The morning after, Salma texted Thomas to inform him that she and a couple of their old friends would be coming over for dinner that very same evening. Order takeout, and Liv is very welcome. That's what she had written.
"Only she could get away with inviting herself and other people over for dinner at another person's place with a day's notice", Thomas groaned while pacing the living room, armed with a spray-bottle of disinfectant and a cloth.
Sprawled on the couch, Liv watched him in all his annoyance. The peace between them had been kept all day and they hadn't delved back into yesterday's conflict - probably mostly due to the fact that Thomas was so preoccupied with fretting for the dinner party.
"It might be fun", she grinned, "Don't you miss your old friends?"
"Rarely."
"'You sure it's okay I'm here? I could hide upstairs."
"No, that's fine", he said absentmindedly and went back to his restless pacing and cleaning.
Night came at last and Liv was standing in front of the hallway mirror wearing one of Thomas's black sweaters and a pair of jeans far too long for her, so she had had to roll them up a bit.
"Ugh", she sighed, pulled a little nervously at her sleeves and wished she had brought more of her makeup over when she first got here.
For a split second Thomas eyes rested on her but then quickly flicked away.
"You look fine."
The truth was that the sight of her in his clothes made his stressed, whirling thoughts stop in their tracks. Even though they were much too big for her she looked stunning in a casual and chic way. Cursing the way his mind worked, he suddenly thought of something that made heartbeat quicken even more. Sebastian. Sebastian was shameless enough to... Black jealousy and possessiveness clouded his head.
Now she was letting her hair out, and the sight brought him back to the present. Combing through it with her fingers, he caught a slight shake of her hand and a light sigh, which told him maybe she was a little nervous too. As if she had any reason to be.
"You don't keep any concealer around here, per chance?", she muttered.
"I'm all out. Sorry", he answered and walked up to stand a few feet behind her and she stilled as she saw him in the mirror.
"Don't worry. You don't need to worry. Not about the way you look, that is."
Confused, her eyebrows furrowed and pink spread over her cheeks. In all honesty, she couldn't really process the compliment, or whether it even was a compliment. Before she found something to say back, he had disappeared into the kitchen.
Sebastian arrived first, at the same time as the food Thomas had ordered. Vaguely, Liv remembered him from when she was younger. At least, she remembered his broad mouth that made him look like a smiley-face whenever he smiled, which was most of the time.
"Sweet Tommy, Chinese!"
Bordering on aggressively, he hugged Thomas towards himself, patted him hard on the back.
"Sorry 'bout your old man and all that."
"Thanks", Thomas nodded and seemed relieved that that was over with.
"And hello to you! I recognize you."
Swiftly, he turned his attention to Liv who stood leaning against the door frame.
"It's like Arvid in a wig isn't it?", he looked at Thomas for compliance but just got an unenthusiastic shrug, "A positively gorgeous Arvid in a wig that is."
"I don't think we're that much alike...", Liv attempted to protest but Sebastian was already walking past her into the house, apparently not listening.
A few minutes later Salma arrived with Rasmus, hand in hand. Rasmus actually reminded Liv of Thomas a lot. Hard to pin down but quick and clever, he shook her hand with an unreadable expression. They were kind of similar in looks as well, Rasmus being just slightly less dark in hair and with hazel eyes instead of dark blue.
Salma has a type, Liv thought a little sourly to herself, but then felt bad for her resent when Salma hugged her fondly and ruffled her hair.
They ate and played cards. When it got around eight, Sebastian suggested they'd break out the so-called heavier stuff.
"You know, Sebbe, the wine is more than enough", Salma said and shook her head, "This is not that kind of an evening if you hadn't noticed."
Sebastian looked positively offended.
"Well none for you then. Rasmus, whaddaya say..? Tommy..? Toast for your father?"
"He was an alcoholic, you know", Thomas said in an exceptionally bored tone, still picking at his food.
Despite Liv almost choking, Sebastian appeared unbothered by Thomas's dry response.
