Wounded; A Brallie Fan Fiction *EDITING*

Chapter Eighteen: Like Father Like Daughter

Brandon's POV
It was months ago when Callie's sister, Sophia, ripped up the papers that would give us consent to adopt her. Callie was heart-broken, especially after their father said he wouldn't sign them again. And Moms had been overly-affected by it too. Lena was devastated; Mom, on the other hand, was furious.

So for the three of them to be so harmonized when Robert called and asked if he and Sophia could join us for dinner, it seemed a little odd.

"But isn't it a little weird for him to ask himself over the day after Callie gets out of the hospital?" I had asked sternly, about six hours ago.

"Brandon," Lena's voice had been understanding, and heavy with more authority than usual. "We can't do anything to upset Robert right now, and if we say no tonight he'll jump to the conclusion that we're keeping him from Callie."

"Why?" I asked angrily. "You are her parents. Why should he have a say? Why can't he just take his big house and his spoiled other daughter and shove them right up his hairy-"

"Who are you talking about?" Callie asked from behind me, sounding amused, as she entered the kitchen and grabbed an apple.

"Jesus," I said, smacking my lips together.

"Anyway," Mom said suddenly, changing the subject before it was misinterpreted. "Callie, is your father bring Jill tonight?"

"I don't think so," Callie shrugged, and then took another bite out of the pastel colored apple. "I'm pretty sure they're still separated."

"So then that's nine plates . . ." Mom muttered sickly under her breath. "We're gonna need a bigger kitchen . . ."

Callie hoisted herself, almost effortlessly, onto the kicked counter and dangled her legs as she chewed on her apple. I went and stood by her, and she smiling longingly at me. I put my hand on her thigh and stared back at her.

Lena cleared her throat, and looked at us with bug eyes, as if this wasn't allowed.

"Drop the habbit," Lena snapped coldly. "Remember; as far as the Quinn's are concerned, you two are brother and sister and that is it."

"Well . . ." Callie said cautiously as she swallowed. She glanced at me and then looked back at our Moms. "Sophia . . . She kind of already knows."

"What?!" Lena barked.

Callie held her hands up in a terrified surrender. It was so rarely that Lena was the Momster in the house, but when she was, it was horrifying.

"I'm sorry!" Callie insisted. "But she is my sister, and she asked, and . . . No lying, right?"

Lena rolled her eyes and propped her hip with her arms crossed over her chest. "Callie. Sophia is attached to you. She is the one who ripped up the papers. If she comes here tonight and sees you in this home, she's gonna get jealous. Don't you think she'll do anything she can to remove you from it?"

"I'll talk to her," Callie said quickly as she stared into her apple. "It'll be fine."

"Nine people . . ." Mom whispered under her breath.

"We could just eat outside," I suggested. And cook Robert and Sophia for dinner.

As mom mentally visioned dinner in the backyard, Callie shot me a look of concern. She could see how bitter I was, but I wasn't sure if she knew it was due to Robert and Sophia being here.

Maybe Sophia and I were a lot alike. Maybe we were both just so afraid of losing Callie that we'd do anything to have her with us, despite anybody's else's feelings. Maybe we were both just envious little brats under these fragile circumstances.

***

Outside, the wind was blowing in slight, and beyond the horizon, the sun was setting just over a standstill of trees that fenced our yard. We sat at a long, plastic fold-up table in plastic chairs that had been hiding in the garage since Callie's birthday party.

Moms insisted that Callie and I sit as far away from each other as possible, that we don't glance at each other or even speak to each other while the Quinn's are here. And since nobody ever asks how Brandon feels, I kept the insignificance of whatever would come out of my mouth to myself. I knew, I knew in the parts of me I hated, that they were right. We were walking on very thin ice with Callie's selfish little sister enough as it was, and we couldn't do anything that would cause us to fall right through.

But it sucked. I hated that Callie and I couldn't be exclusive. I hated that I couldn't grab her and kiss the very life out of her in front of her family, at school, or in front of other families. I hated that if I showed her off, it would break not only us, but our entire family apart.

"Where's the salt?" Mariana asked, her eyes searching the table.

"You eat way too much salt," Jesus said as he shoved half a hot dog in his mouth. Since we were eating outside, we'd decided to make it a barbecue, which didn't seem to fit Robert's suit and Sophia's navy blue blazer too perfectly.

"And you eat way too much . . . Panda-Umbrella-Soccer-Straw-Yankees." Mariana shot back cleverly.

Moms and Robert furrowed their eyebrows in confusion, but the rest of us scoffed discretely, even Sophia and Jude.

"True," Jesus smiled proudly and bounced his eyebrows at Sophia, though luckily Robert didn't see.

"Hay-soose!" Callie exclaimed, stunned.

"I'm kidding," he laughed.

"I wonder if our parents were this confused when we were their age." Robert commented blissfully.

Mom smirked fakely as she spotted the salt. "Callie, there it is. Pass your sister the salt, will you?"

And with that, Callie casually passed Mariana the salt, without giving thought to which sister, and Sophia cringed uncomfortably. I smiled to myself.