by Mansi Negi
Twins
I grabbed a black garbage bag from the living room as my mom had instructed. I'd just arrived home from school and I'd practically forgotten that today was adoption day.
Well, not technically adoption, she was picking up a sibling group of five foster kids to come live here.5
I wasn't sure how I felt about it. When the subject was first broached with me, she and my dad had made it sound like they were going to adopt one more child and I was ecstatic.
I was an only child and for years I had wished to have a sister or brother to share so many things with.
The thought of Christmas's being shared with a little sister, or helping her get ready for school dances was really appealing. Then they had dropped the bomb.3
"This group of five doesn't want to be separated, but they can't find placement that will accept the oldest two."
My mom had said. "I think God is putting this calling in our hearts for these kids." I had wanted to protest, but I was 18, graduating high school and heading off to college, and I would only have to deal for a few months. I couldn't help but feel like my parents were replacing me though.6
I lugged the first heavy bag down the hall. A piece of paper was taped to it, Tyler, it read.
I opened the bag so that I could make sure it made it to the appropriate room. Looked like a boy, ten years old maybe, judging by the match box cars and small baseball glove. Ok Tyler here you go buddy. I thought as I slung the heavy bag onto the lower bunk bed in the bedroom.
I ran back downstairs and grabbed another bag.
Tristan. A little girl size 5t. Ok this one goes to the room across from my parents. I dug two more bags up the stairs Lucy and Wyatt, twins, only two years old.
I don't know if the final bag was even heavier or if my muscles were spent but it was all I could do to get it up the first set of stairs.
Of course, this was the teenaged boy so he had the larger attic bedroom with its own bath, meaning I had to make it up another flight of stairs.
"Ugh!" I yelled out spent from forcing myself up the last two stairs at the top. This was the first time I'd seen the room since my parents had it renovated from storage space and it was huge, every bit as big as mine. Jonas, the name on the piece of paper read. "Jonas." I said out loud.
I opened his bag a little and peeped in. A football, some clothes, a pack of cigarettes.
Great, mom is going to be thrilled about that.
Nothing much, all of his earthly possessions fit into a black garbage bag and he was nearly the same age as me.
That brought a slight burn to my eyes, so I decided to pay him the decency of unpacking his things from the bag and putting them away for him. It would hurt me to see all of my things thrown into a trash bag as if I didn't matter.5
His clothes smelled like cheap cologne and stale cigarettes, they were clean though and folded neatly.
I imagined he took pride in his appearance. I hung them neatly in the closet just three pairs of dark jeans and three plain black t-shirts.
I placed his socks and underwear in the top dresser drawer, wondering if maybe this wasn't a good idea. I didn't want him to be embarrassed that I'd seen and even touched his underwear.
Oh well, I'd already done the worst of it, I dug through the bag looking for a photo or something. My hand met with pages. A book maybe. I pulled it out and oh my god!
A porno magazine. Yep, he was definitely going to be embarrassed. Maybe if I hurried, I could put his stuff back in the bag and he wouldn't know any different, and as if on que I heard a mirage of voices come from the hallway on the floor below.1
Heavy boots started to make their way up the stairs toward me and I threw the magazine down under me so it was sandwiched between me and the bed.
Dark eyes met mine with some surprise.
"Oh hey, sorry, she told me this was my room." The man in front of me said confused, a slight British accent clung to his words, making his deep raspy voice somehow sound much more proper.
I tried to think of something to say to distract him so I could throw the magazine back into the bag, but his stare held mine and I found myself lacking for words.
"Jonas?" I said, looking and sounding not only, completely suspicious, but also terrified.
"Yes?" He said, raising an eyebrow, and as if a lightbulb had turned on in his head, his lips pulled into a smirk. "Are you going through my shit princess?"
He tilted his head to the side and took a step closer. Oh god, this was so bad, made even worse by the fact that Jonas was absolutely gorgeous.11
"Umm no, I was just unpacking some of your things for you." I swallowed hard. "I'm Lyla by the way..." I said nervously holding out my hand to him.
