Another steamy screenshot warning on this one!

—————-

Okay… Um… Formula for Sulfuric Acid… Remi’s brow furrowed in concentration, and he willed himself to not peek at the open textbook in front of him. It’s… H…2… Um…

“Yeah, you like that, don’t you?” His thoughts were once again interrupted by a husky female voice carrying from the room next door.

“Mmm… Hehehe!” A high pitched voice replied.

Again?! Oh my FUCKING God. ENOUGH!

Remi slammed his book shut and rose to his feet, a white-hot anger bubbling up inside of him. In seconds, he was standing outside his sister’s bedroom. The giggles and whispers from within continued. With a deep breath, he reached for the handle and threw the door open.

“What the FUCK, Remi?!” River rose to her feet, retrieving her t-shirt from the floor beside the bed and covering herself as quickly as she could.

On the bed, Coleen just looked up at him, making no attempt to cover herself. “Oh, sorry… Were we too loud?” She asked seriously. “Sorry.”

“Yes, you were.” Remi narrowed his eyes at her, willing himself to not let his gaze linger on her beautiful, half-naked body.

He felt a harsh tug at his elbow as his twin rather forcefully dragged him from the bedroom. “Just a sec, Col.” River called over her shoulder as she closed the bedroom door behind them. “Have you ever heard of knocking?!” She hissed at her brother between clenched teeth.

“I dunno. Have you ever heard of human decency?!” He spat back at her. “I have a huge test tomorrow and the semester’s almost over. You know that! Can’t you just hold off for one friggin’ day?! Or go to Coleen’s place or something?!”

His sister simply rolled her eyes. “This is hysterical. You’re jealous!”

Remi could not hold back the sudden warmth that came to his cheeks. “What?!”

“You’re jealous because you still haven’t gotten any ever since we moved here.” She smirked. “Minus that pity handjob Coleen gave you after your shitty date.” She giggled.

“She told you about that?!” He felt like he was going to die.

River nodded. “Of course she did.”

Remi said nothing for a moment. His sister was being a total bitch, but… Damn it, she’s right. He was jealous. Incredibly so. Remi wanted everything River had. He wanted to make it through more than two dates with a girl before she gave him the awkward ‘thanks, but no thanks’ talk. He wanted to be the one to bring a date back to the apartment for once. But more than anything, he wanted the one thing his twin didn’t have – a real relationship. Why the hell was that so hard?

Instead, he had to deal with his sister’s seemingly endless string of flings and one-night stands. And the fact that River’s most recent conquest happened to have rejected him weeks ago… Well, it was just adding insult to injury.

“Can’t you just take it somewhere else? Anywhere else?” He asked at last.

River shook her head. “Sorry. Coleen’s brother brought a guy over to their place. That’s half the reason she’s here.” She explained. “She was considerate enough to give them some privacy…” River eyed her brother significantly as she spoke.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Remi held his face in his hand for a moment, considering his options. He had absolutely no desire to leave, but if his sister wasn’t budging, staying did not sound very appealing either. “Ugh, fine! I’ll head over to Axel’s place… But don’t expect me to be gone all night. I’m coming back.”

“Don’t need all night.” His sister assured him with a smile. “Thanks, Rem. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

“Yeah, whatever.” He didn’t even bother to retrieve his textbook before walking out the door.

————————————————–

“Dude, no way.” Axel laughed. “This is one of the few times when the remakes were actually like, worlds better than the originals.” He paused for a moment, pounding rapidly on the buttons of the controller. “I mean, have you even seen them?”

“Are you kidding?” Zayne smiled, not taking his eyes off of the television screen. “I grew up on those movies! Don’t ever let my Tante Joce or grandpa hear you diss the originals like that. They’re kind of obsessed…”

Before Axel could continue their Moonlight Massacre debate, they were interrupted by a sudden knocking at the door. Zayne paused their game as his friend rose from the couch to see who it was.

It had been a pleasant surprise when Axel invited him over to hang out that afternoon. Zayne had run into Axel on his way back from depositing his most recent paycheck. They got to talking a bit about the new Space Dementia DLC, and the next thing Zayne knew, he was sitting on Axel’s couch sipping a soda, trying out the DLC, and talking about horror movies.

“Oh, Remi. Hey!” Axel’s voice called Zayne back to the present as he stepped aside to let his friend enter.

“Hey, man. Sorry for barging in like this… River’s being such a fucking bitch right now. I –” Remi paused, surprised. “Zayne? What are you doing here?”

Zayne just shrugged. “Checking out the new Space Dementia DLC. It’s pretty sweet, actually.”

Remi raised an eyebrow curiously at his friend. Axel just smiled. “I’m allowed to have other friends besides you, aren’t I?”

“Of course!” Remi replied. “I’m just wondering how much you had to pay Zayne to hang out with you.” He teased.

“Not enough…” Zayne replied with a playful glint in his eye. “But I felt bad.”

“Cute.” Axel rolled his eyes, dropping back onto the couch beside Zayne. He seemed very eager to shift the conversation back to his friend. “Alright Remi, spill. What did she do this time?”

Zayne couldn’t help but lean forward eagerly. It wasn’t often that he got let in on this kind of gossip. For the first time, he truly felt like he was one of Remi’s friends, and not just his cousin.

Remi hesitated for a moment, cleared his throat softly, and told the other two exactly what had happened.

“Jesus.” Axel shook his head as his friend finished his story. “And with Coleen too… That’s pretty damn low.”

Remi shrugged. “Last night was their second or third date. I guess I should have expected this sooner or later.”

“I vote sooner.” Axel smiled. “Honestly, I’m surprised Riv waited this long.”

Zayne tried his best to hide his discomfort as the other two continued speaking. He liked being included, but he was definitely getting way more information about his cousins’ sex lives than he cared to know. Maybe this is my cue to leave… I’ve gotta work tonight anyway. He reminded himself as he rose to his feet.

“Alright, as enlightening as this whole thing has been… I should probably run.” He said, smiling. “I’ve gotta attempt to do at least a little homework before my shift tonight.”

“Ha! Tante Jossy’s still on your ass about that chem test, isn’t she?”

“Unfortunately.” Zayne grumbled. Her constant phone calls nagging about his homework were getting tiring, and he knew she wouldn’t stop until his grades started going back up.

“Hey, before you go… Are you busy Friday night?” Axel asked as Zayne headed toward the door.

He paused, mentally going through his work schedule for the coming week. “Don’t think so.”

“Perfect… I think I’m gonna have a few people over.” He smiled. “One last hurrah before winter break, y’know? Plus I figure I’ll invite a few cute girls so we can finally get Remi to stop whining so much… Ow!”

“Dick.” Remi laughed, pulling his fist away from his friend’s shoulder. “But… I’m in.”

Another party?! Cute girls?! HA! YES! “Sounds great.” Zayne kept his expression as casual as he could manage. “See you then, I guess.”

Remi smiled. “Bye, Zayne.”

“Later!” Axel called.

Zayne kept his smile the entire way home.

Until he checked his mail, at least.

The sight of the heating bill made his heart sink. He thought of the paycheck he’d just deposited that afternoon… More than half of it would go toward the heat. Plus he still had his phone bill to pay, groceries to buy…

“Fuck.” He muttered, wishing he could tear the bill up and throw it away.

Zayne nearly jumped at the sound of a deep chuckle from over his shoulder.

He turned around, his eyes widening as their gaze fell on the familiar figure who walked toward him. Zayne nearly held his breath, waiting for him to walk by and continue down the stairs.

But he didn’t.