Dylan (18+) [ON HOLD]

chapter one: B R A C E L E T

Gabby

. . .

I force a smile as I watch my little sister and her fiance move more and more of his things into my apartment.

The pair have been together for a little over a year and a half and at Luisa's age of twenty-five, there was fairly little to be said about that.

Benjamin, or as he prefers, Ben Yates is a thirty-year old up and coming mine worker who according to my baby sister, was just perfect—even if he talks with the world's worst lisp.

She thinks it's cute.

It is not.

Neither is a man who color codes his ties to match his socks and his underwear—because of course the first time we met, they had been doing it on my couch—especially when he puts on one sock and shoe before repeating the action on the other foot.

Everyone knows it's sock-sock-shoe-shoe. And if you do it sock-shoe-sock-shoe, you're an uncultured swine and need intensive therapy.

But, to each their own.

It's sickeningly sweet as I watch them move things into the apartment.

Ben and Luisa act like a couple that's still in the cupcake phase. As far as I know, the two don't even know each other's middle names.

However, that hardly matters since he apparently knew enough about Luisa to get her the 1.01 carat, pink, pear-shaped diamond engagement ring with a rose gold band.

Unless she gave him the rundown on the wedding of her fifteen year old dreams.

And instead of moving into his apartment—one he shared with his beautifully horrid roommate Newton, who although completely loaded, hid in a tiny apartment under someone else's name so that no one could find him and had the worst possible attitude—the two have been taking the day to move Ben into my apartment. With me still in it, having no say in the matter.

Luisa's plan as she told me an hour ago, is for them to just live here for now, and wait on their home that Ben is supposedly building for them on his family's property to be finished.

Something that could take months.

As the two move a goddamned Street Fighter arcade game into my living room, I bite back a groan of annoyance.

Since the two didn't have a shared living space before, they're having an impromptu engagement party tomorrow.

However, Ben was so sure that Luisa would say yes, he had already ordered food and had someone coming to decorate my home for their party.

Great.

Just great.

"Hey Gabs, you know it wouldn't kill you to help out. You could save Dylan and Derek from wasting a day of hard work," Luisa says the last part almost teasingly, drawing out the words in a sing-song voice as though it'd make the offering sweeter.

I don't respond, biting back the urge to tell her I'm wasting time supervising her, rather than doing work.

Ben looks up from the game, but doesn't speak, instead offers me an apologetic smile.

I purse my lips in displeasure and his blue eyes lower back to the game, fitting it into the corner and plugging it up, using a panel on the side to mute the annoying music.

"The apartment next door is still available. You and your fiance can just pay the five hundred dollar deposit and nine hundred bucks rent as you can spend three-hundred grand on a new home," I exclaimed, tossing the rest of my water down the sink and slamming my glass down so hard I was surprised it didn't break. "And you know Yanci will let you out of the lease! So why bother?"