He took his bottom lip between his teeth and stepped up to me, taking my hand and pulling me to him. I let out a shocked gasp as he wrapped an arm around me and leaned down to my ear. Cigarettes and cheap cologne again, filled my nostrils.
"Don't ever touch my shit again. You can go Lyla." He pointed back toward the stairs. What the... What a greeting. I started making my way toward the lower floor when he whipped around, magazine in hand.
"Did you find anything interesting in here?" He lowered his brows at me.
"No, I just pulled it out, I wasn't going through your things, I was just trying to put them away for you. I hate that they were in a garbage bag." I said back, completely humiliated.
"Hmm?" He looked at me angrily. "I don't need your help or pity.
I've lived in a lot of places with girls just like you. I'll just tuck this in here." He put the magazine in his bed side stand. "That way you can come back and look at it, but otherwise, this room is off limits to you." He waved his hand in dismissal again.3
"I don't know who you think you are Jonas, but I live here and I was just trying to be nice." I drew my eyebrows together. What a jerk.2
"Please, spare me the 'pay you a kindness bull shit', I know your type, pretentious, stuck up, think you're going to save the world, raised on a silver spoon.
I'm not a fucking charity case sweet heart. This is just a stop, on the way. I won't be here long. I'll be 18 in a couple of weeks and I don't plan on sticking around."
"Thank god." I rolled my eyes. Who acts like this, I understand being upset, but to completely judge me without even having had a conversation with me in well in advance.
"I won't do you any favours again. I get it, you don't want to be here, but I'll let you in on a little secret...I'm not thrilled about it either, so maybe you could at least try to make this pleasant." He walked toward me and I found myself stepping backward until I met with the wall behind me.
"There you go, let your true self come out Lyla, little princesses like you don't like to share mommy and daddy with the poor kids. Don't let me catch you in here again, I'm worlds of fucked up you aren't ready to meet yet.
"He reached his hand behind me, lifted the window and lit a cigarette.3
"You can't do that in here!" I found myself yelling, like I was trying to get him in trouble.
"I just did, 'big sis'." He blew the smoke into my face making me cough uncontrollably before stepping aside to let me leave. "You won't tell your mom, you little tattletale."
He smirked at me and shot me a wink and I turned and ran down the stairs, passing my mom in the hall on the way to my bedroom.
I didn't stop to tell on Jonas though. I don't know why, maybe because he had called me a tattletale, maybe because I thought he was gorgeous, although a total jerk, part of me wished he would like me.
I wanted this to go smoothly, and I was after all, going through his things.2
I ran into my room and threw myself onto the bed. What a nightmare.
I looked across the hall to Tyler's room and saw Jonas staring back at me. He lo
oked down right away.
"What?!" I snapped from my bed, glaring at him.
"Sorry, I'm Tyler." The boy said back in the same accent, exhaling a knowing breath.
"Wait, you're Tyler?" I asked pointing at him.
"Yes, Jonas is my twin." He said. "They messed up the paperwork a long time ago and never fixed it. Surprise I'm 17."
My eyes went large. Tyler seemed nice though. I wanted to ask him why he had the matchbox cars, but it seemed like these guys didn't appreciate people going through their stuff, so I opted to keep that bit of information to myself.
"So, I see you met my brother." He laughed as if he knew the treat I was met with.
"Jonas can be a dick, sorry about that." He smiled at me. "Don't worry he'll come around." He winked at me.3
"My mom is going to feel terrible about you not having your own bathroom. If she would have known you were 17..." he laughed.
"I'm ok, this is the nicest house we've lived in to be honest." His face turned a little pink.
"Well there's a bathroom down the hall, but since your room is right across from mine, you can always use mine."
I smiled at him, trying to be as hospitable as possible. I was so thankful he was actually a descent person.
Jonas walked down the stairs.
"Tyler, no!" He barked at his brother and Tyler closed the door.
