Beyond The Final Whistle

𝟯𝟱: 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗔 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗢𝗡𝗘'𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧?

Alex stared at his phone as he dropped it onto his bed, the screen still glowing faintly from his last message. He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling. Mara was sitting cross-legged on the floor, fiddling with the remote control to the TV.

"Well?" she asked without looking up.

Alex sighed. "I don't know why you talked me into texting her so soon."

Mara snorted. "Dude, you kissed her."

"I know that," Alex muttered, flopping onto his back. "But it's too soon. I don't even know what I'm doing right now."

Mara tossed the remote onto the bed and leaned back on her palms, raising an eyebrow. "You don't? You literally kissed her. That's kind of a big move. Bigger than texting, don't you think?"

Alex groaned. "I mean, it's been, like, two days. What if I'm rushing into this? What if she doesn't want to talk to me right now? What if she regrets it?"

Mara smirked. "You're overthinking, as usual. She doesn't regret it, trust me. Girls don't kiss guys they regret kissing. At least, not right away."

Before Alex could respond, the door to his room swung open with a bang, and Zara and Dara, the first and last of the triplets, tumbled in, mid-argument.

"I'm telling you, it's not a spoiler if it's in the trailer!" Zara huffed, pointing at Dara, who rolled her eyes dramatically.

"That's not how it works! You can't just—oh hey, Alex," Dara said, barely pausing as she turned to her brother. "Mara, you in here too? Cool. Anyway, Zara, you can't ruin a movie for me and then pretend like it's not your fault!"

Zara threw her hands up. "It was in the trailer! If you didn't want to know, then don't watch trailers!"

Alex blinked at them, bewildered. "Uh, hello? What just happened in my room?"

Mara gave him a sideways glance and grinned. "Don't mind them. They've been doing this all afternoon."

Zara finally noticed Alex on the bed and flopped down next to him, rolling onto her side to face him. "Alex, settle this. Is it a spoiler if it's in the trailer?"

Alex looked at her, then Dara, then back at Zara. "I mean... isn't the point of a trailer to give stuff away? So, no?"

Dara groaned, throwing herself into the armchair by the desk. "Traitors. All of you."

"Sorry, Dar," Alex said, smirking. "But I gotta side with Zara on this one. Trailers are literally designed to spoil things."

Zara high-fived him, while Mara shook her head with a mock sigh of disappointment. "This family. I swear, logic went out the window the day we were born."

Dara pointed an accusing finger. "That's because you were born in the middle. You're more like the disruptor of the natural balance."

"I'm the best part of the triplets and you know it," Mara shot back, smirking.

Alex leaned up on his elbows, watching the banter flow around him like a warm breeze. It felt so familiar, so easy, but then his mind wandered, just for a second, back to Rianna. Guilt settled in his chest, heavy and uncomfortable. He'd told her, hadn't he? He'd been honest about how he felt about Simi from the beginning. But still... Rianna didn't deserve to be blindsided like this. He needed to find a way to talk to her, to break up gently, without hurting her more than necessary.

But how? Was there ever a right way to break someone's heart?

Mara's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Alex, hey! Where'd you go?" She was standing over him now, hands on her hips. "Don't start brooding on us."

"I'm not brooding," Alex said defensively, though he knew full well he was. "I was just—"

"Thinking about Rianna?" Mara's voice was softer now, more understanding.

Alex sighed and sat up fully. "Yeah. I need to figure out how to talk to her about all this."

Zara raised an eyebrow, sensing the shift in the room. "Wait, are we talking breakup conversation or I-did-something-stupid conversation?"

"Breakup," Alex muttered.

Dara winced from her spot in the armchair. "Omo. That's rough."

"Tell me about it," Alex muttered, rubbing his face.

But before the guilt could settle in again, Mara nudged him with her foot. "Hey, don't worry about that right now. You'll figure it out when the time comes. Besides," she added with a mischievous grin, "we were just about to discuss who between the three of us is Mom's favorite. Spoiler alert: it's me."

Alex couldn't help but laugh as Zara and Dara immediately launched into arguments as to why they were the favorites, the noise escalating as the triplets playfully bickered.

"Okay, no way," Zara said, waving her hands. "Mom definitely likes me best. I'm literally the firstborn. The original."

Dara groaned, "Oh please. You're the prototype. I'm the final product."

Zara gasped dramatically, clutching her chest. "How dare you? The audacity!"

Mara shrugged, crossing her arms. "Final product, huh? So you're saying they had to keep tweaking it because they didn't get it right the first time."

Zara grinned, leaning back into the pillows. "Exactly. Thank you."

Dara threw a pillow at her, which Zara caught and tossed back, and soon all three were laughing again. Alex smiled, the tension easing from his shoulders as he watched them. It was ridiculous how easily they could distract him, how effortlessly they pulled him back into their world of harmless bickering and inside jokes.

For a moment, just a brief moment, Alex let himself forget about Rianna, forget about the complications with Simi. He let himself laugh with his sisters, leaning into the chaos.

But Mara, ever the observant one, noticed the flicker of something still lingering in Alex's eyes. She gave him a small nudge again, this time gentler. "Hey, you okay?" she asked quietly, under the din of Zara and Dara's bickering.

Alex met her gaze, gave a half-smile, and nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

Mara grinned. "Good. Now, stop being the moody, thinkers-corner and join the debate. Who's Mom's favorite, Alex?"

Alex chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh, definitely me. You guys are just supporting characters."

Zara and Dara both gasped, and before Alex could react, they lunged at him, grabbing pillows and launching into an all-out sibling pillow war. The room filled with laughter, the noise drowning out any lingering worries.

For now, Alex thought, as he dodged another swing, he could let himself stay in this moment. He could figure everything else out later.

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