RIVER

The day is finally over, and I have never been so eager in my life to curl up in my bed and think about how to take control of my life once again. All through high school, I had been a loner who did not care what people thought of me, and Lana knew this, so I wonder why she thought it was a good idea for her to try and act friendly all through the day. I had barely gotten a moment of peace without them hanging over my head and chatting loudly.

Lana's insistence on us talking to other boys in the department with hopes that someone would be living close by and would be willing to drive me to and from school was sweet, but I saw it more as a burden. I could hike up the hill, catch a bus, and be in school before any of them. I have worked on a tight schedule once in my life, and I am sure I can work on one now. How hard could it be?

"There is a faculty welcome party for all freshers," Elise said happily. From the moment I saw her, I knew she would be the kind of girl who would like parties, and she had just proven me right.

"I won't be going," I say before she can suggest that we stay together and dress up to show up at the party, get drinks, and get so wasted that we won't be able to get to class tomorrow"

"Why?" she asked, almost hurt that I had turned down her offer.

"Partying on a school night? I must decline." She looks at me as if I had spoken in the most foreign language she had ever heard. "I want to start reading so I can be ahead of the class," I add, wanting to make sure that my stance in school is clear to her. I am not here to party but to read, become a pharmacist, and graduate as the best student in my year.

"But the party isn't on a school night; it's this weekend," she replies, and I almost feel stupid. "You can't come if it's on a weekend?" She adds, and I bite the inside of my lips.

"I can't." I shake my head, not allowing her expressions and emotions to get to me. She doesn't need me at the party to survive, and they can both get by without me there.

"Why not? It would be fun, and I heard that we get to meet our seniors at the party; we can ask them questions too," she replies, with Lana standing beside her, eager eyes practically pleading with me to come along with them.

I get to meet seniors? Would a party be a good time to meet them? Maybe I can find a tutor who would be willing to put me through and make sure I understand all I need to.

"Are you sure I get to meet the seniors?" I ask, and she realises that was all I needed to hear.

"A hundred percent, so why don't you just come?" Lana jumps in at once.

"Okay, good. Then we will meet at your place since you stay off campus, and we can go from there," Elise chimes in once she sees how I am already agreeing to their terms.

"My place?" I ask with terror in my eyes. I don't know if I am ready to let anyone else besides myself know that I have a boy for a roommate.

"Yes, can we not?"

"Well, my roommate is really strict about things like this, so I am not sure she would appreciate the company." I lie and realise that what people say is always true. Once you start lying, there is no turning back. All you do is fall even further the more you try to make it out. Just like a sinkhole.

"Huh! What year is she?" Elise asked, wanting to know more about her. I knew I had to shut it up before it became a topic for discussion.

"Third year," I say, and before she can comment further, I turn the topic around. "Since we would be meeting the seniors, do you think I can put my notes into a file and have them look at it?" I ask, and she stares at me as if I had drawings on my face.

"What do you mean?"

"I am asking if it is possible for me to have my list..."

"Oh my goodness! You are such a nerd, and trust me, I mean this in the best way ever." Elise turned to Lana with a smile. "You were so right; she is cute."

"I am not offended you called me a nerd," I clarify, because to me, the best thing ever is to be knowledgeable about the things that matter to you, and this matters a lot to me.

"I did not mean it as an offence; it is supposed to be a compliment," Lana explains, almost as if I did not get it the first time. I nod, and she smiles.

Before long, it is time to go home, and I get home quite exhausted. I am beginning to rethink my decision to stay at this house for the next four years. How can I hike all morning and evening? Maybe I might take the girls' advice and get an electric scooter or a bike to help aid my transportation.

As soon as the door opens, I am faced with an intense smell of pasta and some spices. I look over at the kitchen and see Taylor standing there, shirtless, with an apron tied around his waist.

"Sweetheart, you are back." He is chirpy, but he still has a smirk on his face.

I am too tired to tell him not to call me that, so I let it slide for tonight. The smell of the meal fills the entire room, and I realise how hungry I am.

"Go wash up and come out for dinner," he announces, almost like a mom. The feeling is strange. I had seen moms do this in movies, but I had never experienced it myself. Growing up without a mom had been hard, hard, but I had never told anyone about it before. When I was still a child, Dad always had a babysitter over; she would make meals, which were usually microwaved leftovers from the previous day or from lunches my aunt brought for me.

Once I became a teenager, the duty of lunch and dinner fell on me. I did it with you because I really did not have any other choice, but hearing someone wanting to make sure I had a meal without even knowing me warmed my heart.

"What are you thinking?" He snapped his fingers in my face, and it was only then I realised how close I had gotten. "Are you going to eat or not?"

