Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,38
find me.”
“Amelia!” She’s been relatively calm throughout this conversation, but that made her mad. She takes a breath. “I know it’s been hard on you Amelia … Thea,” she adds on quietly. “But we’re doing all of this to keep you safe. I love you and I want you to be happy, but most importantly I want you safe. If that means making some sacrifices then that’s what we’ll do.”
I look away from her. “You don’t understand. You got to have your high school experience. You get to leave and go anywhere and be anyone you want. You even get to have a boyfriend. I just don’t want to live my life by going through the motions.”
She’s quiet for a moment as she looks out the sliding door. “When you become a parent, you don’t ever think this is something you’ll have to deal with. I’m doing my best, Amelia.”
I hesitate, the anger draining from my body even though I really want to stay mad. I think back to how she’s making us leave, tearing me away from my friends, while she’ll still be able to take flights to visit her boyfriend.
“Well, your best sucks.” I turn to run out of the room before she can say anything else, not even caring that I rudely left my half-eaten bowl of cereal on the table for her to clean up.
“This is seriously the best empanada I’ve ever had,” I tell Natalia, Mason’s mom, as I stuff my face with seconds.
She laughs as she puts down a tray of other finger foods on the couch sectional in front of us. All of our friends are sitting in Mason’s basement on a large, black, U-shaped couch that accommodates us all nicely. There’s a flat screen TV mounted to the wall in front of us tuned to the news, though no one’s really paying attention to the guy running for governor who is making a speech. It’s really just background noise.
“I’m glad you’re all enjoying it,” she says, brushing her dark hair out of her face. “I always tell Mason to invite you all over more often.”
Mason loads his plate with the new food she just brought in, talking around a full mouth. “And I told you that I don’t wanna share your food.”
She playfully swats the back of his head, distracting him long enough for Noah and Chase to grab the last two chicken wings he was reaching for.
“Not cool, guys!” Mason directs his comment at the two food thieves, who just smile as they stuff their faces.
“Relax, I have more,” Brian announces as he comes down the stairs with a tray of hot chicken wings, not even getting to set them down before everyone’s grabbing them off the tray.
Brian shakes his head and sits at the end of the couch. “Wow, you’d think you guys haven’t seen food in weeks.”
“Don’t look at us,” Annalisa says, gesturing to me and Charlotte. “We’ve just learned to adapt. If we’re not fast enough, they finish all the food.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Mason agrees with a mouth full of food, and Natalia swats him again.
“Manners,” she scolds, but she’s smiling anyway. “Do you boys want something before it’s all gone?” she asks Jason and Jackson, who are sitting in the entertainment section of Mason’s basement, a foot away from the television, playing a video game.
“No,” they shout back in unison.
“No, thank you.” Aiden reprimands them, and the boys repeat the phrase robotically.
“Sorry.” Aiden looks back at Natalia a bit sheepishly. “I bought them that video game as an early Christmas present and they’ve become obsessed.”
“It’s not a problem,” she says with a genuine smile.
Noah clears his throat. “Uh, I didn’t want to tell you because I thought it would make things worse”—he shifts under everyone’s gaze—“but social media’s blowing up with people wanting to know if you killed Greg or not.”
Aiden exhales sharply and runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I know. Are you guys getting bombarded with questions?”
Everyone makes a noncommittal sound, trying to not make Aiden feel bad but basically confirming his question.
“I’ve just been telling everyone to go fuck themselves,” Julian asserts with a crooked smile.
Aiden breathes out a chuckle, but it’s obvious to everyone that it’s forced. For all his toughness and confidence, knowing that his situation is affecting the people around him bothers him.
Brian sits up straighter. “I have an idea. It’s winter break, you guys don’t have school. Why don’t you all take these two weeks to go away? It doesn’t even