Royalty

Sixty Six

a/n: new cover! this is the last cover change since the story is almost over. i just love the simplicity of it lol

"Keep your back straight! What the hell is that?" Ronnie shouted at me from across the gym. "Poor form! You're going to injure yourself if you can't do the fucking exercise properly."

I lifted the bar above my head and dropped it to the ground, "My back was definitely straight!"

"I'm standing right here, I can see you hunching your shoulders!"

"I was not hunching my shoulders! Do you need fucking glasses? I'll buy you the top line brand! You're-"

"Good grief, do you guys fight like this all the time?" 

I stopped yelling and turned to look at Niall that was standing next to one of the weight machines. He was watching Ronnie and me with a confused expression, genuinely curious if we hated each other.

"This is a good day between us," Ronnie laughed, making his way over to me and slapping me on the back. "You should see him when he's out of shape. He's like a dying whale on the gym floor."

"Shut the fuck up," I backhanded him in the arm as I rolled my eyes.

I had convinced Niall to come to the gym with me after we cleaned the kitchen. He stared at me like I was crazy when I first asked him if he wanted to go, but after my constant nagging, he finally agreed to it. I had a session with Ronnie, so while I was getting ripped on, Niall had been messing around on one of the ellipticals and some of the machines. 

We'd been here for more than half an hour. I was dripping sweat, and I don't even think Niall had a spot of perspiration on his forehead. And I thought I was lazy. I'm pretty sure he was just making conversation with anyone that passed by him and played around with the different levels on the machine. He was like Isabella whenever she decided to come into the gym. The two of them have a lot more in common than I originally thought they did. 

"You guys need to see a counselor or a therapist," Niall shook his head and pressed some more buttons on the elliptical. "You have some differences to work out."

"Our differences are complicated," I laughed, picking the bar back up. "They stem from one single event that Ronnie can't seem to overlook, and it just builds from there."

Niall glanced between us with a confused expression, "What event? Let's hash this out right now."

Ronnie shook his head and laughed at the poor boy, "He fucked my sister."

"What? Harry, why would you do that?" Niall flashed me a disapproving look. "Do you still talk to her?"

Both Ronnie and I burst out laughing. I had forgotten that no one other than Xander and Summer knew that Isabella and I used to be fuck buddies. Niall was frowning at the two of us, waiting to be answered. I couldn't stop laughing from the whole situation, so Ronnie punched me in the shoulder as he turned to Niall.

"She basically lives with him."

It had taken a while for Niall to put the pieces together. I think he had it in his mind that this was a completely different girl, some girl that I had slept with and now lives in my apartment. I could see it in his eyes that the thought of if Summer was aware of this had gone through his head until finally his eyes grew wide.

"Isabella is your sister?!" He directed at Ronnie before he looked at me. "You fucked Isabella?!"

"Cat's out of the bag," I shrugged, completing a few reps of the exercise.

"Oh my god," Niall shook his head and laughed, totally finding humor in all of this as he clapped his hands. "She's a ten, though. Bravo, dude. Man, I would totally-"