My Ex-Best Friend: The Bad Boy (Smythe #1)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

       When I was putting my books from school into my locker, since I thankfully had no homework over the weekend, Seb approached me. "Artie, can I ask you for a favour?" he asked.

       "Sure," I said, closing my locker and turning to face him. "What is it?"

       "Well, there's a party tonight," Seb said. "And I want to go, but Dax can't stay by himself for too long and our dad is still out of town, so..."

       "You want me to stay over at your house with Dax," I finished for him. Seb nodded. "Yeah, of course. Although, you probably will miss out on a lot of fun. We'll order in food and watch horror movies."

       "Yeah, I'm sure I'll miss out," Seb said before he gave me a hug. "Thank you so much. I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but I really appreciate having someone else to look after my brother besides me."

       When he pulled away from the hug, he saw my confused look. "But, doesn't your dad look after him?"

       "He's always out of town," Seb said. "The main building of the company he works out is the next city over and instead of driving there and back every day, he stays at a hotel whenever he has to go down there, which is often. I've basically been raising Dax ever since our mom left."

       "I'm sorry about that, Seb," I said. "You've been through a lot."

       "Yeah," he said quietly. But then he cleared his throat. "So the party starts at eight. Can you be at our house before then?"

       I nodded. "Yeah. My dad's probably waiting for me now in the parking lot. I'll see you."

       I made my way outside of the school and to where my dad's car was waiting. I got into the passenger seat and he drove off to our house. "How was school?" he asked.

       "The same," I said. "Can I hang out with Dax at his house tonight?"

       "Just Dax?" Dad asked. "Not Sebastian?"

       I shook my head. "No, Seb is going out somewhere and Dax can't be alone for too long."

       "Isn't he fifteen, though?" Dad asked.

       "Yeah, but he..." I quickly stopped myself before I told my dad the real reason. Seb has specifically told me that Dax was the only one who could tell people about him being schizophrenic. "He doesn't like being home alone."

       "Oh," Dad said. "Then, yeah, you can go to his house tonight. What time?"

       "Around eight," I said.

       "Okay," he said. "And what time will you be home?"

       "I actually don't know," I said. "But hey, I'll be in the house next door so it won't be dangerous for me to go home at one in the morning. Not that it will be one in the morning. That was just an example."

       "Artemis," Dad interrupted. "I was just wondering what time you will be home. Come home when you do."

       "Thanks," I said.

       When we got home, I went to my bedroom and decided to take a nap after an exhausting day at school. Well, nothing exhausting really happened, but it was school and school was boring, so it made me tired.

       I napped for a good two hours before my mom told me it was time for dinner. I went downstairs and went to the dining room. By the time I finished eating, it was six o'clock, meaning I had two more hours to waste before going to Seb and Dax's house. I normally would have gone there early, but that meant I had to spend more time with Seb, meaning there was a higher chance of me slipping up and him figuring out I liked him and I wasn't ready for that yet.