RIVER

"I will pass on your offer," I say as if my stomach were in tune with me. I let out a long rumble. I was used to eating thrice a day even though it was never a proper meal, but today after eating cereal, I had spent the rest of the day moving from building to building trying to get all of my classes sorted out at once.

"I don't understand why we are doing this." Elise had complained, but at the end she had been grateful that she could spend the rest of the week indoors and not bother about the admission process again. All she had to worry about was schoolwork, and until schoolwork began, we were free.

"Your mouth is saying something, but your stomach is saying another; who should I believe?" He asked as if I were to answer the question. I just stood there, my bag still slung over my shoulders, as I stared at him.

"I really do not..." I stop at another rumble from my stomach.

"Oh geesh, you must be real hungry," he added, making me even more annoyed than I was. "There is no rule that says we can't share meals." He points to the fridge, and my eyes run over the rules one by one. Rule number five was too similar, and it made me want to say no, but what did I stand to gain from eating a little warm pasta so I would not have to eat some cold leftover pizza?

"Okay, fine," I say, dropping the bag to the floor and sliding onto the counter stool. "Just this once," I murmur even though I am not sure if I trust myself. One lie had turned into a mountain of lies, and one meal from the first night was going to just open up more and more like this one.

"Whatever you say, sweetheart."

"Can you stop calling me that?" I ask, and he shakes his head. He was the embodiment of stubbornness, and he was not afraid to even show it.

"Why would I? It suits you so well that it would be an injustice if I didn't call you that." He turns to me, and I want to comment on how he is breaking rule number one again, but I cut him some slack since he was cooking dinner for me. "Moreover, what is your bias against the name?" His question makes me think.

Why don't I like the name? I don't think the name is the problem; I think the issue is that it is coming from him to me. I sit there with my hands on the counter and my legs dangling, as I do not have an answer.

"Are you going for your faculty party?" He asked, and I am not shocked; the question truly sounds like something he would ask. I stare at him, and he tilts his head, expecting an answer. "Well?"

"Yes, but only because I heard I get to meet the seniors, and I can ask them questions." As soon as he hears my reason, he bursts into laughter, doubling over as he wheezes in the small space.

"Really?" he finally controls himself and throws at me. I sat there confused at his reaction but not wanting to take offence until he explains his reaction. "Oh my goodness! I guess I should no longer call you sweetheart but Professor Case-that suits you way more," he adds into explaining his sudden outburst to me.

"I do not want you to call me that either," I say, and he looks deadpan at me with a smirk on his face.

"You don't get to choose what your nickname will be. I get to choose what I would call you," he says, and I lean forward almost subconsciously.

"Does that mean I can pick a nickname for you?"

"If you want?" His response is sly, and it makes me wonder if he had planned this, if this was where he wanted me to be. I try to think of a nickname he might not like, but all that comes to mind sounds hurtful once they say it out loud, and even though he had been very annoying, he was not being rude in any way, so I did not have an excuse to be rude to him.

"I will pass on that offer," I say, and he throws his hand in the air in surrender before he turns to the stovetop.

"Perfect," he murmurs as he takes off the pot from the stove onto a trivet, and then he begins to fill two plates. He places one in front of me, and I can't deny it; it looks as good as it smells, and I can't wait to find out if it tastes just as good.

I swirl my fork into the plate and twirl until it is covered in the pasta and its juiciness. I lift it gently to my mouth and blow on it for a few seconds before pushing it into my mouth. The juiciness of the meal explodes in my mouth and makes me eager to taste more. I look up at him, and he has a smirk on his face with his eyebrow going up on one side.

"Just sing my praises already," he said in a joking tone, and I drop my face to the plate in front of me. How could I not get addicted to whatever meal he would be cooking when his cooking was this good?

"This is good," I say and focus my attention on the meal. He shrugs as if it does not matter and comes to sit beside me on the stool. I feel the heat of his body radiating towards me, but I ignore it because I have to; that is the only way I can keep sane here.

We sit side by side and fill our mouths with the mouthwatering pasta. I wondered how I was able to keep my cool with him just now. Once we are done, I offer to do the dishes.

"I will clean it up since you cooked," I said, and he knew I would not let it go until I had my way, so he let me settle into the couch in the living room. The television was playing pictures with a muffled sound. I see him put his phone to his ear, and I watch how the cocky atmosphere around him changes to tension. He walks to his room, changes into something different, and without a word to me, he leaves the house. I only know he is truly gone when I hear the sound of his motorcycle speeding away.

"On my way, T, hang tight."

"What the hell just happened?"

TAYLOR

I get to the house and feel my blood boil; if Talia had not called me, I would never have known that she had been taken by Dad and Julia. I enter the house and ignore the staff that is trying to greet me at the door. I walk straight into the house, checking every room as I weave my way through the house.

