walking to the door. When she reached her dad, she turned and gave me a small, shy wave. As my headlights flashed on, I could see Mr. Underwood staring daggers at me from his porch. Allie followed her dad inside and closed the door behind her, the front porch light flickering off soon after.
I pulled out of the driveway, wondering what was going on in the house. There was no movement in the windows, and I knew if I stayed any longer, I would look like a creep. I went three blocks away from Allie’s house to Elm Street and turned the headlights off. I waited thirty minutes; until I was sure her dad was gone, until I went back to her house. Brody answered the door before I could knock. “What did your dad want?” I asked.
“Just needed to pick up some clothes for the week. He started asking questions when he noticed Allie was gone, but didn’t suspect anything, especially the fact that my younger sister has her pair staying in our house every night.”
“Yeah, well it’s good that he didn’t suspect,” I said, ignoring the second part. “See you in the morning.” I turned toward the stairs, intending to go to Allie’s room.
“Where are you going?” Brody said from behind me, probably knowing exactly where I was going.
I turned and crossed my arms, daring him to stop me. “Allie’s room.”
He sighed, knowing that he was fighting a losing battle. “You better not hurt my sister.” Oh no, not this talk. I’ve heard it enough, even before Allie knew I was her pair.
“I couldn’t hurt her if I tried. Maybe, if you actually accepted Sierra, you would know that.” And maybe she would stop throwing herself at me, I thought.
“Point taken. And no way, Sierra can do her own thing,” He acted like he didn’t care, but I knew he did. It hurt him that Sierra didn’t choose him, and I couldn’t blame him. If Allie worked as hard as Sierra did to ignore me, I wouldn’t be able to take it either.
I nodded and said a goodnight before taking the stairs two at a time to Allie’s room.
When I walked in it was dark, but there was enough light from the moon beaming through the window that I was able to make her figure out. She laid in bed on her side, eyes closed, but I knew she wasn’t asleep yet. When she sensed me, she flicked on her lamp on her bedside table and sat up.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were coming back,” her voice was grouchy with sleep.
“Of course I came back.”
She smiled a shy smile and threw aside her blankets. She scooted over to make room for me and in the process, twisted her shorts, causing them to ride up. Dear God, her sleeper shorts were short. I slowly walked toward her bed, measuring her response. This wasn’t the first time I’d slept in her bed, but last time it was only a nap. When I reached her bed, I kicked off my shoes and climbed in beside her. She nestled herself in the crook of my shoulder and rested her head on my chest. I combed my finger through her hair causing her to sigh against me. She drifted off to sleep quickly, her breathing evening out and leaving me to my thoughts. Kissing the top of her head, I soon drifted off with her tucked away in my arms, just how she should be.
The next morning, I woke up to my phone buzzing. The bright morning light and chirping birds told me it was still early. Allie was still sound asleep, hair askew. She looked so peaceful during her sleep, all her muscles relaxed and her chest rising and falling evenly. I lifted my arm slowly, trying not to wake up Allie to grab my phone from the bedside table. The screen blinked with a text from the last person I wanted to talk to.
Glad to see you and your pair getting along so well together.
So well, we never see you at home anymore. I’ll be by the
Underwood house later to meet Allison.
-Dad
Great. I’ll deal with him later. I groaned and nearly slammed my phone back on the table, accidentally waking up Allie. She stirred in my arms and tilted her head up until she was facing me. “Morning,” she stretched her arms above her head, causing her shirt to expose most of her stomach. God, she was slowly driving me crazy.
“Hey