"Conner likes being told how much he's appreciated?" Xael can't help but laugh a bit. "Well isn't that something."
I nod in agreement, arranging some rolls of bandages on the lowest shelf of the cabinet.
"You'd think it would be easy," I say, picking up a thing of disinfectant and setting it down in its proper spot. "Give him some compliments, tell him that I'm glad to have him as my brother, tell him I love him."
"He takes the compliments as sarcasm."
"Or he thinks I'm making fun of him, and then he beats me even harder." I close the cabinet a little harder than I should. Out of the corner of my eye I see Xael jump. "Sorry."
"You're good."
"Wassup nerds?"
Xael nearly jumps out of her skin at the sound of Cray's voice.
"Maybe knock next time?" I suggest, stepping over and setting a hand on Xael's shoulder. Cray chuckles, nodding.
"So," he begins, "what're you two doing in here?"
"We're organizing Sarah's stuff. I don't know if you saw before this, but it was awful."
"I'm sure it was." Cray strokes his non-existent beard. "Would you guys like some help?"
"I don't know if a third person is gonna make things easier, but sure," Xael says. "Could you group everything together on the counter? Put blades with blades and such."
The word blades draws my attention. As Xael and I put away some other medical supplies, half of my attention is on Cray's hands as they move around shiny silver objects.
"Once we put these away, we're done!" Xael exclaims, clapping her hands excitedly. "Where's my phone? I need to take a picture."
"Is it in your pockets?" Cray questions. Xael pats her pockets and shakes her head, flashing me a small smile.
"I think I might've left it downstairs," she states. "Would you mind grabbing it for me while I finish putting these away?"
"Sure." I spin around and march out of the room, Cray and Xael's conversation about a musician fading as I walk further away.
Once I'm downstairs it occurs to me that Xael set her phone down on Sarah's desk.
"And she was putting away the blades."
She sent me out of the room for a reason.
"And what would you need blades for, dear brother?"
I jump at the sight of Conner leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and one foot pressed up against the wall.
"None of your business," I reply, immediately regretting my words when Conner moves to stand in front of me.
"Everything you do is my business," Conner growls, grabbing my shoulder and throwing me into the wall. "You aren't free of me. You will never get rid of me." An arm presses up against my throat, pinning me to the wall. "You either answer me, or you suffer. What do you need blades for?"
"No reason," I choke out, desperately trying to pry Conner's arm off of my neck. I'm gasping for breath a second later when he elbows my ribs.
"I asked a question," he hisses, taking his free hand and pressing it into my shoulder, right where the cuts are.
"Fuck!" I scream, feeling some cuts reopen at the pressure.
"What's this I've discovered?" Conner retracts his arm and rolls up my sleeve, smirking as he does. "Oh, what's under this bandage?"
I bite my lip as Conner rips the bandage off of my shoulder, every cut on my shoulder stinging at the sudden pull.
"You really want attention that bad, huh?" Conner sneers, loosening his press against my throat. "You've gotta scream it to the world that you're an attention whore."
"Stop it," I gasp as he grinds the heel of his palm against my cuts.
"Stop what?" he asks innocently. "Stop... this?"
Without warning he stops pressing into my cuts and instead slams his fist into my shoulder.
"Conner!"
No.
Conner and I both turn our heads to look at Jonny, who is angrier than he was that time Conner kicked Sophie.
"Jonny, what's up, man?" Conner steps away from me immediately, putting on a friendly face.
"Don't you what's up me, Conner," Jonny growls. "My office. Go."
"But-"
"Now!"
Jonny turns and watches Conner walk down the hallway and enter Jonny's office. I seize this opportunity to roll my shirt sleeve back down and kick the bandage away.
"How long?" Jonny asks, still looking at his office door.
"It was just a one time thing," I say. "He's just angry about something."
"This isn't the first 'one-time thing', Jason."
"I know! I know." I sigh and rub the back of my neck, trying to make my lie as convincing as possible. "But it really isn't a constant thing. I swear."
"If I talk to Conner, is he going to say the same thing?"
Of course he will. He isn't just gonna give himself up that easy, he's not a complete idiot.
"Yes, he will."
Jonny nods, turning to face me. "Come talk to me if you want to confess that this isn't just a few occasional incidents."
"If it ever turns into a constant thing, you'll be the first to know," I assure the man. He nods and walks towards his office.
Once Jonny's inside his office I jog as quietly as I can over to it, then lean my ear as close to the door as I can get without actually touching it.
