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She hated how Ross didn’t just take up the bed. He took up the whole room.
And all the space in her heart. Her stomach cramped and something fluttered wildly, like she’d eaten a bucket of rusty nuts and bolts and that kind of thing didn’t digest so well. She could almost hear them clunking around.
“Man, that’s kind of hot,” Chance informed Ross. Of course, he thought getting slugged in the face was hot. What was wrong with her brother?
“I left a plate of food outside when all the drama started,” Alix ground out. She realized, belatedly, like an afterthought, that she was soaking wet too. She probably looked like a drowned rat. “I’m going to go get it.”
She disappeared down the hall and outside again before anyone had a chance to protest. Of course, Chance and Ross wouldn’t protest. Why would they? She was just a fly in their world. An annoying gnat that wrecked their fun growing up. The way they zoned out completely on her told her that they didn’t think much better of her as an adult.
Outside, her parents and the throng of people that she didn’t know, milled about like nothing had happened. Welcome home. We missed you Alix. How have you been, Alix? You just saved someone’s life Alix, that’s incredible. Yeah right. No one noticed her. No one said anything. She was able to grab her plate and disappear back inside. She stood inside the door in the living room, stuffing pickles and cheese into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
Finally, after she’d finished her makeshift dinner and felt slightly less jetlagged for having actually eaten something, she set her paper plate down on the coffee table, mostly because she knew it drove her mom nuts, and headed back to her bedroom. Her suitcase was there. She couldn’t stay in her damp jeans and tank all night.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t slip in and out of the room as easily as she’d slipped in and out of the buffet line outside.
“Alix, the conquering hero. Saved Ross’s ass again,” Chance crowed the second she walked into the room.
She ducked her face so he couldn’t see the blush that no doubt stained her cheeks scarlet. “Was there ever a first time?”
“You’re right. That was me.” Chance bumped Ross’s shoulder and Ross let out a huff of pain. “Are you ever going to learn to swim properly, man? It’s pathetic that my sister had to save you.”
“Should I have let him drown?” Alix asked testily as she grabbed for her duffel bag. “Maybe I would have done the world a service.”
“Harsh,” Chance hissed. “Just harsh.” He turned to Ross. “She still hasn’t forgiven you, man. She still hates you, even though it’s been years and she should have done some growing up while she was away. You can’t still be mad that he wouldn’t take you to Prom. It wouldn’t have looked right.”
The scarlet from her cheeks must have shifted, because all of a sudden, she saw red. “Out!’ Alix screamed. “Get out of my room. Both of you! Right now!”
“The guy’s bleeding from his head. I’m going to take him to the hospital. He needs stitches. It’s a nasty gash.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to fire something back about her brother knowing all about nasty gashes, but that was probably the most immature, horrible, crass thing she’d ever thought, so she sucked it back and let out a breath wavering with anger instead.
“Just go. Please. Take him. I spent hours on a plane. I got home and I thought one person might actually be glad to have me back. I just saved his ass from drowning. I’m tired. I just want to take a hot shower and get changed, relax, and put on a shitty movie so I can feel better about my life.”
“Alix bear, you know we love you,” Chance said in his syrupy tone. The same tone that often worked to get him whatever else he wanted in life. She wasn’t buying it.
“Nope. You’re still gone. Now.” She pointed to the door. “Him too. Take him. Go. That gash isn’t going to close itself.”
“Don’t worry. His brains won’t leak out all over your pillow. I don’t think he has any to begin with. He actually called that girl by the wrong name. That’s why she slugged him.” Chance threw back his head and laughed like it was the punchline to the world’s funniest joke.
Alix turned to Ross. He wasn’t looking at her, thank god. He was looking at Chance like he was trying to calculate if he could deck her brother before he passed out from blood loss. She wished he would.
“I don’t know why you’re friends with Chance at all.” She sighed when she spotted the first aid kit her mom set down on the nightstand by the bed. Everything had been cleaned out of the room when she moved out. All her posters and books and nick knacks, like she was never coming back. “Let me take a look. Maybe I can bandage it up and you won’t have to go to the hospital after all. It’s a pain in the butt. You’ll wait for hours. You probably don’t even need stitches. Head wounds just tend to bleed a lot.”