"What's your problem Jonas?" I asked.
"You think I'm the one with the problem, but you go inviting trouble." He smirked at me.
"Is your bathroom open to me as well, or was that invite only for my brother?"
He gave me the wink that both twins seemed to have perfected.1
"Creep." I rolled my eyes, closing my door harder than I intended.
Tyler seemed really sweet, but Jonas was something else. Still, something about Jonas intrigued me.8
He is Gay
"Dinner's ready!" My mom yelled up the stairs. "Lyla honey, can you tell Jonas?" Great, just what I want to do, engage with Jonas again.
I walked out of my room. I didn't see Tyler coming out yet either. I made my way to the second stair case and opened the door.
"Hey, dinner's done." I yelled up. Boots rounded the staircase and there he was.
"Great," he rubbed his hands together, "our first family dinner! I can't wait!" He cocked a brow at me and I turned on my heel flipping my hair back in annoyance and stormed down the hall.
Tyler's door was still closed so I knocked lightly.
"Tyler?" I turned the knob and gently opened the door. He was laying on his bed in gym shorts and no shirt. He looked up and caught me staring at his muscles.
"Dinners ready." I said softly, and he smiled at me.
I went to step forward into the room to talk to him not realizing Jonas was standing behind me.
I felt his hand wrap around my arm and gently tug me back. "Jonas? What are you doing?"
He pushed the door back closed lightly and stared at me. His eyes piercing into mine, he glared down at me.2
"Stay away from my brother." He said protectively, like I would somehow hurt him.
"I have a boyfriend Jonas, I'm not interested in your brother, or you for that matter, and don't even think you're going to come into this house and tell me what to do."
I glared back equally as harsh.1
"I don't care if you have a boyfriend or not, stay out of Tyler's room, he needs his space. You already offered him your shower. How do you think he's going to take that?"
I looked at him confused. Did he really think offering my bathroom to Tyler was a sexual invitation? This kid was messed up.4
"What do you mean, 'how is he going to take it?' I was trying to be nice, and he seems nice, you on the other hand, are a jerk."
I shook his hand off of me and made my way down stairs, completely offended by Jonas. I hoped his promise to leave in a couple of weeks came true.
I doubt I could deal with him for any longer than that.
I sat at the dinner table and heaped a pile of potatoes and chicken onto my plate. My parents were both occupied cutting food into tiny pieces and dumping them onto the high chair trays of the two little twins who were squirming to get free.2
"No fair, she doesn't have to eat this yucky shit!" The five year old said, flinging a Brussel sprout across the table. My eyes went wide, and I fought back the laughter that hit the back of my throat.3
"Tristan, that's a bad word!" Jonas scolded her from behind me, looking amused at my parents’ frantic state.1
"What? Shit? Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" She screamed, and the whole scene looked like something from a slap stick comedy.
I leaned over to the little girl.
"They're called sprouts and I don't like them either." I whispered and winked at her. She smiled at me and I scooped a little helping of mashed potatoes onto her plate instead. "Try these, they're better." I laughed and she put a spoonful into her mouth.1
"Hmm" she started to eat instead of play with her food. Jonas's stare caught my eye and I looked up at him. He smiled at me curiously and took the seat beside me.
"Do I have to eat my sprouts?" He leaned in and whispered, amusement played on his voice. I felt his hand playfully squeeze my leg and I stiffened.7
"Are you going to start screaming profanities if I tell you yes?" I raised an eyebrow to him.1
"Most definitely." He smiled back and we both laughed a little. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.
After dinner my mom and dad looked beat.
"I'll clean this up, go ahead and put the kids to bed and go to bed yourselves." I wrapped my arms around my mom who looked like she could cry.
"You're doing a good thing, it'll get easier." I said to her and gave her a hug.
"Thank you Delilah, I needed to hear that today." She squeezed me back even tighter. Her blonde bob falling over her shoulder and into my face.
