Every Day has a Memory

Chapter 7

Two weeks had passed with me and my sister being in an unsteady truce at home—no, we weren't talking to each other as such, but the tension had died down somewhat. We could at least walk around without wanting to lash out at the other. The Broker twins didn't drop by as much these days, in fact, Aiden was the only twin that was over at the flat most of the time—to see me anyway.

Lachie and Alicia had made it habitual to go out or stay around his place and hang out, I only rarely saw them hanging out at the flat. It didn't bother me either way they decided to play it because I just ignored them the same way they did to me.

It was a painful truce, but its they way we decided to play it.

You could say that I was at the hospital more than I was at home—not that there was much change there. But I was beginning to think that Tamsyn was getting sick of me. She was forever going on about how pathetic Alicia and I were being about this whole Lachie consequence. It also didn't help when Aiden was there to egg-on my girlfriend's mood—which had more often than what I had bargained for.

But I suppose, Tam was right in a sense. I'm not saying that she was right full-stop, I was just agreeing that she may be right a little. I mean, as much as I hated my sister's annoyingly bubbly attitude, sometimes it did get a little boring not having anyone to talk to at all. Especially late at night when I was still wide awake wondering if Tamsyn was okay, I got lonely and then I would start overthinking—and then I just wouldn't sleep.

Sometimes I regretted the decisions I made.

Sometimes. This decision, however, wasn't entirely regrettable, but I guess some of the incidents mingled with the decision weren't the best.

Losing your sister and best-friend wasn't the best?

I shook off my thoughts. Too much thinking and my brain was going to explode.

I sat in my car, with Luca lounging in the passenger seat, staring up at my parents' house—a two-story modern beige-brick house, skirted with two flowerbeds on either side of the front porch with wide white door entrance. Two cars—my dad's Toyota Hilux and my mother's tiny Suzuki Swift—sat before the garage, plus a Mazda Lantis that I knew all too well. The twins were here for dinner.

"Damn," I breathed, my fingers absently scratching at the scruff of Luca's neck. "I don't want to go in there, buddy." Just the thought of having to deal with my parents' constant worrying and my sister's anger-filled glares just weren't tickling my fancy at this moment in time. I would take off to the nearest Burger King if I could.

But the thought of a freshly home-made meal was the only thing that was keeping me here. I hadn't had a decent feed of food since... I moved out six months ago.

Darkness was settling in quick, I observed through the windshield, stealing the remnants of setting sunlight in the sky, making me wonder where time had gone. I glanced at over Luca as he panted and drooled all over my seat. He met my eyes with a dumbfounded look in his own.

The sight made me smile. "You really oughta get that drooling problem fixed, boy." I scrubbed my face, touching the spot on my cheek that had almost completely healed from mine and Lachie's fight at the hospital two weeks ago. Then reached over to scratch behind Luca's ear, laughing as he started to lick my hand. "Come on, boy—then we'll go see your momma later." I got out of the car and waited for him to drag his overweight body from the car. He half-jogged, half-walked to stay at my side; his short legs moving as fast as they could to stay in pace.

It was funny to think that a few months ago, I hadn't even liked having Luca around—he took priority over everything—and now he was the one thing in my life that seemed to be keeping me completely, if not mostly, sane since everything else turned to shit.