Remington
"Knock knock." I yelled at the front door. A couple of seconds later, a familiar blonde fell into my vision. For some reason, the smile faltered from my face a tad, "oh, Carmen, hey."
"Oh my god, Remington," Her squeal shot through my ears, and she flung herself into my arms, "hi! How are you?"
"I'm alright, is Austyn around?" An awkward smile plastered onto my face.
"Yeah," Her tone switched to annoyance, "grab a seat, I'll go get her."
She spoke distastefully, and it made me uncomfortable. I tried to shake it off because, hopefully I'd be away from her soon but, the looks she kept sending me were making it hard.
"So how have you been?" There was a smirk on her lips when she sat next to me, instead of going to get the Austyn like she said she would.
"Alright." I repeated the same word from earlier, in an attempt to move the conversation along. Hopefully to it's end.
"That's good," Carmen played with her hair, "hey so I'm throwing a party this Friday night."
"Cool."
I resisted to urge to rest my palm against my forehead. I was being so awkward, it was almost heartbreaking.
"Yeah," She shrugged, "oh hey, maybe if you and your brothers wanted to stop by, you could play a couple songs or something?"
There it was. Seems like everyone always has and ulterior motive.
"Who are you torturing now," Austyn mumbled the question, and her tired look was replaced with a small grin when she realized I was in her presence, "Remington, hey! What are you doing here?"
I held out my hand, and glanced at it, "You left your bag the other day."
"Oh," An awkward chuckle left her lips. Oh no, not her too. She nervously took the bag and threw it on a nearby chair, "thanks."
"Hey, do you have a minute to talk?" I scratched my neck.
"Sure."
She gestured for me to follow her, and then led us to her room. It was nice, the three white walls, accented by one tan one. her walls were decorated with a mix of fairy lights, and a collection of records that were hung up.
"You listen to Twenty One Pilots?" I said excitedly.
"Yea, I'll take that to mean you're a fan too?" She chuckled.
"Hell yes, I could talk about them for hours." I beamed.
"So uh, what did you want to talk about?"
"Right, uh, just the other day." I started but, stopped when she held her hand up.
"I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be that." Austyn moved her focus off of me, and on to the records.
I looked at them with her. There were all sorts of artists on her wall. Arctic Monkeys, Pierce The Veil, and Amy Winehouse. I saw a black veil brides record as well as a couple others.
"Sorry." I mumbled.
She hummed in response, as a way to let me know that she hadn't caught what I said.
"I said sorry," I clarified, "I just- feel the need to apologize. He shouldn't of treated you that way."
"It's not your fault."
"I know," I scoffed playfully, "but he's my brother so, I'm still a little at fault."
"Well," Austyn shrugged in response, and after that, it fell silent again. Until she spoke up randomly, "he was really shitty but, I don't blame you."
Her tongue clicked in annoyance, and I could tell this wasn't going to go away as quickly as either of us wanted it to.
"Yeah," I nodded in agreement, "you just caught him on an off day."
Sure, it was an off day. Almost everyday was an off day for Sebastian.
"Are you sure? He just seems like an asshole." She retorted awkwardly.
"Well," I chuckled lightly, mostly out of shock that she'd say something like that, "that's kind of his shtick."
I shrugged, hoping that would be the end of it.
"I'm glad someone found it entertaining." A light scoff left her lips, dwindling my hope instantly.
"Are you ok?" I asked, genuinely concerned at how the weight of the conversation had changed so quickly.
"No Rem," Another scoff, "I'm not. Your brother was a complete dick."
"Woah," My voice raised, "I completely understand that he offended you but, he's still my brother. Sebastian has been pretty much all Emerson or I have had since we were teenagers. Sure he's an ass sometimes but, he's done a lot for us and, I'm not gonna let you sit here and rip on him."
"I wouldn't be ripping on him if he wasn't being a dick!" She snapped.
"Stop calling him that," I shouted, "can we just move on?"
"He doesn't take me seriously," She scoffed, "and that's fine. I don't expect anyone to but, Im not gonna show someone respect when they're going out of their way to be down right mean"
"He wasn't being mean," I found myself using his words of defense. The one's I found so stupid just days ago, "you're being mean! He was just asking you questions."
"And every time I responded he had some smart ass remark ready to be pulled out of his ass! He made me feel like shit," Austyn shook her head, "he's egotistical, and I don't like him, that's it. I can't change how I feel and I'm sorry if it upsets you."
"It more than upsets me," I yelled. My glare softened when she flinched, "he's my brother! You barely know him, and you're acting like you have all the answers! It's fucking ridiculous! You don't know shit Austyn!"
"Leave." She said simply.
"What?" I choked on my word. In disbelief that we had reached this point so quickly. Maybe if I wished hard enough, we'd go back to talking about the records on her wall. Why couldn't we just talk about that instead?
"Get out. You said you came here to talk," A look of stone took over her face, and she shrugged as if she didn't care at all, "and now I've said my piece, and you don't like it, so you can leave. I'm not gonna force you to stay just to get screamed at for defending myself. I'm sick of people making me feel bad over simply not being a fucking floor mat."
"Fine," I spat, "but if I walk out that door then, maybe I won't come back."
Say anything. Tell me no. Take it back. So we can make this right. Show me anything, that would tell me how you feel. Talk about the records. Tell me your favorite song. Her shoulders dropped, and the look on her flawless face fell into one of stone.
"Maybe that's for the best."
——————————————————————————
Question: Have you ever said something you didn't mean?
(Don't forget to vote on the chapter if you enjoyed!)
