Trying Hard to Ignore You

I'm tired of running.

I wake up to the sound of somebody at my door.

I vaguely remember somebody waking me up. Spencer.

The door is unlocked.

I huff, shifting my head on the pillow.

He can let himself in.

After a minute the knocking gets louder.

I get out of bed, dragging my blanket with me, wrapped around my body.

Spencer comes out of the bathroom.

If he's here, who the hell is knocking on my door?

Yawning, I open the door.

My brother and Kendall.

Rolling my eyes, I start to close the door.

Ethan just walks right in.

"Ethan, go away." I say, annoyed.

He slams two pieces of paper onto the bar.

"Stop running from everything. Stop ignoring my calls. Kendall and I leave in four hours to Australia, and you're coming with us. You're going to meet Mum and you're going to meet Emily!"

I sigh loudly.

"Ethan, fuck off." I say.

"You're coming." Kendall says.

"No I'm not!"

"I already cleared it with your boss." He says. "I told her it was a family emergency."

I glare at him and snatch up the papers on the counter, pissed.

There's two plane tickets.

I look at him.

There's another two tickets in his hand.

So who is the forth ticket for?

I open my mouth to ask, but Kendall folds her arms across her chest, looks at Spencer, and then back at me.

I look down at the tickets.

"I don't want to go back to Australia." I say.

"Just do it anyways, and bring Spencer. He's the only one that can talk sense into you these days."

"Ethan, people can't just pick up and leave their jobs." I say angrily. "People have lives. I have a life!"

He scoffs.

"It's four in the afternoon and you're burritoed in a blanket. You were sleeping. All you do is work and hang out with Spencer, and you can hang out with Spencer in Australia."

"Ethan," I start.

"Two weeks." He says. "That's all that I'm asking for." He looks at Spencer.

"I-" I cut off. "Ethan, no."

"Actually, I have a couple weeks vacation time and it runs up at the end of the semester if I don't use it, and then I just lose all that time." Spencer says quietly.

I turn around.

"And I have a passport." He adds.

"How can you guys just buy two thousand dollar plane tickets and leave?" I ask.

"We just can. Please, Audrey." Ethan begs. "We have gone through so much. I don't want to go back there without you. I can't go back there without you. Please? I'm asking here."

I study my brother's face for a long time, and then I give in.

"Fine." I say.

***