Somebody Else - (RML fanfic)

Chapter 13

"Ahhh! Hello, Brooke!" My mom greeted, trying to sound excited.
"Hi, Mom!" I replied, with the same amount of fake enthusiasm.
The next person to meet me was Baylor. He didn't show any excitement, nor feel any. He just said hi, half-hugged me, then flopped back on the sofa. Dad and Dallas both came in at the same time. Once he saw me, Dallas opened his arms wide for a bid hug. "Brooke! Little Sissy!" He exclaimed. Perhaps he's the only one here that actually is excited about my presence. Dad greeted me lastly. The only reason he's happy I'm here is because I can tell about my travels. It sounds fake, but it's unfortunately true.

After all the greetings, we kind of all went back to doing our thing. Typical for the Minyard family. It quickly became awkward--so awkward that I was willing to use any excuse to get out of here. Thankfully, fate gave me one. Alexis called me. I left to take it without hesitation.

"Hey, Lex. What's up?" I answered.

"Hey, Brooke. Not much. Just wanted to check in."

"This is worse than I thought it would be," I confessed.

She hesitated. "....I'm sorry..." She paused again. "How long do you have to spend with them?"

"Just tonight, but I don't know if I can last that long."

"I know, girl. No offense, but your family kinda sucks," she confessed.

I rolled my eyes, but unfortunately, she didn't see it. She wasn't wrong, though. "So, anything happening that I should know about?"

"Nothing that I know of. Want me to check on how your bae is doing?"

"Hahah. Thanks, but no, I'll do it myself later."

"Now that I think about it, he hasn't mentioned Anna in a while."

"He's writing a song about her."

"Brooke, how do you know this?"

"He let me listen and asked for my opinion on it."

"Ouch..."

"Yeah.. Hey, I got to go. Talk to you later."

"Bye, Brooke."

"Bye, Alexis."

I heard my mom calling and had to hang up. Here comes more awkward family time-- it didn't feel like family time at all. It never does. It probably never will either.

Now, it was time to talk about what we've all done since the last time we were all together. We go from oldest to youngest- Dad and Mom, then Baylor, then Dallas, and since I'm the youngest, me last.

Dad had almost nothing to report given it had been almost two years. He kept making occasional trips to Philadelphia, and took a business trip to Mexico, but otherwise, not much.

With Mom, it was the same thing, except she didn't go on many trips. She doesn't like to travel, but went to Philly a few times with Dad.

Baylor got a new job, and moved to Miami. He didn't go anywhere else, but he did enjoy his accounting job in Florida.

Dallas never tried to find a job, nor went anywhere. A few months ago, he broke his arm while trying to build a house, and that's how he lost his last job as a carpenter. Since then, he moved in with his girlfriend, Rhea, also known as the only person he cares about.

Then it was my turn, and I had to tell it all. Everything I did between when I left USC and saw the world. No one cared much, though. Once again, that was a typical thing in the Minyard family. When I was asked my relationship status, I said nothing. Of course, then I had to deal with some stupid joke from my dad about how I'm "hiding something." I rolled my eyes and told them to grow up. I didn't want to explain it, and I wasn't going to, and they're just going to have to deal with that.

If things between me and Rocky had gone differently, I wouldn't have had to hide it. I could've opened up and happily explained how I had reunited with my old boyfriend and we were happy. I wouldn't regret giving him up when I left Los Angeles. There's a chance that he might even be with me right now. I could've taken to Nee York with me.

Insteadt, I'm here alone and he's Heaven knows where doing Heaven knows what. No matter where and what it was, I knew there's a chance he was probably thinking about Anna.

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A/N-
Earlier when I said this would be the next book I'll update, I didn't think it would be tonight😅 that's not the point tho.

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