The Gallagher twins

~• 09 •~

After the tremendous beating I gave myself at the party, the least I could do was to have a sore body. But that's not enough, my head was pounding, and how could it not, if I drank about thirty liters of liquor?

—Have mercy on me, Lord —I begged in a quick whisper.

—It's a good thing you woke up, ___.

I shrieked with fright, which I later regretted because my head hurt a lot. In fact, I scared Aidan, who was next to his mother.

—I'm sorry for the scream, I just didn't see you.

—It's okay. Are you all right?

No, not at all. But what sickened me the most was not knowing what happened after I slipped, I wanted answers.

—So-so. I feel hammering in my head.

—And you have a fever too —said the twin as he gently touched my neck.

—I'll get a towel and pills.

Lauren came out with a smile on her face. Aidan and I just looked at each other in silence.

—I'll thank you for the rest of my life if you give me a little summary of what happened to me.

He sighed.

—Ryan brought you in. At first he refused to tell us what happened, but since you could tell he was really drunk it didn't take us long to get it all out of him. He said a friend of yours called him and told him that you got drunk and that you had gotten stupid. That's what he told our parents, I don't believe him. You don't have to be a fool to realize that's a falsehood.

It could be true, but I wasn't convinced. Why Ryan? The best person to talk to was my dad, not my stepbrother.

—The truth is I don't remember anything and I don't want to either, so I'll keep my doubts to myself. But thank you.

—The only thing I can tell you is that your father doesn't like you very much right now. He's angry.

—I can imagine.

Then I took a pill. I lay down for a while with a towel soaked in ice water on my forehead. I slept a little and later decided to go downstairs.

—Good morning, family —I waved from the stairs. I was still in my pajamas.

I was thankful it was Sunday, I couldn't have resisted going to class like that.

Lauren answered me from the kitchen and Aidan greeted me with a fork. He was eating fruit.

—What about Ryan?

—He's still sleeping like a baby. Talking 'bout him, could you go wake him up?

I held up my thumb, affirming.

I knocked on his door, but he didn't answer. Surely he was in the fifth sleep. I called out to him, but silence answered.

—Ryan, are you awake? Or at least you're not naked? —I seemed to be talking to the walls, so I went inside. I closed my eyes fearing the worst, but then opened them.

He was sleeping. And very soundly. But he was dressed, luckily.

—Hey, get up —I mumbled, pulling him by his jacket.

When he was conscious, he grumbled. I figured he would do that.

—What a bad way to say good morning, sis. Don't ever do that again.

We were walking out of the room when I realized Aidan was facing us.

—Mmm, you took too long. Mom says go eat —he commented in an awkward, hurried tone.

[...]

I can't decide between concern or fear to be able to explain what it was like that Ryan hadn't asked me anything about Hannah. It was strange.

—Hey... Ryan.

—What?

—Tell me what happened at the party. I don't really remember seeing you there.

He looked at me. His beautiful green eyes had a serious expression.

—Well, yes, I broke the rule about bothering your friends... But she agreed. I swear!

Let me tell you something: I wasn't surprised. So, he was the tall one wearing leather. Why didn't I think of that?

—I got it all figured out.

—Are you upset?

—Not at all.

I wanted to tell him a lot of things. I wanted to spit in his face that he was a bloody womanizer, a degenerate and insensitive to Hannah and that if he was going to make excuses that he should find credible ones. But that unpleasant feeling of discomfort I had when I saw him making out with the waitress, I felt it again.