"You pinned your brother against the wall by pressing an arm to his throat." Sounds follow Jonny's sentence, signalling that he's sat down in his chair. "Mind telling me why?"
"I got angry."
"Are you still angry?"
"Yes." Conner's voice is as monotonous as it could be.
"What are you angry at?"
"Something."
"Is it a who, not a what?"
"What is this, a therapy session?"
Jonny chuckles a bit. I hear some rhythmic tapping. Jonny's bouncing a pen on his desk.
"If that is what this needs to be, then yes. Who are you angry at?"
Me. And Xael. He's never not angry at us. He hates us for no actual reason-
"Myself."
Conner's statement startles both me and Jonny, as the sounds of the pen tapping stop.
"Why are you angry at yourself?"
"I'm a freak."
I take a step away from the door, then a second, and a third, until I'm at the staircase. Why did I listen in the first place?
"Jason?" Cray calls from behind me. I whirl around and see both him and Xael waiting at the top of the stairs. "You're still here. Xael's phone was actually still in Sarah's office, so there wasn't a good reason for you to come down here."
"Sorry, Jason," Xael says. "It's my mistake."
It wasn't a mistake.
Does she see me as an attention-seeker?
"So, what're we doing now?" I ask, going up the stairs two at a time. Cray and Xael both shrug.
"We could go hang with Sophie and Sarah," Xael suggests. "Tell Sarah the good news."
"I'm not sure that's what she'll take it as, but sure!" Cray exclaims, slinging an arm around my shoulders as we walk down the hallway. Xael falls in step with us on the other side of me, and I roll Cray's arm off of me.
"Conner held you up," Xael whispers, so quiet that I nearly don't hear her. I nod, listening to Cray attempt to whistle what I can only assume is a Disney song.
"Bandage came off," I murmur in response. "Conner did it."
"What're you two whispering about?" Cray stage-whispers. Xael giggles, and I swear to you her giggle is the most beautiful thing in the world. It's like- well I don't know what it's like. There aren't any words to describe it.
"Anyone got a thesaurus?" I ask, looking between my two companions. They both shake their heads. "A thesaurus app?"
"Just because I'm a writer doesn't mean I use thesaurus' and dictionaries," Xael laughs. "I can barely type half the time and I rely on Google autocorrect to fix my mistakes or, at the very least, point them out."
"Wait, you write?" Cray shouts. Xael and I roll our eyes and face-palm in unison.
"She does," I answer. "She's really damn good at it too."
"I want to read, where is it published and what is it called."
"It's called Hey Delilah, on this website called Tapwad."
"Wattpad," Xael corrects me. "It's on a website called Wattpad. Ignore this one."
"And you read it?" Cray asks me. I nod, lacing my fingers together behind my head.
"Like I said, it's really good. It's about these two-"
"No spoilers!" Cray yells, slapping his hands over his ears. "No! None! Do not speak a word about this masterpiece you speak so highly of!"
"Oh shush, Cray- what time is it?"
"It's 5:10, why?"
"I'll catch up with you guys in a bit." I walk backwards in the general direction of the kitchen, snapping and shooting finger guns at Xael and Cray. "Gotta go bake the macarons."
"Already?"
"Well, it's technically got another twenty minutes before the shell has absolutely formed, but now is the earliest time that the shell would be formed."
The duo's face morphs into the real life version of the raised eyebrow emoji.
"Just smile and wave, boys, just smile and wave," Xael says. Cray looks at her in confusion as I snort-laugh.
"I appreciate the meme."
"Oh, it's a Gen Z thing."
"Of course it is!" Xael and I exclaim.
"Gen Z is the best generation," I state.
"Okay zoomer," Cray mumbles. Xael and I exchange a look before bursting out in laughter. Why is zoomer so funny? Because it is.
Our humor is the greatest thing to ever exist.
"Go check on your cookies." Xael makes a shooting motion with a hand, and I turn and walk towards the kitchen.
"Wassup, y'all?" I exclaim, entering the kitchen and immediately heading towards the back. "Don't mind me, just here to check on my macarons."
I tap on the top of a few macarons and determine that the shell has formed enough to put them in the oven.
"You can use that oven," Daria says, pointing at one just a few feet from her station. "I preheated it a few minutes ago for you."
"Thanks, Daria!" I open the oven and slide the cookie sheet in, careful not to touch the wire rack.
"You need to mix up the filling now, right?"
"Actually, I think I'll fill them with ice cream discs."
"Go!" Daria puts her hands on my shoulders and ushers me out of the kitchen, ignoring my protesting. "They're done in twelve minutes. I can pull them out for you. Come back closer to supper time, yeah?"
