She Was Always My Juliet

Chapter Ten - 21 Years Old

I pushed open the door to their apartment/studio to the smell of paint and coffee.

"Tessa?"

"It's Ophelia dumbass!"

I laughed and shrugged off my jacket throwing it onto the little sofa by the door and admiring the walls.

They were painted in swirls Of beautiful murals that Nate had spent hours on when they'd first moved it together.

"Where are you?"

"Kitchen!"

"Where she belongs." I heard a deep joking male voice sound from behind me and I turned to see Nate standing by the door to his studio covered in blue paint. He was the definition of Ophelia dream hipster guy with the deep blue eyes and slight beard scruff.

Beard scruff that I was insanely jealous of. Honestly I can't for the life of me grown one.

"I heard that Nathaniel." My sister in all her five foot four glory stood by the kitchen brandishing a knife. Her dark purple hair tied in a messy bun on top of her head. "Back into your man cave before I contently throw this knife right at your micro-penis!"

She spun on her heel and retreated back into the kitchen. Nate smirked at me and mouthed "Period." Before retiring to his studio.

"You alright Tash?" I asked once I stepped into the kitchen plopping myself down on one of the spinning stools and spinning round as fast as I could.

She silently pushed a steaming cup of coffee toward me when she sat opposite me on the kitchen island. Her eyes scanning over multiple files as she gripped her coffee mug in her hands.

I began to speak again but she put her hand in front of my face as a sign to shut up for a few minutes.

I sat in silence still spinning on my chair and looking around the room. Ophelia was more of an adult than I'd ever be. Her and Nate made such a fantastic unit and they both turned twenty one and twenty in November.

After a few more minutes of feeling like I'd done something wrong she looked at me.

"Roe..."

I groaned. "You're using the mum voice on me! That's not fair you're younger than me!"

"And wiser apparently." I heard her mumble under her breath. "You need to get your shit together Roe. I know you have enough money financially, Grampa left almost all of it for you in his will so I know you can find a nice apartment but you need to focus on your studies and less on women."

I raised my eyebrow at her while placing my cup down on the island and wandering to the disgusting sink. The urge to clean came over me quickly as I pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and began to scrub.

"I'm doing fine Tess. I really don't need to have a lesson on life from my little sister. It's really going to bruise my ego."

I heard her laugh quietly from behind me.

It was silent for a while as I scrubbed and thought before her voice broke through the silence. "You should speak to Wren and mum. Both of them miss you and you're a fantastic person to talk to."

I paused and turned to face her. "I know. I know I should but I don't want to."

"You've kept me grounded."

I snorted. "Yes the nineteen year old business extraordinaire is grounded by the weird musical black sheep of the family."

"You can't be the black sheep of the family, that's mum, you're the kind hearted one who needs to stop with the whole martyr self preservation bull shit and man up."