Battle of the Captains

support systems

Austin knew my brothers were back. No wonder he was here. Austin Collins was never the type to be star struck over anyone but he looked up to my brothers and I guess they were friends. He wanted to hang out with my brothers. Why else would he be here, to hang with me? I didn't think so.

"It's a family day," I said softly, hoping to draw out any ounce of sympathy from Austin but his heart seemed to be made of stone. He smiled and patted my head.

"Does that work on your brothers?"

In fact, it did. It was all in the eyes, lowering your eyelids, slightly furrowing your brows and pouting your lips but not too much and making your voice sound small, like whoever you were using it on should've been ashamed of themselves. It worked most occasions.

And Austin Collins seemed to be immune.

Keith stood up from the couch and found his way to us at the door, reading something on his phone with a smile. "What's taking you so long? Was that the pizza?"

"Did you order pizza?" Because this was the first time I was hearing about this.

"Nope."

"Who are you texting?" I piped up, being the nosy sister that I was.

"Who's at the door?" he laughed, changing the subject before looking up to see for himself. "Collins, what's up, man?" He held out his hand for our uninvited guest and it looked like he was about to shake his hand when he was really going in for a boy hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Your sister and I were supposed to be studying and working on some projects together," he answered, raising his materials for proof.

"Oh, it's no problem," Keith said. "Come in."

"Actually, he was just leaving," I said, stepping in between them to push Austin out.

Keith rolled his eyes, covering my mouth with one hand and using his other arm to lift me, placing me behind him. "Ignore her, you know how she is."

"I do."

"Come in."

"I didn't mean to barge in during your family time." Lies. The king of liars was preying on my brother. "I guess she forgot to cancel." Damned smirk.

"But are you serious? You two are partners in projects? Whose idea was that?" he burst out laughing.

"It was his idea," I pointed at Austin before he could tell my brothers the truth. I'd always been the angel in the family and I was the only person known as the non-trouble child in the house and I wanted to keep it that way. My brothers didn't have to know everything.

"It was?" He didn't believe me one bit.

"It was?" I turned to Austin to narrow my eyes at him and maybe he'd get the message. "It was. I suddenly realized how amazing your sister is but I don't think she feels quite the same way yet. I practically had to beg for her to give me a chance because she's just perfect and–"

"Alright, alright, I get it. Get in." Keith opened the door wider so that Austin could go in, believing nothing but not bothering to ask for a real answer.

"You weren't convincing enough," I shook my head, pushing past the boys to take my seat on the couch, plunking down like I was moping about something.

Austin laughed following Keith and I to the living room where everyone else was.

"Look who's here," Keith announced. They all greeted each other and made Austin immediately feel at home.

I didn't even know how my brothers and Austin Collins came to be close friends. I knew they were teammates but my brothers never talked to me about him. Then again, my brothers didn't talk to me about any of their friends and even if they did, maybe they knew that talking about Austin would just tick me off. However close they were, they treated him like he was their brother and had already been part of the family for a long time. Even Kyle, who was a hard kid to please, accepted Austin being a part of our sibling day.