ruin▹rilaya

𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵

My eyes widen and she has a shocked expression. I turn to where the sound was coming from and see Auggie walking into the room. He's wearing his pajamas and rubbing his eyes. After he wipes the sleep out of his eyes, he looks at us.

"Oh, hey Riley and Maya," he smiles. "Why do you guys look like that? Is there a ghost?!"

I blink. "No, no, it's nothing."

"Okay, where's Mom and Dad?"

"At the store," I tell him. "You want some pancakes?"

He eagerly nods and I ruffle his messy hair.

Maya furrows her eyebrows. "Pancakes? It's like, lunchtime now."

"Auggie's day can't start until he's got his pancakes," I tell her. "You already know that, Maya."

"Can I have some?" she begs with puppy eyes.

"If you help."

She frowns and we walk into the kitchen. I grab the pan and she mixes the batter, while Auggie sits at the table fighting to stay awake.

"Auggie, why'd you wake up so late?" Maya curiously asks.

"I was at Ava's last night," he sighs. "She made me clean her room and run laps around the apartment because she wants me to be a strong man."

He flexes his arms and I smirk. "There's nothing there."

"That's why she's making me work so hard!" he groans and drops his head down on the table.

Maya laughs and I grab a spatula to flip the pancake. After a while, we finish making way more pancakes than necessary. I grab the syrup from the cabinet as she puts the plateful on the table.

"I love pancakes," Maya mumbles with her mouth full.

Auggie viciously nods and I roll my eyes. Everyone starts devouring pancakes like crazy. I finish eating and Maya and Auggie fight over the last one. While they argue about who's more worthy, I start eating the pancake without them noticing. Maya turns to me to back her up but stops mid-sentence as she catches me.

"Riley!" she gasps and crosses her arms.

I freeze and stare at her, nervously laughing. Auggie turns to me and they both angrily stare at me.

"Sorry."

"Riley...how could you?" Maya whispers and puts her hand over her mouth. "I thought I could trust you."

I roll my eyes and sigh. I stab the last piece with my fork and put it up to her mouth. She grins and eats it.

"Riley! I'm your brother! Do I mean nothing to you?" Auggie shouts and walks over to me with a terrifying look.

"Maya's more important!" I stand up and back away with wide eyes.

"Aw, I'm more important than your brother?" Maya swoons.

I smile and she puts her hands in mine. "Of course."

Auggie's jaw drops and he crosses his arms. "Get out, Maya! Riley's mine."

Her eyes widen and she backs away. "Calm down, Auggs. She loves you, too."

"I love you both equally, just in different ways," I say, trying to calm him down.

He sighs and shrugs. "Okay, fine. But I'm gonna get payback, Maya. That should've been my pancake!"

She rolls her eyes and ruffles his hair. The three of us walk to the couch and continue watching Christmas movies for the next couple of hours. Mom and Dad come back around 3, so Maya and I can leave for the fair.