"Tag that friend, with whom you always fight for silly reasons."
"Why did you have to do this?"
"Do what?"
"Talk against them!"
"You're such a wimp!" She yelled. "We should've done this a long time ago."
I raised my eyebrows. "I? A wimp? How so? I defended you!"
"When he would slap me!" She snapped.
"You wanted a perfect family!"
"Then." She said. "Not anymore. Not after we talked about this and 'definitely' not after the phone call."
"I don't follow."
"The one reason they wanted the reins of our lives was because he wanted to get you married to the daughter of his business partner. He would've made sure you got engaged to her once you finished High School and as for me...."
She trailed off.
"What about you?"
"He'd ship me away someplace far."
"Where?"
"Dunno. Didn't hear their whole conversation." She shrugged.
"You eavesdropped again?"
"Couldn't help it."
Right now, she sounded so much like Candy. Except, Elena was pretty serious.
"What now?" I lied down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"We wait."
__
I had no idea how long we stared at the ceiling, waiting impatiently for what was about to happen. After that little argument we had, I started to think about my life choices. Did we have that miserable of a life that Elena had to retaliate? I remember wanting so much better for her. Looking back, I didn't think she did something unacceptable. It was normal. And for parents who didn't care about their kids, told them on their faces that they were nothing but 'accidents' and used one of them to improve the relationship between business partners...
It was the last straw.
No parent would actually do that, right?
Mine did.
All of a sudden there was a knock on my door. We jumped up and took three deep breaths. I walked and opened the door to see our mother. Her entire demeanor changed. The woman who had warm, brown eyes -when she first saw us- had changed to cold, dark, and hollow ones. She had a stone expression.
"We need to talk." She demanded, her voice cold as ice.
A shiver ran down my spine.
"Okay," I whispered out.
She sauntered to the living room. I shut the door close and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Meet your worst nightmare."
__
Father was sitting on one end of the couch and mother on the other end. They had their 'ready for business' expressions on their faces. None of their emotions readable. While my heart was beating erratically, I was wondering how Elena kept a calm expression. Maybe, she wasn't much afraid of the consequences.
When did my baby sister grow up?
And when did she become so fearless?
I was impressed - would be an understatement. I was beyond impressed. She was ready to fight our parents - something that I could never do. She was ready to fight and have a better future for us while I was a wimp.
yeah, it was not the devil-may-care attitude.
I was actually a wimp.
And I had no way to change that.
No, you do!
How?
Fight for your unnamed team.
Yeah, I did!
I did!
"Why'd you call us?" Elena asked, utterly bored.
"First of all, you two need to behave and se-" Father started but was quickly cut off by Elena's yawning. She snapped her fingers in front of our mouth.
"You done?" She paused, before adding. "I have a lot of things to take care of."
"Nicoletta Elena Matthews. Apologize." Our mother demanded.
"Back to this again? Why do you guys bother so much when you're going to marry him off and ship me off to Wakanda or Sokovia."
Elena and I high-fived.
"Those are not real places and-" She narrowed her eyes at the two of us, pointing an accusatory finger. "-how did you know this?"
Before Elena could speak, I beat her to it. "I eavesdropped."
That's it. We couldn't take this crap anymore. I couldn't take this crap anymore. If we didn't give them a piece of our minds, they'd do whatever they felt like.
They gasped. "How dare you?!"
"How dare we? You taught us to dare, father."
"You were the one who taught us to take risks."
"Never take no for an answer."
"Always be a jerk."
"And forever jackasses."
"Look where that brought us."
"We can't love," Elena said.
"We can't like."
"We don't have friends."
"Everybody uses us for our wealth."
"That is not true. We taught you so many things such as-" Mother started but I cut her off.
"Such as?" I pressed.
She fumbled. "I....uh....fishing."
"Fishing for people's money."
Elena turned to me, smirking. "Jakey, you remember when a guy I really liked told me I was a gold-digger because he thought I was after his money. That I was selfish because my own father's wealth wasn't enough for me."
That was a lie.
Elena was such an amazing liar.
(Future Jake: Never lie to your parents, kids.
Future Alex: But if your parents are like that....well...I'll allow it)
I frowned. "I remember a girl once telling me that I was a snob and a stone-hearted jerk who didn't have feelings. Well, guess what father, she was the first girl I fell in love with."
Also a lie.
"And she rejected me."
"And he rejected me."
We shook our heads. "Just like that."
Man, these parents brought up such amazing liars.
I am so proud of us.
#Bestsiblingsever#Bestfriendsforever
"Love is for fools, you idiots!" Father yelled, his voice rising each second. "Money is everything! And you two-" He pointed his finger at us. "-will listen to us no matter what. You two rebel again and will have to face my wrath!"
"Don't you love mother?" I asked.
"It was always a business deal."
Mother gasped. "Andrew..."
Oh boy! Did she never know this!?
"Don't 'Andrew' me. You always knew this was a business deal. We weren't supposed to have kids but one night these 'accidents' happened."
"Make it two nights," Elena muttered.
I stifled my laughter.
"You never loved me...?" Mother asked him, her eyes now glassy. The once cold eyes flashed a lot of emotions swirling inside of them. Hurt being more prominent.
She really thought this 'jerk' loved her?
"You've gotta be kidding me, Francis." Father shook his head. "It's not about us, it's about them!"
"What's going on?" Elena whispered while father and mother shouted back and forth.
"I really have no idea. They've got so many issues."
She shook her head. "I really don't want a part 2 of this."
I sighed. "Neither do I."