The kitchen was painted in foggy grey fading sunlight coming in through designer accent curtains covering the large floor to ceiling windows of the dining room.

Mom was passing around the salad bowl before she spoke.

"So, why don't we all take our seats? Richard should be here soon and then you'll have met the entire family!"

I highly doubted dear old dad would be joining us, but I didn't want to ruin my mom's optimism.

It had been far too long since she'd smiled like this.

Maybe despite my earlier confusion and questioning of this little arrangement would prove to be wrong.

Maybe this Camille would be good for us, for all of us.

I couldn't help but notice the look gleaming in Parker's eyes though, the kind that portrayed his actual feelings about Camille. He was looking at her like she was a piece of mouthwatering meat and she was his dinner.

I definitely didn't appreciate that look.

"Uh...I might have to dip out a little early after dinner if that's okay mom?"

Mom was not one for a change of plans, so when she stared at Parker and practically seared him through to his soul with the devil glare she pinned on him, it was hard not to feel the flames myself.

"And what's so important that you can't have a good family meal with our newest member? What if I had a special dessert prepared?"

I highly doubted it would be any good, but since she was trying, I would gladly eat whatever burned concoction she'd whipped up in the kitchen.

"I had plans with Colton and Carter."

Cami visibly tensed in her seat where she'd shrunk her posture down low enough to try and make herself invisible.

I knew that feeling all too well; the desperate desire to make sure no one saw you and what was going on behind your eyes, down to the turmoil roiling in the depths beneath.

Her dark brown eyes fell down to her plate filled with uneaten food, not similar to my own considering my stomach begging for food.

Without the help of a certain green herb I'd been smoking earlier, however, and my plate would've looked exactly like hers: untouched.

Mom sighed, clearly fed up with Parker.

There'd been a change in him ever since he'd started hanging out with those guys. I knew it was all because of Alec, but that didn't mean that he had to change or start acting like those assholes, either, it was just how it happened.

You reflect those you spend time with.

I wondered what that said about me--considering the only person I hung around was myself.

"Alright Parker. But be back by eleven, it is a school night after all."

"Awesome. I'll text him to pick me up, since my car is on loan and my amazing older bro won't let me touch his motorcycle with a ten foot pole."

"Wait. On loan? Please don't tell me you're letting me use his car? I can walk or ride a bike to school, it's really not a problem."

Mom had told Parker she was taking his car in for an oil change and ended up loaning it to our new house mate. Not the best way to instill respect between all of us, but I was glad my father had gifted me my motorcycle instead of the flashy Benz out front.

"Nonsense, Parker is happy to let you borrow his car, and you can even give him rides until we can find you a more permanent car. Or we could even give you his and get Parker an upgrade, he's been talking about the new SL Class."

She pushed her eyebrows up into her hairline as she spoke, the words she didn't say all too clear: don't make a fuss about her using your car and you'll get a brand new one even better than the old one.

Parker was anything but stupid and rightfully kept his mouth shut.

Too bad Cami wasn't having any of it.

"No really, I'm perfectly fine to walk or ride a bike, I could even catch a ride with my friend Mori. This is too much, I was going to respectfully decline the car anyway."

I rolled my eyes before signing something to her.

"Just shut up and take the car. Parker wants the newer one enough to let you take his old one."

It was comedic watching my brother stare open mouthed at my first attempts at real communication in front of him, but mom only smirked, having read the sign language and understanding what I was saying.

Parker, who hadn't learned because I refused to sign anything to or around him, was just...shocked. I didn't pay him any attention.

Cami rolled her eyes. She didn't bother speaking aloud back to me, instead deciding to sign back what she had to say.

"No. It's the principle of the thing, it's too much and I'm brand new here, I don't deserve it. Plus I'll probably gone in a few months anyway."

I rolled my eyes. Again. They were going to get stuck back there if what my parents used to tell me as a kid was actually true.

"Even if you're gonna be gone in a few months, why not make the best of it and take the damn car?"

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Thank you for the car. It would be great to not feel unsafe walking back and forth to school or the library. I appreciate your hospitality."

Parker watched the whole thing in complete disbelief. He knew that I could communicate if I wanted to. The fact that I didn't want to with him must've hurt, but I couldn't bring it in me to...care. At all.

But for some reason, I wanted to with her. For her. For someone who actually, finally, understood.

Even if it wasn't exactly what I had gone through, it was still something.

Maybe with her in the house I wouldn't feel so damn lonely.

"What, so you can talk to her but you can't talk to me?!"

Parker stood, pushing back his plate from the table as he did so.

Cami's eyes grew wide as saucers, the color immediately draining from her face as she sunk lower in her chair, like she couldn't stand to see someone so upset, or more like she were...afraid of the confrontation itself.

I could only shrug my shoulders in response. There wasn't really anything else I could say to him. Why would I want to?

I knew it wasn't his fault what had happened in the past.

But that didn't make it hurt any less.

It didn't make the memory of it disappear.

It didn't make it any less true.

So I tried my best to stay away, to stay distant, to remain closed off to everyone, because the truth?

That was the hardest of all to bear.