The house was oddly familiar to me; I had grown up here, but ever since my father decided that my mom was not good enough to be his wife, I had considered this place a strange place. I had stayed away during breaks and tried my best not to see the house, but they managed to bring me in.

I open one door and see Julia sitting down with Talia; she has her back to me, and I let out a breath. Thank goodness she was safe. I could never tell what Julia could have done to her.

"Rob was right; if I wanted to get you here, all I needed to do was get Talia here," Julia said as soon as our eyes met. She had red blood-stained lips and sparkly eyes. She was on a full face beat as if she was on her way to walk the red carpet any minute from now.

After my father had proposed, she had stopped working for him and now spent her days trying to spend his money and see how much of a hole she could put in his pocket.

"Talia?" I rush to her side and check her body. I do not want to think that Julia would hurt her, but the thought is not far from me. If they could be evil enough to think of destroying a happy family, then they could do far worse, in my opinion. "What are you doing here?" I wanted to scream at her, but she was probably just a pawn in whatever sick game they were playing.

"Julia said I could see Dad if I came, but I haven't seen Dad." I pulled her, ready to take her out of there without consulting Julia. After all, this could be counted as kidnapping.

"Since you are here, why don't we have a drink together?" she asks, stopping me from pulling Talia out of the house.

She was too kind, and that was how she fell right into this. I am just grateful that she called me. It would have taken a while for me to realise that she did not make it home to the house; she stayed with my mom, as my mom was currently travelling the world.

"Are you suggesting we drink in the presence of a minor?" I bark at Julia, but she does not flinch. She just gets up and takes a glass of white wine and walks over to me.

"I know you love drinking, so you don't have to play that game with me," she mutters, and I clench my jaw in annoyance. She wanted me to believe that my mom had a drinking problem and that somehow I had inherited it, but how could I when I watched my mom get disgraced by both of them? 

"I have no idea where you are getting that information from, but I do not love drinking," I say, ready to drag my sister out of there.

"I thought we could talk." She was fast with speaking, so I could not leave as quickly as I would have wanted to. "I mean, we do have a lot to talk about, don't we?" She adds, and I shake my head.

"Go wait outside, T; I will be there soon," I say to Talia, and she nods before leaving us in the room. I turn to her, my jaws still clenched in anger. If I could have hit her, then I would have gladly taken the opportunity. "Julia, this would be my last warning. You've taken enough already from my family; don't test me."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she asked, folding her hand across her chest. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked again, and I sighed. "Rob won't get married to me unless you and your sister are there, and I know if I convince you, then your sister is done." She sips from the glass, her lipstick leaving a stain by the corner.

"You want me to endorse you?" I ask and then let out a loud chuckle. "I don't endorse rabbis," I add, and for the first time since I got there, I saw a change in her expression.

"I have been trying my best to make a connection with you, but you've been nothing but rude to me," she says, squeezing the stem of the glass in annoyance. "All I am asking is that you show up during the wedding, sit your ass down, and then watch me get hitched to your father."

"Finally decided to show your real colours," I taunt and frown in annoyance. I can tell she is holding back the same way I am, but I don't care. "I will never endorse you, and if you need my approval to get married, then it means you don't deserve to get married to him in any way." I take a deep breath and close the distance between us.

 "If you ever try something like this ever again, then I will storm in here with the police and make sure everyone knows that Senator Rob's wife-to-be kidnaps," I say and see fear dance in her eyes. I am successful with my threat.

She knows that my father would not marry her unless we were there; he wanted to discredit my mom, turn her into a crazy person, and show that the children were on his side. How else would he be able to win the public opinion over to himself? I take a step back and pass by her until I am outside.

I climb onto the motorcycle and hand over a helmet to Talia. She takes it without questioning me and sits on the bike. I wondered why she was still so interested in meeting Dad after all he had done to us; it was a bit annoying, and I was still trying to understand it. He did not think of us as children, so why should we think of him as a father?

We finally arrive at the house, and we go inside.

"Are you heading back to school?" Talia asked, and I shook my head. "Are you mad at me?" I respond to her with silence because I did not want to say anything I did not mean.

"T, you know that I only went because..."

"He does not care, so why do you care so much?" I ask the words, forcing their way out of my mouth. "He just wants to use us."

"Let's forgive him," she suggests, and I shake my head.

"I can't," I say in a whisper. "And you shouldn't either."

"T..."

"Don't contact them; don't go there," I say as if I am listing out rules. "I don't want you to see the shit they are made of; it might ruin you."

She walks to me and touches my arm gently before tapping it and then walking away. "Good night, T," she calls as she goes out of sight.

"Good night, T."