Adrenaline Sisters: Raise the White Flag

Chapter 5: My Mind's a Kaleidoscope, It Thinks Too Fast

||First Person||Revolution||

"Anyone else think that Pete is trying to make a move on my sister?"

I blurt out the statement suddenly, my gaze still trained on my niece, who has now sat down and resumed building a block tower while humming a tune that I could barely recognize. I hear someone choke and sputter at my declaration, causing me to turn around curiously to figure out who it is. A smirk curls my lips up at the edges when I see that it's Ray, who is cupping a hand over his grin. He's sitting on the couch, a magazine that I caught Frank reading earlier in his lap, with Andy, Party, and Kobra sitting in various positions near him.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Ghoul chuckles easily, tucking a piece of the black hair that has now seemed to overgrow back to its' previous length behind his ear. His gaze averts to Party, who is sitting back against the couch and seemingly staring into space. He came back from his Run a couple of minutes after Bomb, Pete, and Andy did. Zone Runs are always exhausting.

"I guess I'll just have to ask her then." I say decidedly.

"Not a good idea," Ray points out.

"And why is that?" I question him.

"Patrick." He shrugs his shoulders as if to make light of his statement, but it's still very obvious that that name in itself brings chills to everyone. I bite my bottom lip and look down, turning back to Jo. She looks up and over at me with wide eyes and a cute smile, unaware that the conversation has changed to that of her father. She continues playing without any notion that something is wrong.

"What about that asshole?" I ask him, my words trembling with anger as I recall the man that I always told my sister to stay away from.

"He's Bomb's ex and Pete's best friend...?" Ray responds carefully, treading on the line nervously.

"I still don't like Pete." I mumble under my breath, clenching my fists . I hear a beautiful laugh in response to my declaration. I glance backwards and see Mikey, his head tilted back as he clutches his stomach. The chuckle resonates throughout the very core of his being, sending shivers down my spine when I remember how much I pined to extract that sound from him whenever I could.

"When was the last time you liked anyone?" He says between a pause for breath. I narrow my eyes at him and glare. I know that he doesn't mean it the particular way that I took it, but I can't help but think that the last time I liked anyone, he broke my heart.

"Maybe I'd like people more if they didn't have a habit of letting me down all the time." I retort, narrowing my eyes at him. The grin on Mikey's face falters as my words wash over him.

"That's harsh," Andy chuckles uneasily as he looks over at Kobra. "You should write an apology letter." He tells him.

"Maybe if I was sure she would actually read it and not shove it down my throat," Kobra looks over at me with a raised eyebrow, to which I pleasantly flip my middle finger up at him to show that I don't appreciate his smart ass response. "See?" he says, glancing back at the Defender with a reproachful expression. I feel something in my chest tug when I see the frown on his face, and something in my head tells me that I shouldn't be so hard on Mikey.

"Be nice, Rev." Party chides me. I groan at him, the forgiving thoughts in my head dispersing instantly. It's unnerving to me how quickly I can find myself back when I first met all of these people; back when I was naive and scared and Mikey was the closest thing I had to solace next to my sister. Kobra's gaze shifts to that of his brother, and then he finally looks back at me and I can feel my throat closing up again and my stomach coiling. I turn away from him.

"Like I said— I'm not a kid." I tell Gerard snarkily, who only rolls his eyes as he rubs his fingers against his temple. Party Poison always seems to find himself having to put me in check these days, and I can tell that it's beginning to bother him more than it usually does. The recklessness of the group in the past has seriously aged him mentally— I don't think I've actually seen him sleep peacefully for one night without the psychological weight of his brother and my sister's baby sitting on his shoulders.