Page 53 of Afflicted

"He did?" Ryan asked and I could tell he was a little disappointed in Reese.

"I wouldn't take it personally, he'll have only been thinking about the trouble it would cause for me," I said.

"Speak of the devil." Lacey looked over my shoulder and I turned to see Reese approaching with Jason.

"You feeling better now dude?" Spencer called as they got closer.

Reese frowned in confusion and glanced at Jason, clearly wondering what Spencer was talking about.

"If it keeps being a problem I'm pretty sure they do adult diapers," Ella laughed.

"And mattress covers too," Spencer sniggered.

I didn't try to hide my amusement as Reese's gaze fell on me. Tommy held his phone out to show Reese the photo of his bed and he frowned at it for a few seconds before responding.

"Nice." He moved past me and took a seat on the ground beside Demi. "Did Kaitlyn tell you where she spent last night?"

"No," Demi replied as she looked to me for an answer.

"I was at home," I said with a shrug, wondering where he was going with this.

"The only time I saw you last night was at three this morning when you were sneaking back in."

"Where were you until three?" Demi asked excitedly, glancing at Ryan. Ryan's eyes were on me and he was frowning.

"I was not out until three," I sighed, seeing what Reese was trying to do. "I went down to the kitchen and saw our neighbour running around our front yard so I went out to help him."

"Help him do what?" Demi frowned.

"We rescued a possum that was stuck in a bit of old trash." I shrugged and tried to turn the subject away from me. "Your sunburn looks so much better," I said as my eyes landed on Tara. In truth she still looked fairly pink but I just wanted to move the conversation on.

"Oh yeah, thanks," Tara held her arm out to show everyone. "And I'm not peeling either."

Demi let out an irritated sigh as she let her gaze trail over Tara before turning her blue eyes back to me. "So this midnight neighbour-" she began.

"What time's the movie?" Lacey asked suddenly. "Shouldn't we be heading to the cinema?"

"Hush!" Demi raised a hand to silence Lacey and fixed me in her gaze. "Was it the insanely hot one?"

"Oh-" I glanced at Lacey then Ryan before returning my gaze to Demi's. "I think that's how Lacey described him yeah. But he's lived next door forever - he's practically family so it was nothing dodgy-"

"I didn't suggest there was anything dodgy." Demi gave Ryan a pointed look before looking back to me. "Why would you start covering yourself like that?"

"I wasn't-"

"That's so weird that you instantly thought I was implying something happened -" she lowered her voice dramatically -"in the middle of the night with your... neighbour."

"I didn't think anything like that, I was just explaining-"

"Yeah over explaining. Isn't that weird Spence?" She turned to Spencer for backup and he gave me a sympathetic look. Somehow I'd walked right into one of Demi's traps.

"I dunno Demi," he hedged. "I think Kaitlyn’s pretty hung up on Ryan. I don't think anything would have happened with the neighbour. Right?" he asked me.

"Of course not," I agreed quickly.

"Oh my gosh have you two said the 'L' word?" Demi gushed, changing tact.

"No!" I snapped before I could stop myself. Demi's eyes widened in surprise and something terrifying sparkled in them.