Silas' POV:
"Silas." I heard a voice and felt myself being shaken awake. I grunted out a few inhuman noises that roughly translated to "Go away."
"Silas, wake up," I opened one eye and saw my brother had rolled over to face me. The other side of him, my new stepbrother Oli lay fast asleep.
"What?" I demanded groggily, burying my face in the pillow. I risked a glance at the alarm clock; it was 3:46.
"I want to do stuff." Vince whined, giving me the puppy dog eyes he knew I couldn't resist. However, at three in the morning, I could resist puppy dog eyes, kitten eyes, and baby panda eyes combined.
"It's too early to do stuff." I grumbled, squeezing my eyes shut. Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away.
"Silas, get my heroin." He commanded.
"You don't do heroin." I yawned.
"Well... Get me my cocaine."
"Vincent, you don't do cocaine either." I reminded him.
"What about weed?" He asked.
"You don't do weed either. Or smoke it, whatever." I grumbled, trying to fight off my amusement. How many drinks had this boy had?
"Oh... What do I do?" He asked, confused. It was the most adorable thing.
"You don't do drugs, Vincent." I told him, opening my eyes partially.
"Oh... My life sounds pretty boring." He stated thoughtfully.
"It is. Now go to sleep." I grumbled. I was not a morning person.
"Okay." He agreed sadly. He closed his eyes and, once I thought he was asleep, I closed my own eyes.
"Silas?" I heard Vince ask after a few minutes.
"Yes?"
"If you murder me, can you do it some way cool? Like throw me off a bridge or chop me up and eat me?" He asked, deadly serious.
I rolled my eyes, fighting back a grin, "I'm not a cannibal, Vincent."
"But you're a carnivore, which is close." He smiled sleepily at his logic.
"No, Vince, humans are omnivores." I muttered sleepily.
"Oh..." Vincent said. He closed his eyes and, after a few minutes, I heard him snoring lightly. Finally, he was asleep. I closed my eyes and rolled over, laughing quietly to myself as I slipped back into slumber.
***
Five hours later, I opened my eyes to find my brothers were no longer in the bed with me. I sat up, looking around as I stretched and yawned. I found Vincent and Oli sitting together on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bed, talking quietly to each other as they watched TV. They heard me stir and looked over their shoulders at me.
"Good morning, princess." Vince mocked, rubbing the side of his head, something he always did when he had a headache.
"Morning, Silas." Oli smiled brightly, waving. I waved back at both of them, rubbing my eyes with my other hand.
"What ya watchin'?" I asked groggily, crawling towards the end of the bed. I slipped off it and sat between Vince and Oli, resting my head on Vince's broad shoulder.
"I'm not sure..." Oli answered, confused. I turned to smile at Oli, noticing he was still shirtless.
My eyes grazed over his bare chest. I felt something stir in my stomach as I discretely looked him over, the tingly sensation spreading rapidly towards my lower region. Oli was small, but a few inches taller than I was, with an awe-worthy physique despite his distinct lack of muscles. He was on the scrawny side but I could tell he was deceivingly strong. I heard Vince clear his throat behind me and I quickly averted my eyes, embarrassed to be caught staring. Luckily, Oli didn't notice.
But I'm definitely not gay or anything.
Vince chuckled, then answered my former question, "It's a movie we found on TV, I don't know what it's called."
I nodded slowly, staring blankly at the TV screen.
"Are you hungover?" I asked Vince, still watching the TV. Vince shook his head, then winced and raised a hand to his temple. It must be a really bad headache.
"I'm not hungover. I didn't even drink that much last night." He assured me, resting his arm over my shoulders. I laughed loudly, pushing myself up until I was standing.
"Whatever you say, bro." I retorted as I left the room.
"Silas, wait!" Oli called after me. I didn't stop to find out what he wanted.
I meandered into the kitchen area of the hotel room and saw my parents sitting at the counter drinking their coffee. I nodded a greeting to them as I passed, opening the kitchen cupboard and rummaging around until I found my bottle of pills; I was only 5'4" so I had to stand on my tiptoes to see inside the cupboard. I also found a glass in the cupboard and poured myself a pint of water. I sat next to Rick at the counter and quickly took my medication, gagging on the large pills.
