Chapter 6
Six
Enoch
The mist that was falling around us turned to rain, so I picked up my pace and unlocked the car.
I quickly climbed in after throwing my backpack in the backseat, started the heater up and turned down the music that I had been listening to on the way to school this morning.
Not that it mattered, as the rain was pounding down so hard now that I could hardly hear it.
“Well, that escalated quickly,” I joked. “Oh crap, is that hail?” I asked, leaning forward over the steering wheel at the pellets of ice that began hitting the hood of my car.
“Aren’t you observant,” Shiloh muttered.
I rolled my eyes, smiling to myself as I clicked my windshield wipers onto high before cautiously heading out of the parking lot.
It was awkwardly silent as I concentrated on the road, but when we finally hit a red light, I looked over at Shiloh.
She had her head resting back with her eyes closed and I thought for a moment that she might have fallen asleep, but then she let out a sigh and opened her eyes.
“Come on, my music isn’t that boring,” I joked over the music and hail, as I drove the final few minutes to my house.
“Huh?” She paused. “Sort of.”
I chuckled and turned the volume off.
“Sorry my acoustic music isn’t to your taste. What kind of music do you listen to?” I asked.
“I don’t.”
I felt my eyebrows rise in shock.
“You’re joking?”
“No,” she said.
“Like ever?”
“Nothing I’d ever chosen.”
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those ‘I’m not like other girls’?” I asked, mentally cringing.
“What? What does that mean?”
“You’ve never seen the memes?” When she gave me a blank stare, I continued to explain, watching her face scrunch with disgust.
“Ew, fuck no. I don’t claim to be like anyone else, but that’s just because I think everyone our age is a dumb fucknugget. It’s not for attention from guys. I don’t listen to music because I don’t have the means to. I don’t have a phone or a car to listen to the radio.”
I shook my head slowly, still in disbelief.
She had to be the first teenager I’d ever met that didn’t listen to music like it was something as essential as water or food.
And no cell phone either? She really was a strange person, and not just to be a pick-me kind of girl like several of our classmates.
I crawled to a stop in the driveway beside my sister’s car, making sure to put my parking brake on.
I pulled on my hood before reluctantly leaving the warm car to grab my bag from the back and rushing inside.
I looked over my shoulder to make sure that Shiloh had followed me, and she had, although admittedly slow despite being pelted by hail the size of grapes.
She looked quite pale, which was saying something because she was already very fair.
“You feeling okay?” I asked as I stood beneath the front porch waiting for her to reach me.
“Fine,” she grumbled, giving me a cold stare.
I pursed my lips and nodded, reminding myself that she must have a reason for always being so rude and not to get upset at her for it. Plus, being in pain was probably causing some of her irritability.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside, tossing my shoes inside the hall closet. I turned around to find Shiloh staring at the family portrait on the wall beside us.
“I take it you’re not the honor roll student?” Shiloh asked.
“First of all, I could be an honor roll student. You don’t know what my grades are in my other classes.
And secondly, who told you I was an honor roll student?
” I said, pulling my damp hoodie over my head.
I noticed her eyes linger on my stomach from where my shirt had risen and pulled it down.
Thank you, free gym membership from Uncle Q.
You’ve finally paid off, and a girl has taken notice.
“The bumper sticker on your car. And you’re right, I don’t know your other grades. Just figured with how lazy you are with studying math, that also applied to your other classes.”
“Rude!” I rolled my eyes in annoyance that she had pegged me so well. “Just because I’m not good at Algebra II doesn’t mean I’m dumb.”
“I never said you were,” she stated obviously.
“Well, you aren’t completely wrong. That sticker was for my older sister, not me. It was my mom’s car before it was—”
“That explains why you drive an SUV,” Shiloh interrupted.
“Yeah,” I shrugged, motioning for her to remove her shoes.
I grabbed her backpack from her shoulder and noticed her shirt was damp and sticking to her chest.
Lord have mercy. Nipples. Those are definitely nipples, Nox.
I swallowed and quickly averted my gaze, eyeing the kitchen where the voices of my family could be heard. I glanced back at her appearance. Her socks must have been wet because she was standing there barefoot.
“Let me grab you a shirt you can borrow. And some dry socks. Come on.”
She glanced down at herself, crossing her arms over her chest, before pinning me with her signature scowl.
