Authors note mwahaha. Reviews. Yay! So far so good on this story. C: Still not owning anything. SO, here's chapter two, enjoy, read and review. And always remember: reviews make A-ray happy and a happy A-ray makes more chapters for her stories.
The aroma of sizzling bacon, eggs, and pancake batter filled the small apartment's kitchen, flooding to Aiden's nostrils as the boy yawned, sluggishly making his way out of the empty room. Morning confusion stuck to him, expecting to see his mother at the stove, cooking the breakfast.
"Morning honey. Did you sleep well?" his mothers' voice called from the front room, where she was on the couch, a cup of coffee in one hand, the other entangled in the bun gathered on top of her head.
The dazed teen mumbled, wiping away the remaining bits of sleeping sand from his eyes. He spun around to the kitchen, seeing his sister cooking the breakfast. He chuckled, "Mom, you're letting Aussie cook? Isn't that kind of a dangerous thing to do? Do you remember what happened that one night, when she tried making dinner for grandma and grandpa? That was disastrous."
Emily laughed lightly, "Aiden, you know it's not nice to remind your sister of that. That was a one time thing…even if she did almost burn down the apartment."
"My point, exactly. Who's to say she won't burn the apartment down this time?"
"Fuck you, Aiden." Aussie dipped two fingers into the pancake batter, and flicked the batter from her fingers onto her brothers' nose. It was her turn to laugh; "Now that is funny. Mom, your breakfast is ready."
"Thank you, baby. Oh, Aiden, you've got something right there." His mother smiled a sweet smile, swiping some pancake batter off her sons' nose.
"Didn't notice." He said, flatly, glaring at Aussie, who had a piece of bacon hanging from her mouth. "Have you ever paid attention to how your daughter eats? It's kind of disgusting."
Aussie flipped the piece of bacon into her mouth with her tongue. "You know you like it. Your eating habits aren't much better, so I suggest you shut it unless you want a repeat of what happened at the Zephyr shop yesterday to happen."
In all truth, Aiden was surprised that Aussie could pull of such a stunt. Her strength matched his own, which also surprised him for his sister, who inherited her mothers' tiny frame. Aiden's eyes rolled, "Anyways, are you going to hang out with us today? I hear there are some gnarly waves to charge."
Pouring herself a cup of orange juice, Aussie shrugged, taking a sip, "I don't know. Maybe. Kathy and Blanca want to drag me to do some girl related thing, I don't know exactly what. Whatever it is, I'm dragging Peggy along with me, so don't be expecting her to show if I don't."
"But, Peggy hates those two."
"If I have to suffer, Peggy has to suffer with me."
Aiden shook his head, shoveling a forkful of eggs in his mouth, "You're such a great friend, you know that? Depriving your best lady friend of all the fun. What about after that, you coming to Tony's place?"
She bit her lower lip before answering. Aiden knew that look. He knew only too well that something was wrong. The room grew silent, Emily grew worried.
She stood up, wiping her hands on her paper plate, before placing on hand on her daughters' chest, the other on her forehead, "Baby, are you okay?" her hand raised up, smoothing Aussie's hair back.
She cracked a light smile, and shook her head, "Yeah, fine. Sorry, I zoned out there. I'm just gunna take a shower, and see what the hell Kathy wants me to do with her today."
….
After two hours of uneventful mall time with Kathy and Blanca, Aussie came trudging through the apartment door, a weary expression painted on her face. It wasn't that anything was wrong. It was just that Kathy and Blanca had bored her and Peggy of talk about Jay, and Tony. Tony. Ugh. She was sick of hearing that name come out of Blanca's mouth.
"Aiden?" she called quietly, tip toeing into the kitchen, in fear that her brother might be asleep in the bed room, and she might wake him up.
She heard him groan from the bedroom before he called out her name along with 'in here.'
She continued to tip toe into her room, only to see her brother crashed out on his bed, a bag of ice in one hand, while the other gently traced along the shiner bruising his eye. "Aiden! What the hell? You didn't get into another fight, did you? Who was it with? Why did you get into a fight, why-"
"Whoa! Whoa, slow it down there, shooter. I'm fine. I just got into a skateboarding accident. God, no need to go into over worried Mom mode."
"What do you expect, Aiden? I come home, and see my brother with a huge fuckin' black eye. All signs point to a fight." She snapped, and drew in a breath. Another thing she had inherited from their father was blowing things way out of proportion, getting worked up over nothing. She wiped stray hair out of her face before she got on her hands and knees, crawling over to her brothers' mattress, cuddling up with him.
It's always been this way. Whenever something was bothering her, she would always cuddle up with the nearest person, even if it was her brother most of the time. Aiden welcomed his sister openly as she snuggled herself in, laying his head against hers, wrapping his arms around her small body.