"Fine," I groan. I stand outside of the kitchen for a moment, listening to the door swing shut before walking off, not whistling because I don't know how.
"Well that didn't take long," Cray remarks. I jump and nearly run away at the sound of his voice.
"Cray!"
Xael appears and smacks Cray's shoulder.
"That was so mean!" I whine. "Xael, how could you do that to me?"
"Oh my god, you're both children," Xael states, throwing her hands up and turning around. Cray and I look at each other before laughing.
"I'm sorry!" Cray shouts. "Wait, no, Xael, come back!"
"Lukas!" Xael calls, continuing to walk away. "Help save my sanity, please."
Cray jogs quietly up to Xael and wraps his arms around her waist, throws her over his shoulder, then sprints back towards me.
"I hate you," Xael mutters, looking at me over Cray's shoulder. "Help."
"Eh." I shrug. "What if I don't feel like it?"
"So, where we goin'?" Cray asks, not bothering to put Xael down. Xael rolls her eyes and pinches the back of Cray's neck. He yelps and drops her onto the floor, where she grins.
"Don't touch me without asking." Xael crosses her arms, then uncrosses them and runs a hand through her hair. "Jason, I heard you guys have a music studio somewhere in this house of yours?"
"Yeah!" I perk up at the thought of the music studio. "It's been a week or so since I've been in it, so it might be a bit dusty, but we can still go if you want?"
Xael and Cray both nod.
"Can you play your cello for us?" Cray ruffles my hair as I lead Xael towards the studio.
"Don't mess with my hair." I smack his hand away, only to hear him chuckle and put it right back where it was.
"You play cello?" Xael questions. I nod, grabbing Cray's wrist and shoving it back towards him.
"Stop touching me," I demand, pointing at Cray. He raises his hands in surrender, and then a hand is right back on top of my head.
"Cray," Xael says, her voice turning from friendly to borderline threatening. "Stop touching Jason."
At that moment, Cray's phone vibrates.
"Y'ello?"
"It's definitely Lukas," I whisper, watching Cray smile lovingly. "No one else can make a smile like that appear on Cray."
"Sorry guys, I gotta go." Cray slides his phone back into his pocket. "Lukas needs me for something."
"Have fun, Cray!" Xael exclaims, waving as Cray jogs the opposite way.
"Wonder what Lukas wants," I remark, jogging up a set of stairs.
"Cuddles, probably."
"The music studio is just up ahead." I point at a black and white door, some music notes painted on in blue.
"Do you hear music?" Xael stops, putting a hand on my shoulder. I listen quietly for a moment before hearing what she did: guitar music, and a voice."
"No one else uses the studio besides me," I whisper, quietly stepping closer to the door. "I don't know if a staff member knows how to play guitar."
"Daniel does, but he's not working today."
Xael and I stand in front of the studio door. I raise a hand to knock when she grabs my arm.
"That's Conner's voice, isn't it?" she murmurs. I listen for another few moments, my eyes widening when I recognize my brother's voice.
"Yeah, it is."
"He knows guitar?"
"I guess."
"And he knows how to sing."
"Apparently."
"Wait, I know this song!" Xael closes her eyes and listens for a few moments, humming the melody until her eyes fly open. "The Village, by Wrabel."
"Wait, but isn't that-"
"Okay, time to go!" Xael spins on her heel, grabs my hand, and drags me down the hall.
"Where are we going and why?" I ask, being very careful to keep up with Xael and not fall down the stairs.
"Away from there, and because he stopped playing. He definitely heard us."
"There's no way he heard us!" I protest.
"He stopped in the middle of a line," Xael explains. "He absolutely heard us. You guys got a movie theater somewhere in this joint?"
"Yeah, downstairs," I answer. "I can show you."
We slow our pace down. It's only after we go down two more flights of stairs that I realize she's still holding my hand.
I slowly pull my hand from her grasp. She either doesn't realize or doesn't pay any attention to it.
"So," Xael begins as I open the theater door, "do you guys have Netflux?"
"Of course. Let me guess, you want to watch Avatar?"
"And relive my childhood? Absolutely."
Xael and I settle down right smack dab in the middle of the theater, then drop to the floor when the door slams open.
"You two are in so much trouble!" Conner bellows. Xael and I exchange a look, our hands over our mouths.
Oh, we are so screwed.
Question of the Chapter (even though no one answers these ;-;): what are your thoughts on the 'therapy' session between Conner and Jonny?
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