Betting on You

9

n i n e

My cousin Harmony was one of my best friend's, growing up.

We were tied at the hip at almost every event. She only lived about an hour away, yet after we turned 9, she moved farther.

It was her parents' doing — her dad was in and out of their house for prolonged periods of time, and her mum, my mum's sister, was trying to hang on to their marriage.

It was messy, but as of now, several years later, her parents were getting a divorce.

Which is how they ended up at our house.

"And it's... it's about time, you know?" Aunt Marge lightly wept, wiping her tears and sighing. Mum wrapped an arm around her sister, hugging her and attempting to give as much comfort as she could yet Aunt Marge slouched into the couch, "I just.. too many chances. That's what I gave him."

I wrapped my arms around myself and bit my lip, glancing to where Harmony sat on an adjacent single chair. She was quiet, which was a drastic contrast to how she was when we were younger. She hadn't said much of anything when they had gotten here, and I knew that she would become my priority.

"Maddy," I straightened in my seat at my mother's call, "Why don't you show Harmony to the guest room? Help her take their things?"

It wasn't an actual suggestion; More like a command, but I nodded anyways, happy to help in some sort of way.

Harmony and I stood from our chairs and we collected her and Aunt Marge's things. In an awkward silence, I led the way up the stairs and towards the guest bedroom. It was a couple doors down from my room and equipped with it's own bathroom as well.

The walls were a cream color and the furniture was a mix between dark browns and pastel yellows. After placing Aunt Marge's bags onto the bed, I turned to see that Harmony had found a place by the window that faced the front of the house.

"It's good to see you again, Harm." My voice was soft and she didn't turn to look over at me, like I had hoped she would. She had grown up quite beautifully, though. We shared the same light toned brown hair and eyes, and peachy toned skin, yet she grew up alot more filled out then I did. Where as I was on the taller to average size in hieght, she was on the shorter end. And where my body somewhat lacked definition in curves, hers were well pronounced, giving her the well defined hour glass figure that I had always wished for. Her shoulder length hair was in a pony tail now though, something she used to do to show that now was a time to be serious.

I cleared my throat, wanting to try again, "So uh, are you transferring to my school too?"

"I guess so." she shrugged, sighing as she did so. That looked to be all she wanted to say, so I didn't pry much further than that.

Biting my lower lip, I clasped my hands together infront of me and nodded my head slowly, "Alright... my room is three doors down that way and you and Aunt Marge have an attatched bathroom so..." I trailed off.

When she didn't so much as blink at me, I took that as my cue to leave and I nodded to myself again, turning and slowly exiting the room.

I headed back to my own and closed the door behind me, sighing through my nose before heading over to my bed where my homework, crushed from the wieght of Luke and I when we had made out, still lay.