Dolan twins little sister

• The Argument •

***
Alyssa's POV
***

I wake up to the sound of yelling and sit up in bed, my heart racing in my chest
The sky has darkened significantly and I check my phone for the time. It's eight pm and I've just had a fat nap after a hard day at school.

The house is quiet and for a second, I feel like the yelling was just coming from my dream. I'm about to lie down again when I hear Ethan yelling.
Yep, that's real, it's not in my dream.

I get out of bed and walk out of my room. I pad down the landing in my socks and carefully peek over the stairs, seeing if my eyes can figure out what's going on.

I can't see too well, but I can hear Ethan and Kristina. It appears that they're having an argument.

I silently tiptoe to the top of the stairs and lower myself onto the step, wincing when my legs crack. Thankfully, the yelling overpowers the sound.

I try to listen to what they're arguing about, but the louder their voices get, the harder it gets to understand what's going on.

I lower myself a few more steps and continue to listen.
It's really odd to hear Ethan this loud and this angry. There have been times where I've pushed his buttons to the absolute limit and he's never reached this volume with me.

When I hear footsteps on the stairs, I stand and dash to my room. I shut my door and wait, listening as my heartbeat hammers against my chest.

Ethan and Kristina have moved upstairs to his room. I hear the door slam and the voices get louder.

When I decide it's safe, I open my bedroom door again and slip out into the hallway. I walk downstairs and into the living room where Ethan and Kristina must've been before. Their phones lay on the coffee table, both face down and buzzing with notifications. A part of me wants to be nosy and check if those notifications have anything to do with the argument, but another part of me tells me to leave it as it's not my business.

I walk into the kitchen next and see Grayson at the kitchen table, his headphones on as he works on his laptop. When he notices me, he stops and takes them off.

"Hey, what's going on with Ethan and Kris?" I ask, feeling my voice go weird.

I don't like loud noises or yelling. Every fourth of July, I have to put on noise cancelling headphones as fireworks make me go into severe panic attacks. I hate when people argue too. It just brings me back to the time when my mom and dad would fight and abuse each other physically.

"You're shaking," Grayson frowns, taking my hand and pulling me close to him. "Hey, Alyssa, it's okay"

Grayson puts his arms around me and hugs me close. His tight embrace makes me feel safer than I did a few minutes ago.

I didn't realize how badly I was shaking until now. I feel paralysed with fear and Grayson can tell I'm not in a great state of mind.

"They seriously need to keep it down," Grayson sighs, stroking my hair. "I told them to go outside, but they don't listen"

The yelling gets so loud that Grayson and I can hear them from downstairs. I stay in Gray's embrace and hope he doesn't let go.
He doesn't.

CRASH

I flinch and jump when a loud crashing noise from upstairs happens. Grayson hugs me tighter, but the tears have already formed and my heartbeat feels impossible to contain.

"Take a deep breath," Grayson orders calmly, making me sit down.

Gray walks over to the cabinet and pulls out a glass. He pours water in it and hands it to me. The cold water feels good against my tongue, but I'm still hot all over due to panic. I thought Ethan and Kris were just arguing about something stupid. By the sounds of it, the situation could be much more serious.

"W-what are they e-even arguing about?"

"Alyssa, don't worry about it," Grayson sighs, wetting a flannel before dabbing my face with it. "Just focus on me, yeah? You're still shaking pretty badly"

I look at Grayson as he continues to cool down my face with the cold flannel. I flinch again when I hear footsteps above the kitchen and a flicker of worry passes through Gray's eyes.

"I'm f-fine," I mumble.

"Honey, I don't blame you for being scared," Grayson explains softly. "I know mom and dad used to be like this, but trust me, Ethan wouldn't put his hands on Kris. Even if she did something terrible"

I nod and I know that's a fear I hold deep down inside me. I love the twins and trust them with my life, but sometimes they are so alike to our dad and it scares me. They're tall, strong and have a temper, each qualities belonging to my abusive father.
The twins have told me many times that I shouldn't be scared to talk to them, but by the way they react sometimes, it's impossible to feel comfortable telling them stuff. Especially bad stuff.

My stomach starts to turn and I feel sick. The panic I feel often makes me throw up, so I wouldn't be surprised if I did.

"Shhh, don't cry," Grayson says quietly, wiping my tears with his thumb. "You're okay, I promise"

"I'm scared," I mumble, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"I know, sweetie, I know," Grayson sighs, handing me his headphones. "Put these on and I'll go tell them to shut up"

I put on the headphones and bury my face in my knees. The relaxing nap from earlier starts melting away and I feel really really sick.

***

Grayson hands me a plate with grilled cheese on it and sliced up strawberries. I thank him and start nibbling on the strawberries.
I didn't think I was hungry, but the smell of the grilled cheese makes me think otherwise now.

Ethan and Kristina both left the house in a fit of rage about a half hour ago after Grayson told them to shut up. I don't know what happened, nor where they've gone, but I'm glad the house is quiet again.

After Ethan and Kristina left, Grayson put me in his room to calm down. The anxiety has subsided a little, but I'm still pretty shaky.
I've been watching TV while Grayson's been making dinner. He asked if I was hungry and then remembered he hadn't eaten himself.

"Where's Ethan?" I ask Grayson, looking up at him.

"Don't worry about him, kiddo," Grayson sighs, ruffling my hair. "Just focus on eating and let Ethan and Kristina figure their own issues out"

I nod, sensing that Grayson doesn't want to talk about the whole situation anymore.
I turn back to the TV and take a bite of the grilled cheese. When I put it back down on the plate, Grayson raises an eyebrow at me, giving me a look.

"You better eat all of that, young lady," he says. "You didn't have anything earlier"

I nod again, not in the mood to argue about my eating habits.
I know Grayson isn't really worried about my eating anymore since I've been good with mealtimes recently. I think he's just got an extra edge to his tone this evening because of Ethan and Kris.

"Imma shower now, okay?" Gray says, taking a towel from his closet. "Eat your food and settle down. It's late"

I roll my eyes when he turns his back.
Only Grayson would consider ten pm at night to be late.

***

I am so sorry for ghosting this book for so long but I've truly been uninspired and tired of this book. However, I do see myself updating more often in the nearby future. Sorry for the shitty chapter today but if you'd like to see any other chapters please leave ideas in the comments as to what you would like to read

As always, thank you for the support. I really do appreciate you all :))