"Mom, your hair's smothering me." I fake choked, and we laughed as she let go and unbuckled a toddler leading her and her sister upstairs while my dad grabbed little Wyatt and followed.
I hadn't noticed Jonas in the living room watching, until he stood and made his way into the kitchen.
"Maybe you're not as bad as I originally thought." He said, rubbing his chin.
"Gee thanks, is that your version of a compliment?" I stopped clearing the table and turned around to shoot him a nasty look.
"Never mind, Damn... I wasn't trying to push your buttons princess." He said sarcastically.
"Will you quit calling me that Jonas. I find it incredibly offensive coming from you."
"Good, that's kind of the way I intended it...Delilah." He said my full name amused. "Delilah... a Christian name for a good little Christian girl." He scoffed, looking me up and down, smirking at my outfit. The pleated blue skirt hung to my knees and the white button up dress shirt was half untucked, black dress socks met my knees leaving only half a knees worth of skin visible.2
"What? It's a school uniform." I raised my brow.
"I just bet you have a body under there, somewhere." He laughed stepping closer, grabbing hold of the bottom of my skirt and letting it go like it were some raggedy piece of clothes that disgusted him.1
"Are you just going to stand there ogling me or will you help?" I bit out in annoyance.
"Nope, you're on your own princess, and I'm not ogling you, not in that, why don't you put on something a little more revealing and then maybe, if you're lucky, you might get a second look." He said cockily.
"Don't get so cocky with me, you're going to be wearing the same thing as me come Monday." I chastised.
"Fuck if I am princess, unlike you, I'm not some mindless zombie who does whatever I'm told." I ignored him opting to finish what I was doing.
I made a quick plate for Tyler, who never came down and neatly packed the rest of the leftovers in the fridge and put the dishes into the dishwasher.
I turned toward the stairs with the plate of food and started towards Tyler's room.
"What do you think you're doing princess?" Jonas' annoying voice chimed out behind me.
"None of your business Jonas." I scoffed over my shoulder. I stood outside of Tyler's door and gave a light tap.
"I thought I told you not to bother him anymore." Jonas said through tight lips as he moved to stand directly behind me in the hall.
"Well luckily I'm not some mindless zombie who just does whatever I'm told." I quipped back, using his own words against him.
Tyler's bedroom door creaked open and I stepped inside, Jonas followed directly behind me.2
"I brought you some food." I smiled at Tyler and he took the plate with a smile in return.
"Thanks Lyla." He grabbed the fork and shoved a bite into his mouth as he plopped down on the bed.
"See Jonas." I pointed to Tyler, "nice brother," and pointing back to him I continued, "mean brother." I raised both brows at him and he narrowed his eyes on Tyler.
"Yes, Jonas, maybe try being nice sometime, it's not like I'm going to bite her or something, she isn't my type anyway." Tyler joked. I looked between the two boys. This wasn't what I was expecting. Some sort of weird sibling rivalry was going on between the two.1
"Yes, because she doesn't have a dick!" Jonas bit out.
"Yes, maybe if you give her one, she might be more appealing to me." He gave a nasty grin to his brother. So,
Tyler was gay. It made sense to me now why I didn't feel threatened by him. I took that as my cue to leave. I made it to my doorway before I heard Jonas behind me. I swung around, what could he possibly want now?2
"I'm serious Lyla, stop messing with him." He said, looking threateningly at me.
"He's gay anyway, and offering him dinner is not messing with him."
Jonas smirked at me. Stepping a little closer, backing me into the door frame, and I felt butterflies erupt through my stomach.
"Tyler is not gay Lyla." His eyebrows raised at me in amusement.1
"But he just said..." I looked confused, I knew I did, "why would he say that then?"
Jonas leaned down to my ear brushing a long blonde tendril of my hair behind it.
"He meant if I were to fuck you, he might be interested princess."
I swallowed back the lump in my throat, and tried to hide the heavy rise and fall of my chest, but I saw Jonas's eyes drift to my chest and a smirk play at the corners of his lips.3