"Good boy." Rick praised quietly, ruffling my hair. He knew how much I hated taking my medication. I just shrugged. I heard the toaster pop and Rick stood up to butter a few slices. He brought over the plate and gently put it in front of me.
"Thank you." I said. Rick had put on quite a bit of weight since he moved in with us, which my mum blamed on him being stressed at work. I blamed her.
My mother has always treated Vince and I differently. She adored Vince, he was her perfect little angel. I, on the other hand, was the baby she never wanted. She told me that I was an accident, and that she only wanted one child. Even when Vince had come out as gay, my formerly-homophobic mother had accepted him almost instantly.
"Morning, mum." I smiled, taking a bite of my toast.
"Where's Vince and Oli?" She asked, sipping at her black coffee.
"They're in the bedroom, watching a movie." I answered, although I knew she already knew the answer.
"Didn't you say we were leaving today?" I turned to Rick.
"Oli needs more time to say goodbye to everyone," He explained, "I've booked the tickets for Thursday."
"So, four days." I said thoughtfully. A lot can happen in four days. I wonder how Oli's friends will react to him leaving. Will he speak to his mum? Would she even care? Rick had told Vince and I about her kicking Oli out, and I hated her for it.
"No, Silas. It's Sunday today," My mum scoffed, forcefully putting her mug down on the table, "We're staying for five more days."
"No, he's right, Terrybear," Rick told her gently, using his pet name for her, "Today's Sunday, you're right about that. Then we have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then we leave on Thursday." He counted the four days on his fingers to show her. My mum grunted loudly: she hated being contradicted.
She took a deep breath and stood up, "Sorry, Silas. You were right." She admitted begrudgingly. Rick smiled at the two of us, ignoring my mother's bad mood. He didn't like the way she acted towards me, or that she acted completely different when we were around other people.
"I'm going to shower." I announced, then stood up and headed towards the bedroom to grab my clothes.
Oli and Vince were still sitting on the floor, but they were now playing a game of cards. The TV was still on but only for background noise. They greeted me when they saw me.
"Hey Si. Are you alright?" Oli asked, looking up briefly then returning to staring intently at the cards in his hand.
"Yup, just peachy. I'm getting in the shower." I told him, rummaging through my suitcase for clothes. I chose a pair of blue jeans and a checkered shirt, finding some clean socks and underwear crumpled at the bottom.
The boys had returned to their game, so I left the room quietly to avoid disturbing them. Then I remembered something and backtracked into the bedroom again.
"Oli," I called, waiting until he looked up at me to continue, "We're leaving on Thursday."
I left the room before he could answer and walked to the bathroom. I locked the door and sighed deeply, exhausted already. I eventually figured out how to turn the water on, then I stripped my clothes off. Vince usually turned the shower on for me, but I didn't want to disturb his game.
I climbed into the shower, pulling the sliding door closed, and proceeded to quickly washing myself. Once I was clean, I stood underneath the shower nozzle and closed my eyes, allowing the warm water to caress my body.
"What are you plans for today?" I jumped, throwing myself against the wall when I heard Vince's voice, hitting my head in the process.
"Vince!" I whined, rubbing the back of my head. It was throbbing and there was a metallic taste in my mouth; I must have bitten my tongue.
"Sorry." Vince shrugged, he was brushing his teeth in the bathroom mirror.
"That really hurt..." I grumbled, still rubbing my throbbing head. I shut the water off and grabbed my towel off the hook, wrapping it around my lower half as I stepped out of the shower, "And, to answer your question, no I don't have plans."
Vince spat out his toothpaste and looked at me in the mirror, "Oli's seeing Emilio this afternoon. Do you want to go bowling? We didn't go yesterday, and Dad said he'd take us."
"Okay, sure." I answered, picking out my own toothbrush.
"Good. We're dropping Oli at Leo's, then we'll find the bowling alley."
"Okay." I said. I put a line of toothpaste on my toothbrush and started brushing my teeth. Vince picked up a comb from the bathroom counter and started gently combing my hair. We made eye contact with each other's reflections in the mirror, and Vince gave me a sad smile.
