Sister protection program

26 • work it out

"I can't accept this..." I mumble holding up the beautiful gold necklace with a tiny heart locket.
"You have to. It's passed down. I have a gold chain. That's yours. It's a family thing" he says reaching down his shirt and bringing out a thin gold chain.

I look at it again in the sunlight then slowly put it on. I stare out the window again.
"Lillian I really didn't know that she was your-"
"Don't"
"Can we at least talk about it?"
"No. And where are we going?" I ask realizing we're not going to the house.
"We're going to have a birthday brunch with Mum, and why not?"

I turn to him.
"Because you fucked my best friend and only friend, who I might add you just met. And then you have the nerve to get mad at me for dancing with Calum."
Luke was silent for a moment.
"Lillian, I didn't know Aubrey was your-"
"I introduced you to her! But you took me out of the kitchen in the middle of it!"

"I only drug out in the middle of the introduction because you didn't want to tell my friends about us so it caused a big mess!"
"So it's my fault?!"
"No that's not what I'm saying Lil!"
"Don't call me Lil" I snap.
Luke takes in a deep breath and adjusts his grip on the wheel.

"you shouldn't be fucking my best friend. You know damn well how I feel about that. Even if I did know that Audrey was your best friend I didn't know how you would feel about it." he states through gritted teeth. I look back at him in disbelief.
"You're a fucking unbelievable hypocrite, Hemmings"
He stiffens his grip on the wheel.
"It's not the same." Is his defense.
"HOW?!" I yell as he pulls into a parking spot and shoves the car into park.
"BECAUSE YOU KNEW HE WAS MY FRIEND! I DIDNT KNOW!"
His voice echos in the car. I'm stunned he raised his voice like that. It stuns me and suddenly I feel hot tears prickling my eyes thrusting to come down. I have never reacted well to people raising their voice.
"Lil-" he whispers
"Don't call me Lil" I snap and get out of the car quickly.

We walk in the cute brunch place and Liz waves us over to a table she was sitting at.
It was a very nice elegant brunch place, not really what I'm used to. I was too mad to appreciate any of its cuteness.

Luke and I sit next to each other across from Liz.
"Hello love" she smiles. "Did you guys have a good birthday?" She asks taking a sip of her coffee.
Luke nods "yeah it was fun. We had a few friends over and had a few drinks" he explains.
I mentally laugh at the mundane rendition of last night.

"Oh you're wearing the necklace! Do you like it?" Liz asks pointing to my neck.
"Yes, it's very lovely, but it's too much, really it isn't necess-"
"No no, it is a family necklace passed down. And now I have someone to pass it down to"
She smiles.
Wow. No pressure.
Mental note, one thing I can't lose.

Luke and I awkwardly don't interact much with each other. Even though we are fighting we try to put it aside for Liz but i guess it didn't work.
"And that's when I told Susan-" Liz stops. "Is everything alright?" She finishes concerned.
Luke and I snap our gazed out attention to to her from looking off in space.

"You two haven't talked to each other this whole meal" she comments sitting back In her chair, crossing her arms.
"Yeah we're just tired I'm sorry mum I just don't feel like talking that much today" Luke mumbles rubbing his face.
Liz looks at both of us for a long time before slowly picking up the check off the edge of the table.

"Love, I'm your mother. I know when something is wrong and I most certainly know when you're lying." She calmly says as she takes the pen and scribbles on the check, nodding to Luke not looking up.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles.
Liz leans in, "You two have been siblings for a week, fights are going to happen, but family gets over them." She smiles standing up and we do the same.
She hugs us both then pulls back to look at us. "Now hug" she motions to us. Luke rolls his eyes and thinks it's silly but we go into a brief hug.
"Work it out" she kindly whispers, smiles, and walks away.

Luke and I exit the restaurant and get into his car. We sit down and look forward in silence not going anywhere.
Finally Luke pulls it out of park.
The car ride back is silence.

We pull back up to the house and quietly walk in.
"Hey guys! What took you so long?" Ashton asks. Everyone sits around the couch eating pizza, a pizza box spread out on the coffee table.
"Hey" Luke mumbles hanging up his keys, clearly not in the mood.
"...where's the groceries?" Calum asks.
Shit.
We forgot what our excuse was.

"We uh-" I start.
"Yeah what's going on, you and Luke always go off together, like last night you guys went 'up to your room.' twice." Calum speaks up. Micheal chokes on his drink when he says this, knowing it's not what Calum is inferring.

"Calum-" Luke starts but Calum cuts him off.
"Stop being so jealous, dude"
"You listen-" Luke quickly starts walking forward to Calum but I step in front of him and give him a glare.
"Calum no, it's not like that" I explain still standing in front of Luke.
"Then what is it? Cause every time I even look at you Luke wants to grab you and take you to talk with you" he says spread out at the end of the couch.
Luke clenches his jaw.

"Luke's my brother" I let out closing my eyes bracing.