A Squeeze of the Hand

Cookies and Tourney and Healing Oh My!

A/N: Hope you like it! I can't tell you how long it took to write. Also posting a new chapter on another story of mine based on Lab Rats sometime today (or tmrw morning) let me know if you like it.
Chapter 3

When she returns to her room after classes the next day, her twin is waiting there for her. His arms are crossed in front of his chest and his face harbors a scowl.

"Hi, dear brother. To what do I owe the pleasure this time?" Raphaela asks pretending to be oblivious to her brother's anger which rolls off him in waves.

"I have half a mind to tell mom and dad," he warns.

"Well, considering I have the other half, I'm glad to see it wasn't done."

"El," he says using her nickname to get her attention, "This is serious, please act like so."

"W-Well-Well, you stop acting like a butt face," she says calling him by the nickname she gave him.

He steps forward and no longer can she pretend away his serious nature, "I forbid you from seeing them."

"You can't do that!" she claims.

"I'm your older brother. Mom and dad trust me to watch over you," reminds he.

"Oh, please! You're 20 minutes older. Anyway go ahead! Tell mom and dad because something tells me they would actually like them. They remind me of the people in Dad's stories."

"Half his stories are made up!"

"That's not the point!" she tells him, "The point is that I like them and they are my friends. So tell them, I don't care. You can't stop me from being with him."

"Him?" Ethan questions.

"Hmm?" Raphaela hums knowing she gave away her secret crush.

"You said him not them." He takes one step closer looking into her eyes in order to see if he can catch her in her lie.

"Did I?" says she as she attempts to dance around the fact.

"Raphaela," he addresses, "You have a crush on one of them, don't you?"

"What? No!" she denies.

"Either way, it's going to end badly," he warns stepping closer, "They're going to break your heart because that is who they are. That's what happens when you grow up on the Isle." He puts a hand on her shoulder which she shrugs off.

"Something that could've happened to us if Dad hadn't met Mom," she claims.

With hurt in his eyes he tells her, "When the heartache comes, I won't be there for a shoulder to cry on."

"Is this you speaking or Ava? After all, she's prejudiced against one because of something he didn't do, his mother did. Audrey is the same." She blinks back her tears refusing to let them fall and give her brother the upper hand.

"I've said what I needed to so now I won't feel guilty when your pain comes."

He leaves and slams the door behind him. The tears she suppressed come falling down as she grabs a pillow and chucks it at the door imagining instead she threw a rock at her brother's head. She loathes fighting with him. He's usually there for her. When she was young and would scrap her knee while running wild and free, he'd always be there with a candy and a bandaid. Now, he's completely different. He's changed since he began dating Ava, his whole life became Ava this and Ava that. She is sick of it.

She plops down on her bed and cannot help but cry for the loss of her brother. She's still crying when Lonnie appears; with new hair.

"Raphaela? What's wrong?" she asks.