Barbie World (Baby Doll Series) Read Free Page B

him.
    “Okay, your children are still in the room, trying to keep their dinner down,” Dylan groans.
    Mrs. Knight giggles and jumps to her feet. “I have so much to do. I will have to call my parents to see if the kids can stay with them. I don’t know if I can get off work, I’ll need to see,” Mrs. Knight says excitedly. “Shopping! I have to go shopping. I don’t have a thing to wear.” She claps her hands together and skips over to the phone like a little kid, “I have to call my mom.” She stops walking and looks over her shoulder at me. “Barbie will you go shopping with me?” she asks, her face is full of eagerness.
    I bite down on my bottom lip. She is so excited; how can I tell her no. How do I tell her that it brings up too much pain when she tries to mother me like this, a constant reminder of how my own mother did not want me. “Sure,” I say to her. She smiles at me and disappears around the corner, the phone once again attached to her ear.
    “You should have waited for the last minute before you told her, Dad. Now she is going to spend the next two weeks freaking out and over-analyzing every single little detail. You know that, right?” Dylan scolds his father.
    “And miss out on her fretting over it for the next two weeks? Never. That is one of the reasons I love her.” Mr. Knight abandons the table at the sound of Mrs. Knight’s excited squeals in the next room.
    Leaving us alone, I go back to staring at my plate and pushing the pasta back and forth with my fork. I try to look at everything and anyone other than Dylan, but I can feel his eyes burning into me. A heat radiates from them that is so intense; I can feel the flames from it licking at my skin. When I cannot take it anymore, I snap my head up. “What!” I try to glare at his warm, brown eyes, but they are turning my insides into a puddle while an intense heat spreads down my legs. Geesh , all this from a look. I squeeze my legs together tighter, trying to make it go away, but it only intensifies the feeling.
    “Your hair looks pretty,” he says, popping ravioli in his mouth, smiling between eating. His smile is so alluring that I feel my own appearing on my face, I duck my head so he won’t notice.
    “Thanks,” I mumble, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
    He reaches across the table and lifts up a strip of pink hair. “Pink is my new favorite color.” I look up and his eyes catch mine, holding them. That burn and ever present ache for him to touch me is intensified. I lean closer, loving the feeling of his hands in my hair. I want to lean into his hand, exposing me for the liar I am.
    “PINK!” Emmy squeals. Both Dylan and I scoot back, forgetting we are not alone. “Pink is for girls, dweeb.” I smile at her and we both laugh.
    Dylan turns to Emmy. “Dweeb? Who taught you that word?” He stands up, scoops her up and puts her on his shoulders.
    “Chloe. She said that your brother is kind of a dweeb. Dylan, what’s a dweeb?”
    He reaches up and tickles her. “You’re a dweeb.” She laughs and swats at him with her small hands. I can’t help but smile at the interaction between them.
    I look over at Everett who is tracing shapes onto his placemat with his fingers. We will never have the same relationship that Emmy and Dylan have. I can’t help feeling a little bit of jealousy towards them because of it. I will never have a conversation or a fight with him; never hear the sound of his voice. What will happen to him when I am no longer around? He needs me. I know I will never be able to leave him.
    Next year, when I graduate, I will say goodbye to my friends and we will all head down different paths. Roxie has already been accepted to a college in Florida and one in Ohio. Even Third got accepted to a college. His mom is begging him to stay and go to a local college, but he, too, will soon leave. Then there’s Dylan… I shake the thought of him. Standing up and leaving, I cannot let this roller coaster of