The Shadow's Secret│TMNT

32 || A Half-Truth

Olivia didn't handle the first scary scene very well. Or the second one. About half-way through, she finally seemed to clue in and decided to remain under her blanket for the rest of the movie. I didn't mind it though. In fact, I thought it was awesome! I don't know why, but I'd always loved horror movies. Olivia used to like watching them with me until she started having constant nightmare from Insidious 3, and ever since she's been getting more and more into romantic and feel-good movies and has refused to watch anything scary.

When the credits started rolling, I turned to Olivia excitedly. "Let's watch the second one now!" She slowly pulled the blanket off of her face, revealing a death glare that only broadened my grin.

"You knew the whole time, didn't you?" She demanded and I shrugged.

"Mmmmaybe."

"Emmalyn Raiya Carter!" Liv swatted my arm. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

I laughed and moved out of her range. "I can't believe you had five heart attacks in less than an hour."

She harrumphed and crossed her arms. "It wasn't my fault that I had no idea it was a horror movie!" She cried.

"Well it was your idea to watch it, not mine. Technically I'm innocent." I grinned and picked a strawberry from our fruit plate sitting on the coffee table in front of us.

"I'm mad at you," she stated.

I rolled my eyes. "Alrighty then, Liv. You can pick the movie tomorrow or something."

"Oh! I forgot to tell you that I'm hanging out with Andy tomorrow!" She announced, all her previous anger seemingly disappearing.

"Really?" I asked, grabbing another strawberry. These are really good.

"Yeah! He texted me today and asked if I wanted to do something tomorrow, so we're going to the modern art museum, then maybe the botanic garden."

I raised my eyebrows. "Wow."

"I know I'm so excited!" The dopiest grin I'd ever seen on my sister took over her face.

I laughed and shook my head. "Jeez, you really like this guy, huh?"

"Raiy," she said, her tone lowering to a serious one, "I know it's only been a few days, but... I really, really like him."

Andy really makes her happy... As much as I disliked mushy, romance things, I couldn't help the squeal that escaped my grinning lips. "Awww! I'm so happy he broke his leg and you guys met!" I threw my arms around her happily, despite my hugging hatred.

"I know! Me too!" She bounced with joy and hugged me back. Then I remembered the shit aspect of having a boyfriend and I pulled away to look at her rather fiercely.

"If he breaks your heart I'm gonna drop kick him to China," I promised, making her laugh.

"Thanks, Raiy."

"Anytime. I'd never miss a chance like that."

"I know." She chuckled, taking a strawberry for herself. I bit my lip, trying to decide if I should ask her for help or not.

"...Hey Liv?" I started hesitantly. She turned to me. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She settled herself so she faced me better.

"Okay... you promise you won't be mad?" I confirmed, a bit nervous and hoping she wouldn't be too mad at me for keeping it a secret. Liv looked at me confusedly and a bit worried, but nodded anyways. I took a deep breath and continued. "Okay, well my first day working at the zoo I met this guy–"

"AHHHHH!" She yelled and tackled me in a hug faster than the speed of light. "HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TOLD ME!? WHEN CAN I MEET HIM!? IS HE CUTE!? WHAT'S HIS NAME!?"

"Liv! Chill out and let me finish!" I tried to sound serious but I could hear the amusement in my own voice.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." She released her grasp on me and backed away. "Keep talking."

"Okay, so I met this guy my first day at the zoo. His name is Raphael, he's super hot but of course he's a total hot-head and has awful social skills. The thing is, he hates the world and thinks he has to keep up this tough guy act all the time, but he's really just a total softie. And... his brother told me that I'm the only one he's ever opened up to. But sometimes when he opens up to me, he gets mad that he's showing weakness and masks it by lashing out at me. And... I just don't know how to deal with it. I mean he's so sweet sometimes and I really like being around him because we always have fun, but what do I do? His brother said that he heard Raph talking to himself recently, rehearsing an apology, but I haven't heard it yet."

"Do you like him?" She asked, grinning like an idiot. I sighed and shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know..."

Her grin said that she knew something I didn't. "Well, if you know he's trying to apologize to you and that he doesn't like showing weakness or whatever, then I would just give him time and let him decide if he wants to apologize or not. Because if he's not willing to keep things afloat and fix his mistakes, then he's not going to be worth it in the end."

I nodded thoughtfully. That makes perfect sense. "Okay, thanks Liv." I smiled gratefully at her.

"Aww, anytime sis. I wish you'd ask for relationship advice more often." She played with the ends of her blonde hair absentmindedly.

I snorted. "I wish I didn't have to at all."

"Wait," she frowned suspiciously, "how do you even have time to hang out with this guy so much?"

"Oh, well the first day he asked me when I work so he could be there every time I am, then we exchanged numbers. Plus, my break is pretty long and I usually have a lot of downtime."

"Do you ever work?" She asked incredulously.

"My kind of work involves tolerating dumb questions and telling children to stop banging on all the glass enclosures," I muttered, annoyed just by thinking about it.

She grinned. "Makes you love kids, huh?"

"Yep, I think I'm gonna have a million little monsters of my own."

She laughed. "What does your hottie think of that?" I knitted my eyebrows together in thought.

What does he think of kids? Probably nothing good thanks to Mikey. I shrugged. "I have no idea..." Then I frowned. "Wait. My hottie?"

"Yeah," Olivia laughed as if it were a normal thing that I should be cool with, "he is yours, don't you think? Sounds like you two are pretty close. I think you got him snagged." She claimed the last strawberry from the plate and leaned back against the couch.

"I–I don't know," I admitted. I've never 'had a hottie' before... I don't even know what that means.

"Well, keep me updated on this guy," she said, standing from the couch and picking up the empty fruit plate, "I wanna know aaaall about him!" Her voice drifted away with her as she retreated to the kitchen. I bit my lip nervously.

Maybe I shouldn't have told her about Raph. But how can it hurt!? She thinks he's a human! Oh shoot, she'll wanna meet him then. I ran my fingers through my hair and held back a groan.

It's okay, the turtles don't have to know...

AN: Apologies for the short chapter, but the next one is hella long and hella fuckin cute sooo ya.

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