The tension was thick as the three sat at the dinner table. Well it was for Calum and Mhina. Joy, on the other hand, was rambling on about some dog she rescued from the road. Or maybe it was a cat? Who knew? Not like they were paying her any attention anyway.

They avoided eye contact, quietly eating whatever was left on their plates. And this caused the woman to cease her story, looking between them both.

"You two aren't screaming at each other. What's wrong?" She placed her plate to the side, raising a brow. This wasn't likely for them to be this quiet so she knew something was up. Calum shrugged and reached for his drink. He couldn't just say that he wanted to get with his foster sister aloud, now could he? Along with that, he couldn't say he's angry with her because she was getting nasty with his friend, again, could he? So, he decided to say nothing.

Mhina followed suit, figuring this had to be the only way to solve this. She couldn't just say she wanted Calum to touch her again, could she? And she certainly couldn't discuss the semi-triangle with her, Ashton, and Calum, again, could she? So, just as Cal, she decided to say nothing.

Joy chuckled and then sighed. She had a feeling it would come down to this. But, she had an idea for everything, including this one.

"Alright. Since no one wants to discuss it to me, you'd have to hash it out yourselves." She clapped her hands together, making the pair jump. The woman chuckled again and grabbed her plate. Both Calum and Mhina watched her with confused eyes. Once she dropped the dish in the sink, she reached for her keys.

"I'll do what my mum did to me and my sister. She left for a few hours and allowed us time to talk." Joy opened the front door, grabbing her purse. "That's exactly what I'm going to do. Fix it." She simply said before shutting the door and leaving the two alone.

They sat with the same uncertain look on their face before Mhina stole a glance at the boy.

"How long?" Her soft voice filled the air and shocked Calum. He dropped his fork, lifting his eyes to her browns, and folding his arms.

"You tell me. You seemed quite relaxed under my touch." He winked and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Don't try to switch this up on me." Mhina shook her head, arm crossed over chest. She couldn't believe he was even attempting to turn this on her. Though, he wasn't wrong. But that's beside the point right now.

"Alright. But am I wrong?"

"Calum."

"Mhina."

She groaned and threw her head back. This was going nowhere. It's amazing how elaborate he was back in the garage but now he wants to be difficult.

And the fact he sat across from her all smug smiled and arms crossed bothered the girl. He knew what he was doing and how she'd react. That's what drove her over the edge and what caused her to stand and lean over the table.

"Why are you being so difficult? It's not like it's a hard question to answer. But of course you dance around it and try to act like you didn't hear it-"

Mhina went on and on and Calum just sat back and watched. Was it so wrong that he zoned out?

He couldn't help but stare at her plump lips that poured curse words as she scolded the boy. He started to wonder how long his mother were out just in case Mhina wanted to release her anger in another way. One that doesn't consist of them being barricaded by a table.

"It's not fair-" Mhina paused, finding his silence suspicious. This boy wasn't listening, was he? Her blood felt like it was water boiling over a pot. It was worse than texting someone a long paragraph just to get a 'k'. I'm talking about writing a long  paragraph just so you can see the word 'read' beneath your text. She took it like so.

And since she did, she wanted him to have the same feeling. All is fair in getting even, right?

"I bet Ashton would've listened to me." Mhina bit her lip, holding back a smirk. And why? Because Calum's expression twisted and hardened.

Oh, so now he listens?

"We'd probably wouldn't even be talking right now."

"Stop, Mhina."

"All lips but no words-"

"I said, stop."

"-while his fingers settle on my lower back--"

"Stop!" He screamed, slamming his fist on the table, knocking his plate to the floor, shattering it. However, this didn't phase the girl one bit, she only smirked.

"That's kind of what it'll sound like." She finished. Calum stood and glared at the girl.

"I'm warning you!"

"Then how long, Calum?" She steered back to her original question, watching as he took a step back and started her way.

Not once breaking eye contact.

"I didn't answer because I didn't know what you were asking exactly." Mhina sucked her teeth, under the impression that he had finished. That's until he continued. "I didn't know if you were asking how long I've been jealous of you and Ashton. Or how long I've had to hold back from punching him in the jaw because of that. Maybe how long I've tried to tell myself that that's absurd and I'm not actually feeling that way. Could be how long I've been denying why I felt that way. How long I've tried to tell myself it wasn't because of you." He moved in closer to the girl, hands finding a spot on her hips.

"How long I've tried not to think of the beautiful girl across the hall. How long I've held back from bumping shoulders with her just so I can feel her skin on mine. How long I've woken up late night because I've had the same dream about touching you." The boy brought her closer, her chest to his, leaning his forehead on hers. Their lips were literally an inch or two away and it took everything in Calum to continue and not kiss the girl.

"How long I've tried to convince myself that all I've wanted to do was touch you. How long I've wanted to kiss every square inch of your body." He grazed his bottom lip on her top.

"How long I've thought about having you all too myself...just like now." Calum stopped there, not wanting to give away how long he's actually felt all of this but wanting to explain everything. It seemed to work because Mhina was dead silent.

But, what he didn't know was that Mhina was currently fighting. Fighting between her body and mind. It's obvious she wanted the boy to execute everything he wanted to do to her. And then some. But her mind wouldn't allow her to view this as right. And if she didn't establish something right now, she'd get sucked in and there would be no turning back. So, she spoke against the boys lips since he decided to take advantage of the quiet moment and tell him how she felt.

"Calum, I can't."

The boy slowly parted this lips from hers and looked up at her in confusion.

"You can't?" He repeated it as of the words were foreign on his tongue. Mhina sighed and removed his hands, though she desperately wanted them to stay. They were still a bit close but she didn't feel as suffocated as before.

"This- we--ugh!" Her words fell on each other as she tried to find the right ones to say. Calum's eyebrows came together, just as confused as she was.

Once again she sighed and sorted her words before speaking.

"We can't do this. Joy has so much trust in me and she's so nice, Calum. I don't think I'd feel comfortable doing his knowing she doesn't know. It's just wrong. We should- I don't know." Mhina was on a roll with sort of explaining how she felt but it ended pretty weak. Mainly because she didn't really know what she was saying.

Or maybe she didn't feel as strong to what she was saying.

"We should what?" Calum pressed, focusing on her broken words towards the end of her explanation, arms crossed over his chest.

And that's when she thought of it.

"We should make a boundary line of some sort. Kind of like, a fenceline."

so there you have it! lol this was supposed to be written differently but it wouldn't have done much for the plot and though this is a short story, I wanted the plot to make sense. so mhina establishes a 'Fenceline'..who thinks that's gonna fail? well you don't know because I haven't written it lol. anyway, thanks for the 1k yall are awesome. pls comment and vote. love yall!