“Look, if my parents see you soaking wet, they’ll just make me go grab you some clothes anyways.”
She rolled her eyes but motioned for me to lead the way.
I decided not to climb the stairs like a freak three at a time, especially seeing how slowly she walked.
I was beginning to think it must be because of an injured rib, and she was lying about being fine enough to be at school.
There had to be a reason why she wouldn’t rather be at home curled up and binging something on TV while she healed.
I ducked into my room and grabbed a long sleeve shirt, socks, and a hoodie from my dresser.
“Here,” I handed them to her. “Bathroom is just there. I’ll wait in my room, and we can walk down together.”
She nodded, and I returned to my room to quickly change into a dry hoodie as well.
For some bizarre reason, I had butterflies in my stomach.
Which didn’t make any sense, because why would I be nervous to introduce Shiloh to my family.
It wasn’t like we were dating or even friends.
And still, my palms were sweaty, and I found myself pacing my room.
Cheese and rice, pull yourself together, Nox.
???
October 5, Tuesday
Shiloh
I walked out of the bathroom feeling awkward in a stranger’s clothes, not to mention his house, and looked up to find Nox staring at me across the hall with a smile.
“Hey, Nox.”
We both turned our heads at the voice down the hall.
“?Güerita?”
My stomach churned at the now-tainted nickname only my brother and his best friend had ever called me.
Sebastian’s brown eyes lit up as a smile stretched across his face. He had stubble, something he didn’t have the last time I saw him, and looked to have grown at least three inches taller.
“Seb?” I whispered, unsure if I was hallucinating.
He stopped between Nox and I, and I couldn’t resist the urge to wrap my arms tightly around his waist, holding on like he was the last breath of oxygen in my lungs.
Is this real? Fuck, am I dead? I’m dead.
I must be. I must’ve actually slit my wrists in the library like I had been daydreaming about.
“Ehi, tranquila, güerita. Estoy aquí,” he said as he rubbed his hand across my back soothingly.
Fuck, Shiloh. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t fucking cry you weak fucking puta.
I couldn’t stop the bitter taste of nostalgia as memories of Javi and Seb from my childhood flooded my mind. I took several shaky breaths as I tried to pull myself together before I had to leave his embrace.
He held me at arm’s length, adjusting so that his shadow was no longer casting over me, and took a moment to really scan me over. I watched his face fall.
“?Qué te pasó en la cara? Tu papá?” He hissed with a broken expression that made my eyes prickle with the onset of tears.
I shook my head, afraid if I choked the words out, they wouldn’t be the lie I knew I needed to tell.
He pulled a diaper out of his back pocket and began fanning my face, which only made me want to cry even harder because he remembered my allergy.
Instead, I pushed the urge as deep into my soul as possible and attempted a smile.
“?Qué carajo?” I laughed, eyeing the diaper.
“Oye, responde la pregunta, Shy.”
I rolled my eyes, clearing the lump from my throat.
“Aplácate, pendejo. Un choque, pero estoy bien.”
He gave me a familiar look of disbelief. “?Javi estaba manejando?”
“No, no. Un amigo.”
“Hi, yeah,” Nox interrupted from beside us, making me jump. I looked over to see his hand raised. “Person over here who only took a year of Spanish. What’s going on? How do you know each other?” Nox asked, gesturing between the two of us.
“Oh,” Seb chuckled, putting the diaper back in his pocket after silently asking if I still needed it. He stepped back, breaking our intimate moment to allow Nox into the conversation. “Sorry, Nox. Shiloh and I grew up together. Wait…how do you two…”
Seb paused to look at me with a smirk, “?Tu novio?”
“Cállate tu pinche boca, pendejo,” I cursed through clenched teeth, slapping his arm.
He chuckled and pulled me into another side hug that left my ribs screaming in pain, “I missed you, güerita. You haven’t changed a bit.”
“I know him from school,” I clarified after the stabbing had subsided. “How do you two know each other? And why the fuck do you have a diaper in your back pocket?”
“Uh, for my kid, obviously. I don’t just carry around diapers for no reason,” he laughed with an eye roll. “My wife, Eden, is Nox’s sister. Have you met her yet?”
I shook my head and Nox gestured for us to head downstairs.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Nox said as we descended the stairs.
My stomach started flipping with nerves as we approached the living room.