"Alright sis, 'fess up. What's bothering you this time?" The question caused Aussie's mind to flood with lies, and excuses to tell her brother. But, what was the use? Sure, she could fool Stacy, Jay, Sid, or Tony with one of her petty little lies, but not Aiden. Aiden always saw through those lies, and always pushed for the truth. She gave a defeated sigh.
"Ugh. I don't know. I mean, we were at the mall, and Blanca would just not shut up about Tony. I wanted to bash her teeth in, but of course, I can't do that. Peggy wouldn't let me, even though I know she felt the same urge. Anyway, I guess I got…jealous." She shuddered as the word rolled off her tongue. The word stuck to her lips, repeating itself in her head.
Jealous? She couldn't possibly be jealous of the fact that Tony was with another girl. Yeah, the fact that he was with Blanca almost a day after they broke up had bothered her, and, for the first time, she was truly mad at Tony Alva. She wanted to hate him, she wanted to bitch him out, tell him about how he was being an insensitive jerk. But, that wouldn't get her anywhere. It was just Tony's nature to be that way.
She continued, "I shouldn't be jealous. I mean, if I knew seeing him with another girl would upset me as much as it did, I wouldn't have broken up with him. Things did get too weird for me, but I thought that I had just lost my feelings for him."
"Well, it's only natural to be jealous, Aus."
Aussie only groaned, turning her face into her brothers' shirt, fighting off the urge to scream at the top of her lungs. "Whatever. It doesn't matter."
"C'mon. I hear Red Dog's having a party tonight." Aiden said out of nowhere, yanking his sister up by her wrists, as her hands were clasped around his upper arm.
"A party? What good would that do, we don't drink, smart one."
Aiden rolled his eyes, pulling a shirt on over his bare upper body, "We don't have to drink. C'mon, Stacy will be there, and Sid, and Jay. And you know how funny it is to watch Jay when he's trashed." Aussie's mind had been made at the mention of alcohol. The thought churned her stomach in many different ways, sending an uneasy feeling throughout her body. Maybe she would have a different perspective about alcohol if it hadn't had lead to her fathers' death.
She sighed, rubbing her temples. Tonight the roles had been reversed. Any other day, Aussie would be the one trying to pull Aiden to come and watch their friends' parade about as drunken idiots. The sudden opening and slamming of the door had kept her from answering, and Emily's and Dave's screams filled the small apartment, drifting through the paper thin walls.
Aussie turned to face Aiden, backing into her side of the room as she did. What could they be fighting about this time? How stupid she was to believe it was the last time they had been fighting truly was their last time. Her fear slowly turned into hate for her mom's boyfriend. How dare he make her mother so unhappy? Her mother, who was loving, soft spoken, and an all around great person to be around. He didn't deserve Emily Engblom's love. He didn't deserve Emily Engblom's anything. With a hushed, yet frustrated, scream, her fist slammed into the wall, puncturing yet another hole in the aged apartment.
"Let's just go." Aiden approached his sister, rubbing her shoulders' gingerly. He hated the way Dave treated their mother as much as she did; he hated the fighting as much as she did. He hated seeing his mom upset; he hated seeing Aussie upset. Of course, Aiden and his mother were close, and he loved his mother with all his heart, but it was a different story with Aussie. Aussie was his best friend; he was hers, that's just how it is. He's seen Aussie break down, he's seen a side of Aussie that he doubted his mother even knew about. There was a strong unspoken bond between the two of them, a bond his mother and himself didn't share.
He gently grabbed his sister by the shoulders, leading her out of the bedroom, into the middle of his mom and her boyfriends' fighting. They didn't take the time to even notice the two slip out of the front door. Before they went to the party, he thought it best to take his sister to a run down warehouse, where she often practiced her fighting.
…
Breaths came short and heavy from the girl, hunched over, hands placed on her knees, resting before she struck the padding her brother was holding up several more times.
Aiden chuckled, drawing away from his furious sister, "Better?"
"Aiden, if you want your stomach to be used in place of the matt, I suggest you put it back up." She growled, setting up for another go round.
Aiden tossed the bag to the side, resting his hands on his sisters' shoulders once more, "Aus, you're done. Now its time to go to Red Dog's, watch our friends make asses of themselves, and just relax. Alright?"
Reluctantly, Aussie agreed, freeing her hair of the elastic that held it, allowing it to spill across her shoulders.
…
"Aussie, Aiden! You guys made it out!" Biniak beamed, throwing both of his arms around the siblings shoulders, the beer toppling out of the cup clutched in his left hand. Aussie grinned in somewhat higher spirits.
"Yeah!" Aussie cried over the roar of the music blaring from inside the house. Biniak shoved a plastic cup in her hands, and then disappeared into the smoky house. Aiden sighed, dropping the cup, watching the alcohol spill out as the cup whirled around.
"I'm gunna go look for Stace, or someone!" He called, rubbing his sisters' arm before following after Biniak. Aussie gazed into her cup, swirling the beer around a bit. Peggy was no where in sight; she was probably inside, or something.
