Choosing 13 | Johnny Kavanagh

chapter forty two

Lilia

Three hours later and I'm still in my little brother's makeshift bedroom, trying to help him to sleep.
For the past two weeks, Jack has been having these horrible nightmares that wakes the house up, crying for hours and not getting enough sleep. So much so, Trish decided to keep him off from school.

On top of that, Jack won't tell us what his nightmares are about, we know it's something about Mum because he calls 'Mama' when he's sleeping, but we don't know what is happening.
At first Carden tried to get our baby brother to go to sleep, but failed horribly, so that is why I'm here, sitting  at the side of Jacks' mattress because his bed frame hasn't arrived yet.

"Do you remember when we had to sleep like this?" I say, hoping that talking about something will tire him out.
He giggles boyishly, snuggling the blue teddy bear that Aoife won for him when we went to the fair last weekend. "Harvey silly."

I nod big, chuckling with him, "Harvey was silly, wasn't he?" I agree, rolling my eyes, making my little brother laugh. "He built the bed frame all wrong and was too lazy to undo it. Silly boy."

Jack covers his face with his hands, shaking his head, "Arden not silly though."
"No?" I tilt my head left.
Again, Jack shakes his head, "I like him."
My heart melts at his words, a full smile on my lips. "How about me?" I frown playfully, tickling him.

"Ili! Ili!" High pitch screeching fills the room, as Jack squirms back, getting away from me. "Okay, okay. I like you too."
I 'cock a brow at him, "more than Harvey?"

Jack gives a quick nod.
"More than Carden?" I tease.
Jack hesitates, making me gasp and him giggle.

"Jacks Blake," I jokingly scold, "you little shit," we both laugh more.
"He makes me pancakes," he says quickly.
And you fucking left him.
I close my eyes for a moment, before coming back into the room.

I chuckle softly, coming closer to the mattress and hugging him tightly. "Fair enough," I sigh contentedly, "can we sleep now?"
Jack yawns loudly, but he shakes his head, "I don't want sleep."

And I know why, he doesn't want to see whatever he is seeing in his sleep.

I swallow the lump in my throat, "you need sleep Jack," I say softly, squeezing him tighter, "Trish can't let you go to school if you are tired."

"I want go school," Jack frowns at the ceiling, "I miss Leo."
Leaning my elbow on the mattress, I rest my chin on my palm, "oh yeah? Who's Leo?"

His face lights up, "my friend in school."
"Yeah?" I smile brightly, "go to sleep then, so you can see him tomorrow?"
His eyes slowly grew sleepy, and in half an hour, he was asleep.

I slowly stand up and turn off his night light, before slipping out of the room, letting the door lean on my ass to close it quickly.

I take the stairs down to the kitchen, "he's asleep," I say triumphantly.
They all look up from what they were doing, Trish smiles hopeful, Kevin gives me a nod and Carden and Briar clap for me.

"Thank fuck," Carden cheers, shaking his head.
Briar points her knife at her, as I sit down on the opposite side of the table. "What did you do?"

"It's 'what did you give him?', baby," Carden snorts, in hand, he's peeling potatoes while Briar cuts them up.
Trish catches on with what my dick brother was implying, and gasps, "Lilie would never!" she says in horror, emptying a pot of water in the sink.

Carden raises his eyebrows at me, a cocky smile on his lips, "wouldn't put it past her." And it fucking hurts, him not knowing about the drugs I have been taking.

I'm surprised that he hasn't found out yet, I asked him to borrow a fiver and didn't blink an eye.
Hate that he has trust in me...
I bat my lashes, "yeah brother, I would never."

Carden flips his middle finger at me.
The front door squeaks open and slam shut, seconds later, Aoife Molloy and my twin brother are walking into the kitchen, Harvey goes straight to the kitchen, Aoife sits on the counter next to the fridge.

"Oh shit, little brother knows how to come home," I muse, tucking my heels to my ass.
Harvey spins around with a coke in his hand, "and big sister knows how to socialise," he says in the same tone, "looks like we both learned something."

We both stick our tongues out, giving each other a glare.
Trish chuckles at the both of us, "you two..." she shakes her head, "how was dinner?"

Aoife nods with a massive grin on her face, "so much fun!" Her eyes are so full of energy that it makes me feel happy for my brother, "Podge's parents rented out this bouncy..."
My phone beeps, actually spams, catching my attention.

winx club (testo version)

moody ass: LILS
moody ass: THE CLOSEST PARTY NOWWWW
princessa: no
moody ass: you know what its for
princessa: i don't have to know
moody ass: HUSH HUSH
moody ass: you deserve it mama
🎧: for once i agree with liz
moody ass: you don't agree with me cause you're boring
🎧: i hope you get bitten by that viper everyone talks about
moody ass: libby you love me
🎧: barely
antisocial: we could go to the christmas party
moody ass: YES! we could get boned by hot santas
🎧: LIZZIE 😭😭
antisocial: i'm so scared rn
moody ass: why? 🤭
princessa: psycho
no show: i thought we already established that?
moody ass: bite me

Getting another notification, I click off our group chat and see a text from Johnny.

rich boy: can you come over and do the project?

I smirk.

princess: only if we get food

"What are you smiling at?" Harvey sets carrots on a cutting board in front of me, Aoife puts down chicken in front of them.

"Liz being weird," I lie through a smile, picking up the knife and pause, "what do you want me to do?"

Trish glances at me, "can you cut them into squares, lovely."
I nod, everyone getting to work.

And this is the most domain and calmest situation I've been in with my brothers.
To my surprise, I don't totally hate it.