Effortless

Eight

It was about nine o'clock at night and I had just gotten home. I didn't want to bother Alex and Killian about the fact that I didn't have a ride home because they had already been so nice to me. I didn't want to bother them anymore. So, I opted for walking, it wasn't like I wasn't used to it.

I had managed to sneak past my aunt who was asleep on the couch. She tended to sleep there but I never knew the reason why. Maybe it was more comfortable than her bed.

I made it into my bedroom where Easton and Emerson were. They were both startled to see me.

"You owe me twenty dollars, Easton." Emerson said as a smile crept onto her face.

"Dammit, why do you always win the bets?" Easton groaned.

My sister shrugged in response. She then looked at me as I awaited the explanation of the bet they were talking about. "Easton bet me twenty bucks that you weren't coming back, but I knew you were. Thanks for that. Elias."

"I live here." I mumbled as I gathered my things for my shower. "Where else do I have to go?"

Neither of them responded, they had decided the conversation was over. I should have left it at that, I should have gotten in the shower and went to bed. But no, that wasn't what I did because I didn't know how to leave things alone. I always had to say something that I shouldn't. My mouth always got me in trouble.

"I'm surprised you two noticed that I left." I said. I refused to make eye contact with my siblings.

Emerson scoffed. "The whole school watched you run out of the gym bawling your eyes out, how wouldn't we notice? Do you know how embarrassing that was for Easton and me?"

Embarrassing for you? What about how embarrassing it was for me?

"Easton and I." I mumbled the correction to my sister's grammar.

She rolled her eyes. "Guess who doesn't care? Me."

Sometimes I felt bad for my brother and sister. It must get tiring constantly having to come up with new insults and ways to offend me. I often wondered what our lives would have been like if both of our parents were still alive. Would my siblings and I be close? Would we talk about things that we couldn't tell anyone else? Would they still hold a lifetime grudge against me?

Would I drink as much as I currently do?

I would be lying if I said that my siblings' coldness toward me didn't still hurt. It was all they had ever been to me so one would think that I would be used to it by now. I learned how to let it go a long time ago, but it still got to me sometimes.

"Macy's pissed that you ditched school in the middle of the day. Good work." Easton said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Not very 4.0 student of you."

I didn't care that my aunt was upset. She was always upset. I had gathered up everything that I needed for my shower and was about to walk into the bathroom, but Easton decided to continue talking. "If the guy who won today had lost instead of you, I doubt he would have ran out of the gym in tears"

"Fuck him." I gritted through my teeth. My anger may have been misplaced because it was not Javier's fault that he won. I simply needed someone to be angry at.

"Imagine hating someone just because they're better than you." Emerson said as she shook her head in disapproval.

"Imagine being a shitty sister." I retorted.

Emerson looked at me, flabbergasted. Easton whipped his head around so fast he could have gotten whiplash.

"Me? A shitty sister?" Emerson stood up angrily, she could not believe what I had called her. "I do so much for your ungrateful ass!"