Lies for Truth

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The dinner could’ve gone better, Ariana decided as their guests piled out of the house. They didn’t have neighbors right next to them because of the land but a few blocks down was the Marshall family and then the Gannon’s. The Gannon’s had one child; a five year old little girl that was the cutest thing she had ever seen. She even offered to baby-sit if they ever needed it.

The Marshall’s were another story, they had three kids, and only two came. Nate was fifteen and hit on both Ariana and Julie, it had been creepy to be near someone so slimy at such a young age. His sister happened to be Summer Marshall; Charlie’s ex-girlfriend. She was popular and looked down on Ariana and her friends for as long as she could remember. The whole situation made dinner uncomfortable. She never thought she’d want to shrink away and hide from the mean girl in her own house.

Summer took one look at Jax and decided to torture Ariana another time. Summer latched on to him and tried all night to get him to speak to her; he didn’t. He was anti-social and didn’t care if the neighbors knew it. The parents thought he was a problem child because of it.

When Jax nearly broke Nate’s hand the parents continued to think the worse about him. Nate had made the mistake of grabbing Julie’s leg during dinner. Needless to say the night ended there.

“Well that was fun.” Julie commented with a frown as she tried to decide what to think of the experience.

“Or not.” Ariana offered. “Are you ok? You handled it pretty well.” For a moment she flashed back to when Charlie grabbed her and froze. Julie on the other hand had been the picture of cool.

“He put his hand on my leg, it wasn’t like he was going to try and sleep with me in front of everyone.” She explained with a shrug.

Jax looked ready to break something. “Don’t say stuff like that, the image is disturbing.”

A sinister smile formed on Julie’s smile. Ariana knew now wasn’t the time to yank her brother’s chain, she moved forward and clamped her hand over the younger girl’s mouth. “Why don’t you help me clean up so mom doesn’t have to do it?” she didn’t give her a chance to say no, she tugged her along to the kitchen and waited until they were alone to speak. “He was defending you.”

“I didn’t need it.”

“But what if you did? You’d be grateful, right? If you want to make him uncomfortable wait until he isn’t as angry. You’re his sister, some guy grabbing on you bothered him a lot. It bothered me.”

“You’re right, I’ll behave.” She grabbed towels to dry the dishes with as Ariana washed them. Their parents didn’t want them using a dishwasher because their hands worked just fine. Kids were too lazy now, Mitch liked to say. “You understand him pretty well now.” Julie said now about her brother.

Ariana froze, how was she supposed to handle this? “That happens when you live with someone I guess. I know you pretty well.”

“Need anymore help?” Jax walked into the kitchen. “I told Dad and Mary to go upstairs that we could handle it.”

Julie turned around to lean against the counter. “Did they look horrified that the neighbors think we’re freaks now?”

“They seemed alright. It’s late, I’ll help Ariana and you can go get ready for bed.”

“Thanks.” Julie didn’t hide her excitement about ditching housework. She wished them goodnight and bounced out of the room.

Jax took his sister’s spot and stood next to Ariana. “Summer was a total bitch to you.”

His bluntness and the fact she hadn’t expected that to be what he wanted to talk about made her laugh. “That’s nothing new. The baby, Hannah, was great and I paid Summer no attention.”

“You like kids; do you want any one day?”

She kept her eyes on the dinner plate in her hands and the swirling pattern around it. “That’s a weird question.” Except she couldn’t figure out why it made her feel sad.

“If it’s random maybe but we are talking about them.” he took the dish she had washed twice now and was about to do it a third time. “You ok?”

“I would love to have kids one day it’s just…who would want to have them with me? The only guy who’s ever showed me any attention is legally related to me.” she handed him the last dish then turned off the water. She hated to face the fact they didn’t have a chance to find out what could be.

“Now I get why this was weird, I’m sorry.”

“No it’s fine, really.” She kept her eyes down on her feet. “Goodnight.” He didn’t stop her from leaving the room.

Her mind wasn’t letting her escape easily that night. Ariana tossed and turned but nothing worked, nothing got her to sleep. The scent was long gone from the pillow and jacket replaced with her own. After an hour long game of mental tug of war she threw off the covers and quietly left her room.

Her heart jumped inside her throat from fear of being caught. She managed to breathe somewhat easier after reaching the basement and the kitchen door was securely shut again. Now came the hard part and hopefully Jax wouldn’t turn her away.

It couldn’t have been easy for him to give his comfort and then have to go back to denying each other as the small moments between them never happened.

She turned the door knob of his bedroom and stepped inside. She let her eyes adjusted to the new darkness before shutting the door. She could make out his profile as he slept, the sheets were low on his waist revealing a shirtless chest.

In her mind this had been much easier, now looking at him it wasn’t as easy to pretend they were only friends, as if there wasn’t a roaring attraction. She had came all this way and refused to chicken out and go back upstairs.

If Jax minded at all he didn’t say anything. She climbed under the sheets and laid beside him. She was painfully aware it was the first time they both laid under the sheets together, the heat radiating from his body wouldn’t let her forget.

A short moment passed, Jax reached out and pulled her against his side and in result she laid her head on his chest.