"It's times like these that I miss Arvid the most. He'd never turn me down like this", he sighed dramatically and then his gaze flicked over to Liv, an idea hitting him.
"Heyy... You'll drink with me! For big brother's sake. 'Couple of shots?"
"Not a chance in hell", Thomas cut in matter-of-factually before Liv had even thought of what to answer.
Scandalized, Sebastian clapped his hands over his mouth.
"Shit! Right! You're a minor aren't you? Well... come to think of it... If you are anything like your brother then you've probably had a few... well let's call it samples."
Still unsure of what to respond, she smiled and glanced insecurely at Thomas.
"Leave her alone", Salma said and put her arm around Rasmus, "It's getting late. We mustn't bother our hosts all night."
Getting up to clear off the table, Thomas looked grateful but Sebastian leaned back in his chair, discontent.
"Yeah what's up with that? Arvid's cool with you shacking up with lil' sis?"
The air in the room became thick and heavy.
"I- We're not...", Thomas seemed at loss for words, shocked, which was a rare occurrence.
"I get it", Rasmus suddenly spoke, "You're like family, no?"
"Yes, exactly", Thomas agreed and got some color back in his face but a trace of held back nausea remained clearly visible to her.
"Huh? Like another brother?"
Putting on a puzzled expression, Sebastian looked from Thomas to Liv and back again.
"I think we're done here, Sebs. Let's leave before Tommy renounces contact with all of us", Salma smiled and put the cards back in the box, Rasmus helping her.
"Fine fine", Sebastian muttered.
It was first after all three of them had left that Liv found that one card was left outside the box, turned upside down, right in front of where she had sat. Turning it over, she found that it was a Joker card, with something written on it.
"Since neither one of your brothers seem to mind", it read and a phone number followed. Her heart started to beat faster and she quickly made the decision to just leave it, written side up on the table. Of course she knew Thomas would find it, surely even within the hour, for she also knew Thomas was the kind of person to never fall asleep with the kitchen table cluttered.
Like a little test, or a game - just to see what he would do, if he would care. Anything would be a breath of fresh air after the nauseous face he had made at the suggestion of them shacking up.
For half an hour she lied under the covers on the couch, heart continuously pounding, before Thomas emerged from the kitchen, turned the lights off. Weirdly enough he moved almost soundlessly, snuck up next to her and just put the card on the table beside the couch. Taking a few seconds to process this unexpected behavior, she then swallowed her pride, fake-yawned and tried to make her voice sound confused and drowsy with sleep.
"What's going on?"
"Sorry, nothing. Go back to sleep", he whispered and she could see his faint outline in the dark.
"No, what is it?"
"Someone left a little something for you", he said in an unreadable voice.
Sitting up, she fumbled for the note, turned on the little bedside lamp he had placed on the coffee-table for her, pretended she read the text for the first time.
"What is this? Is it..? Did Sebastian..?"
"Not Sebastian. Trust me, he can't write like that", Thomas snorted, "That's from Rasmus."
Now she didn't have to fake her surprise.
"Rasmus? But he... he's with Salma."
"Oh they're casual."
"Right", Liv muttered, "That's why you and her... can get together."
"We don't get together", he said, clearly annoyed, "But yes, they have an open thing like that. Are we done here?", he started to walk out of the room.
"Hey, wait. Is that it?"
"Is what it?", he said sternly, stopping but not turning around.
"You're just gonna pimp me out like that?"
That had been the wrong thing to say.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, I..."
"Who you see or want to see is none of my business. Go out with him", Thomas shrugged, "Or don't. It's like he said. Neither one of your brothers mind, or care for that matter. Why'd you try and make this more complicated than it has to be?"
"I don't! I just... Whatever", she realized she had nothing to say, lowered her eyes and felt embarrassed.
With this he left her feeling stunned and with an icky desperate feeling all throughout her body. Without thinking properly she reached for her phone, eager to do something to rid herself of the memory of his indifference. After having typed in the number on the card, she wrote:
Wanna pick me up from practice tomorrow night? /Livvy