The Orphan Club

The Wedding: Closeness

Matty and Macy are still not back when I get home. Liam is also not home, so for the next hour, it's just me with my thoughts. I take the plan b that I rushed to get after my second lunch with Eddie and clean up the kitchen from the first lunch. Meanwhile, my mind wanders from the conversation I had with Eddie, to what Matty and Macy were up to now.

After I texted Matty that I was back home and I had taken the pill, he seemed less concerned and stopped bothering me. Now with all his issues resolved, I guess he can concentrate on getting Macy to fall in love with him.

Liam is the first one to come home.

"Hello, trader!" He greets me.

"Hello," I say from the couch. I am now watching dumb Instagram reels to get my mind to focus on anything other than Matty and Macy. Why am I so bothered by something that I've been pushing? Maybe it was the pill. It does mess with your hormones, apparently.

"Just ran into Matty and Macy downstairs." He sits down next to me and peeks over at my phone where a nurse is washing a baby's head, and the baby is giggling—very cutely I might add—as the water wets his or her hair.

"Oh yeah? What were they up to?" I ask, trying to sound uninterested.

"I don't know. Didn't ask. They were sitting on the ledges in front of your building, deep in conversation." Probably figuring out how many times Matty can visit Ohio. "I think he won this one. All because he has you by his side." Ouch. It hurts for some reason, but it shouldn't. This is a good thing.

"Right! I am a useful tool!"

"Tool is right!" He says taking the phone from me. "Stop wasting your time on your phone and pick a place for tonight. Hopefully a club with a lot of hot girls. It's your turn to hook me up now." He moves my phone from one hand to the other when I try to grab it. I keep trying until he falls backward on the couch, and takes me down with him. I am now on top of him, still reaching for my phone. Man, I have to stop ending up horizontal with these brothers. "I didn't mean you, but if you're volunteering, I won't complain." He holds me down, very lightly, with a hand on my back. If I told my high school self that one day Liam and I would be lying together as we are now, she would have fainted with excitement. She would have also fainted if I told her all the other times Liam had been there for us.

I pinch the side of his stomach, and he lets go of my phone. I grab it, still in his hold. "Sorry shops closed at the end." I snark at him. Except it was open for your brother last night for a bit. Liam doesn't let me go.

"Don't say that Rob! You'll find someone worthy of your time too. Don't let one experience color your opinions about love." Liam genuinely says. I can't help but laugh in his face. I am pretty sure I saw several drops of my spit land on him.

"You are such a dork!" I say, snapping my fingers in front of his face so this pitying stare he is giving me goes away.

I then hear the front door open and see Macy walk in, with Matty's hoodie on. A ping of jealousy knocks my chest. Then Matty enters.

"What's going on here?" Macy asks.

"High school fantasy coming true Rob?" Matty asks. I get off of Liam.

"No! He was just being an ass and grabbed my phone. I was trying to get it back."

"Hey Liam, can I talk to you for a bit?" Macy quietly asks.

"Here we go," Liam whispers to me. "Sure." He says to Macy.

They both disappear into one of their rooms and Matty replaces Liam

"Looks like things went well?"

"Yeah, but enough about that. What happened with that Eddie guy? You seemed shocked when you saw him."