Playing Poker [BEING REWRITTEN]

15| Ryan

"Livvy?"

"Ollie?"

Hearing her say my nickname made tears spring to my eyes and so did hers. I didn't want to cry but my body betrayed my mind as tears leaked out from them. She dragged me around the corner until no one could see us.

Before I could say anything, she wrapped her arms around me in a tight grip. We held each other for a minute, not wanting to let go.

"What the fuck is going on?" We were rudely interrupted by a harsh voice. A tall boy stood next to us, crossing his arms and glaring at me.

"What does it mean to you?" I replied back. Not going to lie, I was a little intimidated by his voice but I didn't let it show.

"I'm her brother." He replied confidently. With those words, it felt like a knife was stabbed in my chest. I'm her one and only brother and that made me replace my fear with anger. I was about to respond but my twin beat me to it.

"Brother my ass, what kind of brother makes their sister walk in the cold to a place she's never been before? What kind of brother sells two of their sister's most valuable items to her as a joke? What kind of brother calls his sister anorexic at the dinner table? What kind of brother makes a snide comment or witty remark every time she passes by?" She glared, making the boy slightly cower.

"Huh? Jayden, huh? You don't get to pick and choose when you want to be my brother just when you see some competition. Come on, let's go, twin brother."  She finished as she dragged me outside of the school. I watched Jayden's eyes widen at our resemblance while to people that looked just like him smacked him in the back of the head and dragged him away.

We walked for a few minutes before we ended up on a park bench.

"I'm sorry about that. He's my new stepbrother." I noticed how her jaw clenched at the last word. I didn't like the idea of someone trying to take my place but he didn't seem to be much competition compared to me.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault." I reassured her, she looked up and sent me a tight lipped smile. We stayed silent for a few minutes before I spoke up. "I really missed you, Liv." I smiled at her. She looked up and smiled back, fiddling with the ring on her finger.

"I missed you too, Ollie." Her answer didn't seem genuine though, I wanted to believe that she missed me too but something told me that wasn't the full truth.

"I can read you like an open book, Ray. Is it that you don't miss me?" I didn't know if I wanted to know the answer but I would like to think she missed me as much as I missed her. She immediately pooped up, continuously shaking her head.

"It's not that, I promise. It's just- you don't know?" She asked me. I furrowed my eyebrows, know what? She took my facial expression as her answer and sighed.

"I don't remember much of you." She admitted, I was surprised, usually she was really stubborn but she let the truth spill through for once. "I got in an accident." This caught my attention as I stared into her eyes, looking for a lie, but there was none. I checked her for any visible injuries but she quickly stopped me.

"Stop, I'm fine," She joked. "It was just selective amnesia." I looked at her wide eyes.

"Just? Rayland you could've died, why didn't Mom tell me?" I questioned myself as I put my head in my hands.

"Mom?" She questioned me, I sprung up. "She's alive?" She croaked out.

"Yeah, she dropped me off this morning." She sighed in relief and stared at the cars passing by.

"When can I see her?" She asks anxiously, jumping up and down on the bench. I laughed at her.

"I don't even know if she knows you're alive." I shrug, she just nods.

"Do you know why she took you, not me?" She asked, sadness swelling in her voice, I shook my head no as she looked down.

"She never told me why we left but I had an idea." I spoke up, she nodded again.

I asked the dreaded question. "What about Dad?" The stiffness in her body language doesn't go unnoticed.

"He's dead, dead as hell." She replied nonchalantly, it took everything in me not to burst out into fits of laughter.

"Wait, who takes care of you now?" I came to the realization. She told me Aunt Linda got married to Paul Brown. I always hated Linda, she never gave two fucks about either of us.

"How many stepbrothers do you have?"

"Seven." She responds.

"Damn, I feel bad for you." I joke, she playfully hits my arm as we fight until the sun goes down, reminiscing the old times.

Jayden

"Ow, what the fuck was that for?" I rub my head, my triplets drag me to an empty classroom by my ears.

"No, what was that for?" Jaxon emphasized, I shrugged as he continued. "You just had to throw a whole fucking temper tantrum in front of a crowd. Do you know how much Dad is going to get on your ass about this?" He sighed, frustrated, Jaylen nodded agreeing.

"More than Rayland." I mumbled hoping they wouldn't hear me but to my disappointment, they did. They gave me an appointed look and I grumbled an apology.

"When are you going to realize that isn't her problem, it's yours? You seriously can't be that dense to believe this was her fault." Jaylen spoke up for the first time. Jaylen was never one to speak up when he disagreed with something. When we sold her jewelry, it was written all over his face how uncomfortable he was with the situation. Now Jaylen was standing up to me, like he never does. Rayland was turning my own brothers against me.

My silence spoke volumes as Jaylen scoffed and stormed out of the classroom, creating a loud bang as the door slammed shut. What was going on with him? He's turning against me over some little brat that walked into my family less than two months ago that we don't care about?

Lies.

I'm not lying, I don't care about her at all.

Lies.

She's just some ungrateful brat that can fuck off for all I care. Look, she's ruining my family, we're breaking apart and it's her fault.

Lies.

It's her fault.

Lies.

Lies.

Lies.

Lies.

Lies.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP." I screamed at the voice in my head, even though I knew it was right.

"Jayden, are you okay?" Jaxon asked worriedly, separating my fingernails that were digging into my palm.

"No, I'm fine." I tried to convince him but it sounded more like I was trying to convince myself.

"It's okay not to be okay, you know?" He asked me, I turned my head to the side.

"It makes me weak." I muttered pathetically.

"No it doesn't. One thing I know about you is that you, Jayden, are not weak, you hear me?" He said sternly, I stayed silent for a moment.

"Rayland isn't the problem, is she?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"I'm the one ruining my family."

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1853 Words

Not gonna lie, I kinda got lazy at the end of this chapter.

Any thoughts?