The Aristocrat

They call it past no more

Friday 13th

On Friday night at the Outset bar we all regrouped for drinks to celebrate our first two weeks back at school. Not all of us were there though. Victoria and Hugo's lack of a presence dangled in the air around us, the elephant in the room. We'd invited my brothers to join us but even with the extra numbers it still felt wrong.

Fleur obviously thought so too, she sat quiet beside me texting Victoria. I pondered over asking her to re-invite Vic but knew it would be a useless. She and Hugo would only refuse, not willing to see Ivy until she apologised.

But apologising seemed the furthest thing from Ivy's mind. She stood at the bar on the opposite side of the roof. Treading on her tiptoes and leaning up, she whispered something into the ear of the attractive male bartender. As she pulled away, giggles erupted from her red painted lips.

I watched her as she flirted up a storm, only tearing myself away when Oliver called out my name. Cluelessly I stared at him, a questioning expression written into my face, "Huh?"

"I said are you still ok to go out to dinner with me and Grace tomorrow?" he asked. I remembered him briefly mentioning it to me the other day after I'd nagged at him for not letting me officially meet his new girlfriend.

Knowing that this would be a rare occasion, my head nodded instantly, "Course."

"Ok, good," Oliver smiled, "She's really looking forward to it."

"So am I," I grinned, barely containing my excitement. I wouldn't deny how relieved I was for him, he seemed to be doing so much better with her around. Anyone who made my brother that happy, I had to know.

Caspian, who sat to the right of his twin, couldn't resist butting into the conversation, "I'd like to know why I haven't been extended an invite."

My eyes went to him from Ollie. He sat in the middle of the sofa, squashed in between his brother and Chester. We had all noticed that there was enough room around the table for him to sit somewhere comfortably but we'd kept our mouths shut for the simple fact being that he'd sat there to be next to Chester.

The two were pressed closely together. They'd been making discreet gestures towards each other all night, touching each other's arm when they laughed, nudging their shoulders together. No one else might have taken detected it but I did.

Ollie, who had been texting on his phone for a lot of the night, definitely hadn't bothered with noticing. But now he finally angled himself sideways and acknowledged his brother, "You're not invited because you humiliate me enough around her already."

"I do not humiliate you," Caspian scoffed, attempting to feign innocence. We all knew he was the furthest thing from innocent.

"When I brought her home the other night," Ollie began to point out, reminding Caspian, "You kept telling her about me wetting the bed when I was a kid."

Me and my friends watched on as my two brothers bickered, a regular occurrence for them. It was actually quite amusing. And unlike Victoria and Ivy's squabbling, there was no spite or malice behind the boy's words.

"Because you did," Caspian insisted, shrugging himself further into the back of the sofa and Chester's arm, "I thought she ought to know if she's sleeping in your bed."

"That reminds me. Another thing," Ollie's fuse blew, his hands wailing around as he spoke angrily to his brother, "You keep walking in on us without knocking."

"What's wrong with that?" Caspian questioned, completely aware of the frustration he was brewing inside Oliver. If anything, it only egged him on, "It's not my fault that you two can't sto –."