Bex

Chapter 17:

"Let's play princess!" Riley said, jumping up and down. "Axel, you're gonna play too, right?" She looked up at him with innocent, hopeful eyes.

"Uhh," He looked like a deer in headlights- I had to hold back my laughter- but he eventually caved. "Alright, I'll play."

We went into the family room. It was furnished with a matching white La-Z-Boy couch and chairs. A flat screen was suspended on the wall across from the couch. Axel pushed back the coffee table for Riley at her request that she needed space. Me and Axel sat down next to each other on the couch.

"Don't move!" She pointed a demanding finger at us. "I need to go get the costumes." She smiled, turning on her heel and leaving the room.

"Not the costumes again!" Axel groaned, stretching out on the couch, and me.

I laughed, and tried to shove him back in a sitting position. "Get off of me." I complained.

"You won't be saying that later." He winked up at me, his head still in my lap.

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. He sat up when Riley came bobbing back into the room with a cardboard box almost as big as her in her tiny arms. She set it down on the ground and started to rifle through it; on the side the words, Riley's Box, was written in purple marker. She beamed, handing me a tiara with pink fluffy lining. She gave Axel a matching one, too. I tried to hold back my laugh as he quickly covered up his distaste with a smile. Riley put on the biggest tiara.

She scrutinized Axel, cocking her head to the side while wrinkling her nose, making her look like a bunny. "Something's missing." After a minute her eyes went wide with an idea. She pulled a pink boa from the box and wrapped it around Axel's neck. "There!"

"How do I look?" Axel pouted his lips and tilted his head up like a model.

"Absolutely radiant!" I held my stomach I was laughing so hard; Axel sent me a glare.

"You can be the queen," Riley told me. "And Axel can be your king. I'll be the princess!"

I glanced at Axel to find him looking at me with a smirk. I rolled my eyes again, but I could feel my flush creep all of the way down to my toes. I was the one to look away first.

"What's first on the agenda, princess?" Axel asked in a mockingly formal tone. "A stroll around the gardens? Horseback riding?"

"No! It's time for a tea party!" She clapped her hands together. She pulled a tea set from the box, and we helped set it up on the floor. We all ended up sitting in a circle around the china tea set. "One lump of sugar or two?" She asked Axel.

  "Oh, why not six? I'm feeling adventurous today." He held up the comically tiny cup towards his sister, and she put invisible cubes of sugar in his 'tea'.

  I laughed watching them. His and her head was bent closer together making up fake gossip. It was funny but mostly sweet watching Axel go along with her demands. The boa and tiara was a stark contrast to his usual leather clad look. The tiara was tilted slightly in his messy black hair; Axel had taken off his- Tyler's- blazer and tie, but he was left in the white button down, the pink boa wrapped around his neck in a loop.

  Just by the way he watched her every move and obliged to her requests- no matter how embarrassing they were- you would be ignorant to mess with her. She had him wrapped around her tiny pink finger, and he knew it too.

  We played for hours. It was nice. I always wanted a sister and to do all the girly sisterly stuff that came with having one. But it wasn't as if I didn't like having a brother, I do. Tyler and I use to be so close. I could tell him almost anything; when mom and dad were gone on long business trips, we were able to make the most out of it. Just the two of us. For the longest time it's just been the two of us, sticking together while mom and dad ran their company.