Oh Brother (Completed)

One Shot

After a solid hour of pleading from Phoenix, I agreed to join the boys downstairs. I had absolutely no desire to confront Damien after our agreement in the kitchen, but Nix had assured that he would act as a personal bodyguard to ensure his younger brother didn't come anywhere near me.

As I crept down the stairs, hand grasping the chipped wooden railing, I couldn't help but drop my gaze to what I'd been persuaded into wearing. In hindsight, bringing only a bikini and a few sheer covers for it in a house full of my brothers probably wasn't the best idea, but it hadn't been the first thing on my mind. When I'd packed for the summer, I'd thrown close to all the clothes I owned into a small duffel bag and an even smaller carry on. My mind had still been in the midst of processing what was happening, accepting that I was really doing this, flying to California to try and reconcile with my brothers. My fashion choices were definitely the last thing I was thinking about.

"No." Buckley's low huff of irritation was soon followed by an even more direct order. "Go upstairs and change."

I lifted my head to find that the second oldest Bennett boy's words had drawn all attention to me at the bottom of the staircase. My eyes flickered from my brother to Nix, in the midst of a fight with a bag of solo cups, who didn't even bother to turn around to see what my brother was talking about as he responded.

"It's a beach party, Buck." Nix pulled a stack of red solo cups from the plastic bag and looked toward my brother beside him. "Fae and the other hundred girls here are going to be in bikinis."

Buck mutters incoherently under his breath, returning his attention to the three cases of beer he was unboxing.

"But she is our sister." Aden piped in from where he stood in front of the TV, "They are not."

Aden looked toward Damien to his left for backup. His best friend was on chip duty and was in the middle of pouring a bag of tortilla chips into a large blue bowl, but his gray eyes found me soon after my brother's words.

"She's going to look hot regardless of what she's wearing. Just keep an eye on and out for her." Damien's decision to side with his own brother infuriated my twin to a point that he slapped the bowl out of his friend's hand, leaving a mess of chips on the floor before stalking out of the room. Damien threw his hands up in exasperation, flipping the back of my brother's head off.

I couldn't help but stare after my twin brother. The thought of us being so estranged would have led my delicate little eight year old mind into insanity. We'd been close; best friends. Wherever one was, the other was only a step behind. Now, it seemed wherever I was, he had no desire to be.

Slipping off the last stair, I walked over to Phil. He was dumping a two pound bag of ice into a royal blue cooler. His fingertips were bright red, curling and uncurling as he tried to regain feeling back in them.

"Do you need help?" I asked, momentarily drawing his attention away from his hands. "I feel useless just standing here while you all do the work."

Phil considered my offer for a minute then pointed toward four chairs against the wall, stacked with folded towels. "You can go put those out by the pool if you want to help."

I nodded, grabbing the first stack and heading out the open sliding glass door, I couldn't help but stand at the edge of the pool and admire the size of it. Whenever I'd tried to explain it to Kinsley or Aunt Katy back home, the only thing I'd been able to compare it to was an Olympic pool, and even that didn't do it justice. The view didn't just end there, it stretched out around the beach house. The house sat up on a hill just high enough to have a perfect view of the beach. As a kid, Sam had always sat in a chair facing the beach and studied the different people that'd walk along the shore. The nosy tourists: who'd always looked up at the beach house in awe or take a picture in front of it, and turned their noses up at the water unless it was the perfect temperature. The locals, who'd dive right into the rushing waters, unphased by all the warning signs in every direction.