"Why is it whenever someone throws a party it's always at Tony's house?" she thought to herself, pressing her spine against the Alva's front porch, throwing her legs over either side. Many party guests came and went, but Aussie didn't seem to notice them, or anything else for that matter. She was concentrated on the warming liquid in her cup, as many other things. Slowly, she raised the cup to her lips, taking a drink. She let the bitter tasting liquid sit in her mouth for a moment, her tongue trying to adapt to the harsh tasting substance. Apparently, her tongue couldn't handle that little task, causing Aussie to spit out what little she had in her mouth onto the ground. That was disgusting, what was she thinking?
She regained her composure before trying to keep the alcohol down one more time. It burned a bit going down her throat, but she swallowed much against her will. The liquid was now lining the middle of the cup, leaving Aussie a little buzzed.
She could already hear Tony's mocking laughter in her head, "Haha, shit, man. Lightweight." Which was true, Aussie never thought her body could hold that much alcohol. To shake Tony's annoying laughter out of her head, she polished off the rest of the drink, tossing the cup aside.
Letting a drunken giggle slip, Aussie stood up, trying to walk along the edge of the porch, throwing her arms out to maintain her balance. Not like it was a long ways down, but to a drunken Aussie, it did seem like quite a long ways down. She placed one foot in front of the other, taking another step. Unfortunately, her foot slipped out from underneath her, scraping the side of the porch as she came crashing down, knee tucked underneath her butt.
The fact that she had fallen came as a bit of a shock to her, taking her aback. Not even a fall like that could keep Austin Raechelle from trying that stunt again, drunk or not. Wobbly she picked herself up, nearly repeating the same action as before. She felt someone lift her arm around their shoulders, laughing as they did so.
"Whoa. Never thought I'd see the day Aussie Rae gets drunk. Haha." Tony grinned, removing Aussie off the porch before she actually did hurt herself.
"I-I am not drunk! I-I'm just…I'm just…tipsy is all." She managed to slur out through her round of hiccups. She giggled a bit more, "A-and Tony's not…not drunk?"
Tony shook his head, laughing a bit, "Nah, not yet. Jesus chicka, how many beers have you had?"
"Only one."
"Ha, fuckin' lightweight." His voice took a fake disappointed tone, as he reached out, taking her hand in his so she wouldn't get lost within the crowd of other partiers. "Stace! Aiden!" he called, pushing his way to the two boys.
Aiden turned around at the sound of Tony's voice, gaping to see his sister following Tony, drunk as could be. "Tony! Dude, what the fuck did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything, man. She was like this when I found her. She only had one beer; she'll sober up in, like, an hour."
"Stace, wanna give us a ride home? I'm pretty sure the fighting stopped." Aiden looked at Stacy, while he slid on arm underneath his sisters legs, wrapping the other one around her waist.
"Yeah, sure."
"I'll come with. I don't feel like drinkin' tonight."
….
"The next time I have a beer in my hand, smack me. Owww. My head." Aussie cradled her head in one hand, suffering from the side effects of her one beer.
"Whatever you say, Aus." Aiden stepped out of Stacy's car, opening the door for his sister in the back, who had fallen against Tony when she passed out on the ride home.
Tony had attempted to help, but Aussie swatted his hand out of the way, crawling out of the back of the car.
"You guys wanna come in for a bit?" Aiden offered, and Tony and Stacy looked at each other before confirming the offer with a nod.
"Mom, we're back!" Emily didn't respond as Aiden shut the door quietly, and that caused both him and Aussie to worry. "Mom?"
"Mom? Mom, where are you?" Aussie called, looking around the apartment herself. Maybe her mother wasn't home? Maybe Dave had taken her out for a dinner to say I'm sorry for the fight? No, she was still home. Emily wouldn't just up and leave without leaving a note.
Delayed and shaky breathing echoed through the apartment, coming from their mothers' bedroom. Aiden and Aussie exchanged worried glances, and Tony and Stacy were clueless, but a bit shaken as well.
"Mom!" Aussie called out, running into her mothers' room, the three boys following after her. Emily's back was pressed into the wall, her hand clutching her chest.
"What's going on? Is she okay?" Tony asked in a panic.
Aussie released the breath she held, kneeling next to her mother, telling her to breath. "She's having a panic attack, but it's a small one, she'll be okay. Aiden, go get her pills, and Stacy, you get her a glass of water." She instructed, calmly. Panic attacks were nothing new to Emily, as the woman in the Engblom family had a history with them. Emily's mother had them, her mother's mother had had them, and even Aussie had them from time to time. She turned to look at Tony, who remained task less, "Help me get her into her bed." Her attention turned back to her mother, "You'll be okay, Mom."
Tony obliged, lifting Emily off the ground, carrying her over to her bed, placing her in it gently. Aussie sat next to her mother, holding her hand for comfort. "Thanks." She offered Tony a small smile as he rubbed Aussie's back gently.