Lead You On

"Thanks for letting me come." I said to Nick and Joe, and spared a glance at Kevin for a second. He was looking at his phone. I slid out of the car and walked up my steps and opened the door. Immediately there was a screech from inside and I winced -Charlotte. I turned and waved before walking inside.

"Where have you been?" Charlotte barged into the hall, she was wearing a silky dress and I cursed her again for spending our money. "Your dad is coming home in five minutes to take me out for dinner!"

I sighed. She only wanted me home so she could go out and not look irresponsible. I turned around and trudged up the stairs, leaving her to scream at nobody.

My phone vibrated and I pulled it out. Text from Mariah.

I sighed and flipped it open;

Hey, are you home? My mom was so surprised when I came home with the Jonas Brothers!

Honestly, I was jealous of Mariah. She had a mom, and her and Kevin really hit it off. She liked him, I could tell.

I didn't reply back to her. Instead, I grabbed my towel and went to the bathroom across the hall and turned on the shower.

I'm pretty sure it's a proven fact that doing something to get your mind off something else calms you, and showers did it for me. And right now I was mad at Mariah, I was mad at Kevin, I was mad at Charlotte.

And by the time I got out of the shower, I felt better. I opened the bathroom door silently and heard the front door squeak loudly and stopped, wondering who it was.

"Char!" I sighed, it was my dad, I should have known. I waited for him to call for me. "Where's Rio?" I grinned and opened the door wider and stepped out.

"Oh, she'd napping. She was being perfectly frightful today, I told her to sit it out."

My jaw hung. I hadn't been home!! She was totally lying!

"Oh. Well I should go check up on her -"

"What?" I could picture her stupid lying face, "That would totally contradict me disciplining her!"

I saw my dad's inner battle, and he was quiet for a moment before agreeing, "Yeah. Okay, let's go."

Charlotte squealed, and the door slammed shut. I waited for a moment, but then the car doors slammed too and I screamed. I pulled the towel closer to my body, and ran out of the bathroom, forgetting the steps were just feet away and tripping down them. I landed on my knees and hoisted myself up, tugging on the front door and shrieking into the night.

"Wait! Dad! Dad!!" I screamed louder, the car had already left. He had bought her lie.

I looked down, feeling myself start to cry, and examined my knees. They were scraped and bleeding. I cried harder, sitting on my steps and hoping my dad would come back, he couldn't honestly believe I didn't want to see him and that he could just leave.

A warm hand on my back made me look up, and I only choked for a second before scooting away. But he grabbed my hand and pulled me up and led me to the living room.

I watched him lead the way. He didn't look quite so menacing now, and I sniffled pathetically as I stared at his curly hair bounce.

Kevin gently steered me to the kitchen stools and I sat down, and he pulled a tube of neosporin out and wiped my knees with a towel before dabbing at them. I watched in silence as he stood up and threw away the napkins.

"Kevin." I said hoarsely. "Please, I'm so sorry, you were right about it. I don't want people to hate me." I wasn't sure if he heard, but for a moment he stopped, and turned to look at me. I swallowed, hoping he didn't want me to say it again.

I smiled, because now he had hugged me and I felt like I had won the trust of my brother back, after all, Mariah had dibs on Kevin!

"Rio. I didn't mean to hurt you, just teach you a lesson." He grinned at me, and I smiled back.

"Mission accomplished."

He smiled, then looked down at his feet, but stopped and burst out laughing. I looked down too and laughed, my knees were bleeding again!

Kevin jumped up and pulled more paper towels off the roll and I grinned as he washed off my knees.

I wasn't going to make Kevin hate me again, that was for sure.