"You don't need to feel guilty about what happened with Leo yesterday." Vince told me, misreading my downcast expression.
"It's not that," I answered glumly, "It's just... I don't know, I guess I'm jealous. She treats me differently."
Vince smiled and rolled his eyes, "She does not," He chuckled, thumping me on the head with the comb. I winced in pain, "She loves you, Si. Just as much as she loves me."
I shook my head, repeating myself so he'd understand, "She treats me different, Vinny. She always says she doesn't want me. She hates me, I know she does." I spoke quietly in case someone was eavesdropping. Vince sighed and gave me a sympathetic smile.
"Have you taken your tablets, Silas?" Vince asked. He was treating me like a child.
I spun round to face him, my eyes desperate, "I'm not making it up, Vince. It's real." I cried, frantically searching his face for a sign that he believed me.
Vince placed his hands firmly on my shoulders, crouching slightly so his eyes were level with mine, "Silas, it's all in your head. Mum loves you. So does Rick. So do I. I promise you, Mum doesn't treat you differently."
He was patronising me.
I closed my eyes, shaking my head violently, speaking fast, "You're lying. She's never loved me like she loves you. She's never kissed me goodnight, she doesn't ask if I'm okay. She didn't come to the hospital when everyone thought I was crazy-"
Vincent stopped me as I was becoming hysterical, "Dad took you to the hospital, Si. Mum couldn't go because she was at work, but Dad took you." He was talking about our real dad.
I continued to shake my head, slower now as I let Vincent's words sink in. He pulled me into his arms and embraced me. Thankfully, my towel remained on my hips.
"You are crazy, Silas. It's a part of who you are, and we love you for it," Vince whispered soothingly. He pitied me, "I love you, little dude. Never forget that."
"I love you too, Silas." Oli smiled from the doorway, seemingly having stood there watching for a while. He ran towards us and threw his arms around Vince and I, joining in with our hug. I squirmed out of their arms, pulling my shirt on and hurriedly doing up the buttons. I picked up my boxers and let my towel drop before pulling them on, facing away from Vince and Oli. I heard Vince sigh, then he started speaking to Oli.
"What time are you leaving?" Vince asked.
"About fifteen minutes," Oli answered, leaning against the closed door of the bathroom, "I want to have breakfast first."
Once I was fully clothed, I turned back to face my brothers, smiling widely at the two of them.
"We're out of chocolate spread." Vince warned, grinning. Oli's mouth dropped open.
"What?!" He cried, clutching his heart dramatically.
"I finished it off last night," Vince admitted cautiously. Oli growled at him, "I'm sorry!" Vince held his hands up in surrender. Oli grinned at me as I started giggling.
"You don't even like chocolate spread!" Oli threw his hands up in disbelief.
"I was drunk." Vince laughed, backing away from Oli.
"Told you." I muttered, smirking.
Oli chuckled lightly and opened the bathroom door, "I guess I'll have to settle for butter."
We followed him out, Oli and I still laughing while Vince maintained a safe distance.
"Never mess with a man's chocolate spread." I warned Vince, picking up my shoes as we passed the shoe rack since it took me significantly longer to put them on. I hate shoe laces. I was never taught when I was little, for some unknown reason. Rick had started teaching me two years ago when he first moved in, but I still wasn't an expert yet.
The five of us sat in the kitchen as Oli ate his toast. He was feigning annoyance, and Rick and I were laughing insanely at him. Rick had jokingly told Vince off for eating all the chocolate spread, so Vince was now standing in the naughty corner, pouting deeply. Mum paid no attention to us, she was sitting on her phone.
"Are you boys ready to go?" Rick asked once Oli had finished his toast.
"Yeah, I just need to put my shoes on." Oli grinned, picking his shoes off the rack. Vince joined him and they both put on their shoes. Rick also put his on and it wasn't long before we were all ready to leave. Mum was staying in the hotel room, apparently.
Vince flung open the door and shouted; "Last one to the car's a Kangaroo's ballsack!" Vince yelled, darting out of the room. A mother scowled at Vince as he ran past her, holding her child to her chest. I rolled my eyes and took off after him, hearing Oli and Rick start running behind us.