Emma
It was a problem.
Not the grocery shopping thing. No, I don’t mind helping Eli out. The problem has everything to do with my little sister, Amber.
She’s less than a year younger than me, but she actsmuchyounger. She has always behaved like a petulant child. There’s also the fact we’ve never gotten along. I’m pretty sure she came out of the womb hating my guts. You wouldn’t know it by the way she performed at Eli’s earlier (and it was a performance), because she’s really good at pretending. She pretends to be something she’s definitely not. Like nice, for one. Honest for another. Law-abiding is a third one. Maybe the biggest one is the law-abiding one, but I didn’t want to tell Eli about any of that. I mean, what would he think of me if he heard about my shoplifting, police-assaulting sister who can’t hold a job? He’d think less of me, for sure.
It’s why I couldn’t leave her at my apartment alone. Or with Carley. Carley is this close to strangling her so having the two in the same room without me as the mediator is a bad idea. But alone, I think Amber is worse. You see, she steals things. Anything that has any value. Not that I have anything like that. Well, my laptop is a big one. She mostly likes to take small things she can slide into a pocket. It’s gotten her fired numerous times.
And then, there’s my parents. My poor parents. Amber has been manipulating and milking them dry for as long as I can remember. Heck, lawyers’ fees alone have forced them to nearly double their hours at the store, sell one car, and I’m pretty sure they took another mortgage out on the house. Crud, thinking about all of that makes me feel like such a shit-heel.Ishould be helping them.
Iwillhelp them. When I graduate and get a job, I’ll be able to send them money.
* * *
Amber was boredat the doctor’s office, so she paced around the waiting area and complained the entire time. When Eli finally came out, because she was right, the appointment took a long time, she acted like it was no big deal and that her first concern was his health.
Yeah, right.
She raced to his side when he stepped through the door that led to the exam rooms. She held his arm like he was some sort of invalid that needed help walking. Eli let her do it too. He’s too nice to do otherwise.
In the grocery store, she grabs her own cart and proceeds to fill it with food and other things she deems necessary, like a new coffeemaker, saying, “Yours is old and it sucks.”
It was my parents’ coffeemaker, and it works great. Okay. Not great because it takes about thirty minutes to brew a pot of coffee, but it’s fine for us. No need to spend that kind of money when all you have to do was wait for it.
Because I know my sister, the minute I see the cart, I ask, “Areyoubuying all of that?”
“No.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m broke.”
You’re broke because you can’t hold a job longer than two weeks––
I don’t say that, though. What I do say is “Well, I can’t afford to buy it.”
“Yourfriendwill do it.” She keeps doing that. Emphasizing the word “friend” because I haven’t told her that Eli and I are… more than that. That we’re dating. No matter. I don’t want her to know, because if my sister thought Eli and I were, well, together, she’d do whatever she could to change that: Amber has always wanted what I have. I don’t know how many times she took my toys, then broke them. Out of spite, probably.
My parents weren’t much help with our issues because they were either working or tired from working. So I just got used to it, I guess.
Carley thinks I need to put my foot down especially now. She can’t stand my sister because of all the stuff she’s pulled on me over the years, but mostly because she thinks Amber is a pain in the ass.
She’s right. She is.
Actually, Carley did put her foot down when she came home and saw Amber on our couch, eating our food, with the television remote in her hand. She pulled me into our tiny bathroom and said, “Your bitch of a sister can stay one week. One. Then it’s either her or me.”
Obviously, my choice is Carley. The thing is, knowing my sister, once she digs in, it’s hard to get her out. She’s like a leach that way.
“No.” Glaring at Amber, I shake my head for emphasis. “Eli’s not buying you groceries.”
She leans in like she has a secret and whispers loudly, “He’s loaded, isn’t he?”
“I have no idea.” Yes, I did know, but I’m not about to tell her.
“Cody told me their place belonged to Eli.”
“It belongs to his parents.”
“His parents are rich, which means he’s rolling in it too.”
I shake my head and point the cart. “Put that away.”
