to see why Renee and Darah had
asked her to move in with them.
“I hope this is okay. I wasn’t sure what
you’d like. We were planning on doing
something bigger, but Renee… Never
mind,” Taylor said, after getting the evil eye
from
Renee. I didn’t need to be able to see
her giving it to know that was what she was
doing. I’d been on the receiving end of that
look more times than I could count. Paul
stood next to Renee and gave me a
comforting smile.
Last was a guy who looked like he
missed his calling as a professional football
player. Or wrestler. Or attractive bouncer. I
guess sexy ran in the family of Hunter and
Mase.
“Little Ne,” he said, giving me a
handshake that nearly crushed all of my
fingers. “It’s cool if we call you that, right?
We’ll probably come up with a better
nickname at some point. Unless you hate
nicknames as much as your sister seems
to.” He looked a little sheepish, which was
kind of funny, given how strong he looked.
“Whatever,” I said, flexing my hand to
get the feeling back into it. “I’m neutral in
nicknames.” I couldn’t count how many I’d
had in my life. Most of them I’d ignored,
including when my sister Cari spent an
entire summer calling me “Stinky Butt.” To
be fair, she was three, and “Joscelyn” was a
mouthful to say.
“Thanks for the cookies,” I said to Darah,
who was absentmindedly stroking Mase’s
arm. “They were really good.”
“Oh, good. I was hoping you’d like
them,” Taylor said, stirring something in
one of the steaming pots on the stove.
“This is about ready, so why don’t you
go sit down?”
“Is there, um, anything I can do to
help?” Granted, I had been forced here, but
they didn’t have to take me in. They could
have said no.
“Don’t worry, sis. You’ll be on the chore
chart soon enough,” Renee said, steering
me toward the dining room table. Someone
had already set out the plates, and there
was a place set for me, with a card sitting
on the plate, and yes, it was handmade.
“Taylor and Darah made that, so you
have to gush about it even if you hate it,”
Renee hissed as I opened it. How could I
hate it? Someone had made some really
cool designs with paint on the front that
looked like fireworks, and there were
letters cut from magazines spelling out the
words
WELCOME TO YELLOWFIELD HOUSE.
“Yellowfield House?” I said.
Renee rolled her eyes and sat down next
to me, Paul on her other side. I caught him
taking her hand under the table and giving
it a squeeze.
“It was Taylor’s idea. She wanted it to be
like in one of those British novels, where
the house has a name. It was, like, the only
way she’d agree to let us all live here. It was
her one stipulation,” Renee said with a
shrug.
“She wanted to make a sign and
everything, but the rest of us vetoed it,”
Paul said. “It was really cute, actually. She
was so excited. And then we shot her
down.”
“Um, weird,” I said.
“Shh,” Renee said as everyone else
carried dishes and pans and other dinner
paraphernalia. The second everyone sat
down it was a chaos of passing plates and
bumping elbows and trying to get everyone
what they needed. Taylor had made
spaghetti with an olive oil sauce with tons
of vegetables and garlic bread and a salad.
It was crazy delicious, and even though I’d
consumed several of the cookies, I put away
more than my share of dinner. It beat the
hell out of the cafeteria food, or eating
ramen for the millionth time.
Everyone laughed and talked about their
day, and for the first time, I wasn’t the
center of attention. It was really…nice.
They were all just so damn happy and
smiley and in love.
It was enough to make me sick, but
instead it somehow had the opposite effect.
I’d really wanted to hate it here. It would
have been more appropriate for me to hate
it.
“Um, I still have some…stuff to unpack,”
I said, getting up as soon as I could. I
needed to get back to the loneliness of the
basement. All the happy was screwing with
my head.
Renee shot me a look, but nodded.
“Are you sure you don’t want to hang
out up here? You haven’t even seen the rest
of the house yet,” Darah said, giving me a
hopeful smile. I couldn’t really get out of
that.
“Yeah, sure.” She led me upstairs,
showing me her room, which was
immaculate, as if they were selling the
house and had a decorator come in to make
it look good for prospective buyers. Renee
refused to let us see her room, and Taylor
only gave me a quick glance at her and
Hunter’s suite on the top floor.
“Just ignore the clothes on the floor. I
know I do.” Hunter and Taylor had tagged
along for our little tour. It was technically
his house, after all.
“Thanks. For…for letting me come here.”
For letting my parents force me on you. I’m
sure you had lots of choice in the matter.
“You’re welcome. Any member of
Renee’s family is part of ours,” he said,
putting an arm around Taylor. Did they
have to do that all the time? “I hope
everything…works out. I know what it’s like
to go through a rough time.” Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I’d heard all about Hunter’s and
Taylor’s tragic pasts and subsequent
“getting their shit together” moments. They
were probably planning my intervention
right now. Luring me into a false sense of
security before springing it on me.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said as he closed their
door and we went back downstairs.
“Are you sure you don’t want to join us
for some music?”
Darah said as she and Mase canoodled
on the couch. What was this, the Partridge
family? Seriously, these people were a
Cleaver short of a heartwarming fifties
family show. “Hunter’s a really good guitar
player.”
“I’m good. I still have…stuff to do.”
“And things?” Renee said, giving me a
look. Yeah, stuff and things, Renee.
“Am I not allowed to do stuff and things
now? Was that the fifth rule on your list?” I
snapped, realizing only after I’d said it that
everyone could hear me.
“Whatever,” I said, heading for the
basement. “I’m going to bed.” It was only
eight, but I couldn’t take being around them
anymore. They were just so damn happy. It
was killing me. I needed to go back to the
basement of doom and comfort myself with
more cookies and heart-wrenching music.
“Good night,” they all chimed almost in
unison. Sick, this was sick. Maybe there was
something in the walls that seeped into
their pores when they were sleeping. Or
maybe it was the water?
I shook my head and walked back down
to what I was quickly deciding was my cave.
My basement of solitude.
My room reeked of the delicious
cookies, and even though I was stuffed from
dinner, I ate two more before heading to
the shower. The water pressure was
significantly better than the dorm, and I
took my time, savoring the sensation on the
back of my neck. All the showers in the
world couldn’t wash away the darkness in
my life, but that didn’t stop me from
enjoying it.
The charm bracelet caught in my hair as
I was brushing it and I spent a good five
minutes and several curse words getting it
undone.
We’re friends, right? And friends give
each other gifts. I know
how much you love
elephants, so…here,
he’d said when he’d
presented me with the box. I remembered
opening it and falling in love with it. Such a
simple, sweet gesture. He’d helped me put
it on, and I’d worn it every day since.
Especially after…
I shook my head and turned on some
music. Something nice and harsh and loud
to drown out the Sing-Along hour going on
upstairs. After scrolling through my recent
purchases, I found the newest Skillet album.
Perfect.
I could feel the joy seeping through the
floor and invading my cave, so I turned the
music up so loud that it was hurting my
eardrums. I should have just put on my
cost-an-arm-and-a-leg-and-a-kidney
headphones, but I didn’t. I unpacked the
rest of my stuff and deleted the voice mails
from my mother and father, demanding
that I call them when I’d gotten to Renee’s.