"Are you seriously mad at me? After everything you've done to me? And all this time, I didn't learn sign language because I thought you barely ever used it, but you just refused to sign a word to me even though you're obviously fluent in it? You're...you're something else, man."

"Parker. Why don't you sit down and finish your meal?"

"Nah, I'm headed up to my room to get ready. Welcome to the family Cami, with all your damage I'm sure you'll fit right in."

"Parker! That's enough. Do you remember what I told you before this dinner?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll just invite the guys over then, no going out remember? Didn't say anything about staying in."

And then he disappeared while the rest of us were left to pick up the pieces, just like always.

Because Parker always did whatever he wanted, no matter the consequences.

The last time I tried to do that, I ended up in the psych ward.

Funny how the golden child never had to deal with any actual responsibility in his life.

"Camille, I am so--"

Cami shook silently in her chair, and my heart sunk as she covered her face with her hands.

What kind of pain must she have been going through in that moment? What must've been going through her head?

I was going to wring Parker's fucking neck for making her cry--

"I'm sorry, it's just so funny," she said, lifting up her head as a wide smile played out on her face.

She wiped a tear from her eye--a tear that came from her laughter--and shook her head before laughing some more.

"It's just been so long since I've been with a real family that obviously actually love each other. It's refreshing."

It was like music to my ears, like some long forgotten song that my memory decided to conjure up in my worst moments--something to remind me of what I could've had, just to torture me with the reality that it would never be mine.

I saw the way Parker looked at her.

It was just the way things were, even when we were little.

He got all the shiny new toys, whereas I got his throw-aways, like I was a kid from another marriage or something. We had the same parents, but I never understood why I was always treated like I was second-class.

"Well, on that note--Grey honey, would you mind helping me clean up Parker's plate? Looks like all of us are finished after that."

"Eat your food first," I signed to Cami, who hadn't touched the food since it had been plopped onto her plate.

"I'm not hungry," she signed back, sulking down lower into her seat.

"I'm not cleaning your plate unless you eat something on it."

She rolled her eyes but still picked up her fork and shoveled some mashed potatoes into her mouth, brown eyes glaring defiantly at me all the while.

"Good," I signed back, sure that a wolfish smile was planted on my face, fully ignoring the fact that my mother watched our back and forth like a spectator at a tennis match.

I didn't know why Cami signed back to me instead of speaking--it wasn't like there was anything wrong with my ears, but it made something in my chest grow warm when it had been dormant and cold for so long.

After a few bites, Cami started to lose some of the fiery defiance and graced me with a small smile of her own.

A smile that only grew when she noticed me staring, like she couldn't help but to smile even as the shyness began to kick in.

I started to stand and pick up the plates without the two of us taking our eyes off each other, but that smile--beautiful and inviting as it was warm--fell from her face as the front door slammed open and in walked Carter Jennings and Colton Wright, along with Alec and Nate Covington and the girls, Victoria, Kennedy and Leah.

Jesus. He invited the whole crew over, on the first night that Cami was staying with us? I must've really pissed him off by speaking to Cami and not bothering to do the same with anyone else, but it wasn't like I could help it.

I couldn't physically stop myself from talking to her, even if my vocal cords wouldn't allow it.

"Hi Mrs. Hartingrove!"

"Hey Maria!"

"Hi girls, hey boys. I hope you'll be hanging out either in the attic or the bonus room; we have--"

"Hey, follow me."

My mom was interrupted from telling the 'whole gang' about our new house guest by Parker's entrance to the party.

Everyone filed out with him. Everyone, that is, except Carter, Leah and Colton, who were staring suspiciously at Cami who was trying her best not to cry.

Something had happened there. I had no idea what, but it wasn't going to happen in my own house.

"Hey Cami, missed you at school last week. I was surprised when I didn't see you last Saturday too. Thought we had a date."

Colton's words roared in my ears.

Cami stood and flung her shoulders back while pasting an indifferent look on her face.

"Then I guess you got stood up. Safe to say there won't be anymore 'dates' between the two of us ever again."

My mom took the chance to stand up and link her arm with Cami's.

She whispered something into her ear that made her stiffen up, and even my enhanced listening skills couldn't help me figure out what was being said.

"Something wrong? Regret your choice already? It's obvious you chose the cripple over me."

I couldn't punch this asshole in front of my mom, but I could get Cami away from him.

"Come on," I signed to her before grabbing her arm in mine, relishing the feel of her skin on mine and the fact that she didn't pull away until we were in the entry way.

"Where are we going?"

I stared into her deep brown eyes and beautiful heart shaped face sprinkled with tiny freckles.

"Anywhere but here."

"I love that idea."

I couldn't help the smile that pulled my face up.

"Glad to hear it."

I had just opened the front door before I heard my mom telling Colton that it was time for him to leave, and that no one insulted her son in her home.

He had just walked out onto the front porch when I handed Cami the spare helmet to my bike.

"Really?" she said aloud.

"Come on. What, you scared?"

"Never."

But when she looked back toward Colton, she shivered.

I couldn't help but think there might be one thing she was afraid of.