Heart and Soul [bxb]

Chapter Eighteen

*This chapter contains multimedia relevant to the plot.*

Johnny was sitting at his desk, by the window, when the door to his bedroom swung all the way open. He looked over his shoulder to see Lydia letting herself in and taking a seat on his bed comfortably.

"I didn't hear you knock," he mused.

"Because I didn't."

No shit, Johnny thought. He turned around in his office chair to look at his sister. She always came into his room when she wanted attention, and the only way to get her to leave was giving her some.

"I want to show you something," she said with a pleased smile.

Johnny just waited for her to select whatever on her phone. When she had it, Lydia stretched her arm out to show him a picture of himself, holding his dad's barking rat in his arms while he gave her a kiss. Lydia had taken that picture in a rare moment of distraction. Normally, Johnny and Daisy, the dog tester sample, didn't exactly get along.

"It's cute, isn't it?" She asked, proudly.

Johnny's eyebrows knitted together as he saw the platform in which Lydia was showing him the photo. "You put that on your Instagram?" He asked. The question didn't need an answer. She had tagged him too.

"And now I'm gonna put it on yours," she stated, sliding her phone in her dress pocket—she was always so fucking proud of her pocket-featuring dresses—and reaching for Johnny's phone on his desktop.

Johnny retrieved the phone from her hands. "Lydia, what the hell," he grumbled.

"Don't be so grumpy," she complained. "Carter Parrish liked it," she added matter-of-factly.

Johnny's whole body reacted to the mention of that name, but he'd gotten too good at shutting it down and hiding it away from sight.

"So?" He said stoically. He dropped his phone back on the desk.

"If it has Carter Parrish's stamp of approval, then it must be a cute picture," she reasoned.

"I doubt he liked it because it's cute," he said with an eye roll. "He probably didn't even really look at it."

"Why wouldn't he look at it? I thought you were friends with him. You two even hung out after school, two days ago," Lydia said nonchalantly.

Johnny spun around in his chair. "We were studying," he countered.

"That's like hanging out, but with books," Lydia said offhandedly. Before Johnny could move to stop it, she reached for his phone again and stood up from the bed to walk to the other end of the room.

Johnny shot up onto his feet. "Give it back."

"No."

Johnny walked up to his sister, trying to recover his phone. Lydia slipped away from his grasp, like a slimy eel.

"Stop being a grouch," she chided. Johnny got a hold of her wrist, trying to stop her from typing in his pin. He should have changed it after she guessed it – again.

Johnny's bedroom door opened and his mom walked in, rear first, holding a large basket of clean, ironed and folded clothes in her hands. "Mom! Johnny is being mean to me!" Lydia whined.

"Don't be mean to your sister," his mom told him softly, as she laid his pile of clothes on the foot of his bed.

Johnny scoffed. "What the-She literally just took my phone!"

His mother smiled dismissively. "Don't be so sensitive. Your sister's just playing with you." She picked up the basket again and backed out of the room.