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Chapter 6
I shook my head.
“I can take care of myself.”
Right then, my stomach growled at the worst possible moment.
“You bought all these offerings,” he said, crouching to my level. “How’d you not buy yourself something to eat?”
His features were even better–looking than Cole’s.
His lashes curled up, fluttery like a butterfly’s.
“I… don’t have that much money.”
“Dad should eat more,” I added.
He laughed so hard he nearly doubled over.
“Then how about I take you out for something good?”
The sun slid down the hill.
The pretty boy bared his teeth and wiggled his fingers like claws, making faces.
“Keep waiting till dark and a wild beast will eat you.”
I stared, wide–eyed.
How could anyone be that scary?
But I wasn’t waiting for anyone.
I just wanted more time with Dad.
I looked back at Dad’s headstone.
The pretty boy took my hand.
“Enough. Let’s go. I’ll come with you next year.”
Cole used to say the same thing, but then he changed.
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I wanted to go home.
But the pretty boy took me to his place.
A pink doormat at the door.
Colorful lights.
Warmth wrapped around me as soon as we walked in.
Cole never liked turning the heat on.
My hands and feet were always cold.
The plates on the table were pink.
The stools were black. I hate black.
He rubbed his nose, a little sheepish.
“I’ll swap them out tomorrow. Dinner first.”
He picked me up without asking.
He sat, and I ended up on his lap. It felt strange.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“You first.”
“Do you have stools in any other color?”
His ears went pink.
“Not yet.”
“Oh.”
Awkward as it was, I was starving.
I grabbed a spoon and attacked the food.
Whatever I couldn’t reach, he slid closer for me.
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There was dessert after–little cakes.
All my favorites.
“How about you stay here from now on?” he said, wiping a grain of rice from the corner of my
mouth. I stared at him, blank.
Cole always acted like I was dirty.
I slipped off his lap.
“I have a home.”
I just wanted to go back to my own place and hide in my room.
“If you go back, Cole will come get you. He won’t let you starve,” he said.
“But he has a girlfriend now. He can’t have another girl around.”
“So you want to go back to the Lawsons‘, or stay here?”
Turns out everyone thought I was nothing but trouble.
I blinked hard, fighting the urge to cry.
“I’ll try to take care of myself. I won’t be a burden.”
He nodded.
“Mm. I can teach you.”
My eyes
“Yeah.”
lit
- up. “Really?”
He started with brushing my teeth–how to get my teeth actually clean. Then laundry–how to wash my own clothes.
Soap bubbles went everywhere, and he just said I was cute.
I don’t really know what “cute” means, but his eyes bent like little crescent moons when he
smiled.
When he fried eggs, the yolks turned black.
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He said he’d show me again; the kitchen nearly caught fire.
The housekeeper rushed in with an extinguisher.
“You two little terrors–tell me what you want, I’ll make it,” she begged.
“No more fireworks in the kitchen, okay?”
She was close to tears.
I sat in a pink room like a princess castle, but I wasn’t happy.
“We’re just not used to it,” the pretty boy said, trying to cheer me up. “You’re not dumb at all. The eggs at least had a shape.”
I nodded, oddly encouraged.
Seeing him struggle, the cook finally stepped in and taught me herself.
How to wash clothes so they’re really clean.
How to light the burner.
How to make noodles so I wouldn’t starve.
I learned fast.
I could even cook instant noodles.
The pretty boy said they were delicious.
He swapped out my phone and gave me a watch.
“With this, I can always find you,” he said. “You won’t get lost.”
He set himself as my top contact in my phone.
He said his name was Julian Parker.
It sounded nice.
I thought we could keep going like this.
Until Cole Lawson found us.
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