Lies Twist The Way We Think

Chapter 2 - Twisted Lies, Stolen Cries

"Everything alright?" Libby asks when we come in. She invited me along with Avery, who usually stays there. I must look bad already, but Avery looks like she got hit by a truck after her shift. Sorry, lovely.

"Rough day," I murmur and press a kiss on her cheek, which she returns. "What about you?"

"All's great." She's nervous. I can tell from the way she's making little steps from one side to another, like she's about to run away. I have a bad feeling.

Libby and I are around the same age. We're not biologically related, but she's a good friend of mine and she's Avery's sister, which makes her my sister. Which is also the reason why I get the urge to hit my head against a wall when I see the cupcakes on the table.

"No."

Libby's smile vanishes. "What?"

"Have you not heard me?"

"It's not what it looks like-"

"Tell me you're not dating that asshole again!" Avery's voice is loud and she has a look of hurt on her face that I cannot ever forget. As much as I love Libby, Avery is my sister.

"We're leaving. Let's go, Ave." I grab my sister's wrist and walk out of Libby's apartment. Avery hurries to catch up with me but doesn't say anything. She doesn't have to. I know we're thinking the same thing.

It happened. Again.

I stop when we reach my car, and I wait until Avery sits before I let out a deep breath.

"You okay?" I turn to her. She sits shotgun, as always, and she's doing her best to keep her emotions bottled up but I can read her easily. I want to say that I can't believe Libby went back to him, but I would be lying. I can, because she's done it before. I don't want blame her, but somewhere I do. Drake's no good for her, but more than anything is he horrible to Avery, and to think that Libby lets him back into her life and thus Avery's makes me sick. I feel ill.

"It's not fair," Avery presses out eventually, teeth gritted and her eyes fixed on something in front of her.

"I know." I start the car. "I'll have her send your stuff over. Do you want pizza?"

"Pizza sounds good," Avery answers, relieved.

"I don't get it," she argues a short while later while stuffing pizza in her mouth. "She promised, you know?"

I nod while taking my own slice. Heartfelt talks always work better when you're eating pizza. "I think I saw him last week, at Dean's. Drake, I mean. Or whatever his name is."

She frowns and says something I can roughly piece together as: "What were you doing there anyway?"

My heart skips a beat. "Dean forgot his stuff in the park when we met up earlier last week. so I brought it to him." Lie. "He had some people over, I didn't stay long enough to see." Lie. All you do is lie.

Luckily, she's too busy eating to notice. Guilt washes over me but I fight it back so she won't notice. Only later, when we're home and she's gone to sleep in the extra room I keep for her, I allow the guilt to take over.

C. R. D. - M. L. T.

Aisha and I are sitting at lunch. She's telling me about her weekend.

"We went to my auntie's," she's saying. "And as soon as we stepped in, she went in that awfully high pitched voice," and I want to keep listening to her because Aisha has this riveting way of telling stories that makes you want to listen, but my mind is elsewhere.