𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 - Ginny and Georgia

27

"Why didn't you come to the Halloween party?" Max asked curiously as the both of them started to head towards the street. She was walking with her to school considering Peter wouldn't be picking her up anymore.

"Oh, I just felt sick" She lied which made her feel incredibly bad. Max was her best friend and it was almost as if she was hiding a double life from her. She didn't tell her she was hooking up with Marcus, she didn't tell her about her alcohol habit nor about how Peter had hit her and that they had broken up.

"Devastating! You would have looked badass in that costume" She said shaking her head dramatically as she put her hand on her chest. "You didn't miss anything though, oh, expect me making an absolute fool out of myself"

"Wait, what happened?" She questioned with raised eyebrows, trying to imagine all the different scenarios Max could get herself in that would be embarrassing. There were too many to come up with one.

She didn't respond whatsoever, her interest shifting onto something new entirely as she stopped up beside a tree. "Woah! Hold up, drama!"

That's when her eyes flickered to the street and she saw Marcus and Padma standing by her parked car, both with conflicting facial expressions.

"I don't know what to think anymore Marcus, I just feel like I don't matter to you. Do you even like me?" Padma inquired insecurely, not being able to hide her trembly voice.

"You know I like you" He stated with complete seriousness.

"No, I don't"

Amelia felt herself become an odd sort of uneasy. She didn't want to stand there listening if it was going in the direction she was thinking. "We shouldn't be listening to this"

"Shush" Max uttered, finding herself too invested to stop.

She was about to turn and walk away, not being able to listen if Marcus was about to declare how much he liked Padma. She, nevertheless, found herself stopping in her tracks as the next words were the complete opposite of what she had expected.

"I told you, I just- I just...I can't do this" He retorted, beginning to rapidly blink as he became more on edge.

"What? This conversation? Or hooking up with me with zero commitment? Which one can't you do?" She pressed, racing her voice. She didn't understand him at all. He had become progressively colder and she was tired of it, she just wanted answers.

He scratched his head, an aggravated look in his eyes before the words he was thinking finally slipped and he cried out, "All of it!"

Amelia's eyes widened as she watched by the sideline, feeling as if her breath was caught in her throat. She was witnessing Marcus ending it with Padma, something she had secretly hoped for but now that it was happening she acknowledged there was no turning back.

Padma didn't answer nor give him another glance as she opened her car door, dismissing the "I'm sorry" escaping his lips before she started the engine of the car. One could see the pain in her eyes as she drove away and Amelia couldn't push away the thought that she was somehow the cause of it.

"Shit" Max exhaled silently as her eyes landed on Amelia. She thought Marcus and Padma were going to be together for a long time. In the small interactions with her, she gushed about how well things were going between them. But, it didn't surprise her that her brother had managed to screw it up in some way.

She began to walk again only to stop up a second later to see that Amelia was frozen in spot, looking as if she was deep in thought. "Everything fine?"

She burst out of it and faked a smile. "Yes, yeah, just remembered I have a paper that was due before the weekend"

"Ugh, that sucks" Max responded with a groan, linking their arm with hers, dragging her along.

As they got to the street Marcus was still standing there, skateboard in hand. His face was blank but his eyes were wide and it almost seemed as if he was in shock over what he had done. They walked straight past him, Max pulling a —what the fuck?— grimace as soon as their backs were turned.

After he had gotten a second to regain himself he looked to the side, his attention immediately falling onto Amelia. He put his skateboard onto the ground before getting on it, reaching her and his sister in a flash.

She could feel his presence by her side, but she stayed quiet, in that way she could pretend she didn't witness anything, pretend she didn't know what he had done.

"What was that all about?" Max unexpectedly blurted out, breaking the uncomfortable silence as she tilted her head out from beside Amelia so she could see Marcus.

Please, for god sake, shut up, Max.

"I know you lack a couple of brain cells from all of the weed you smoke, but you're not dumb" She continued in annoyance at her brother's attempt of playing clueless.

"It was nothing. For ones in your damn life can you just learn to let something go?" Marcus threw his head back, letting out a huff of annoyance.

While the two of them started to bicker, Amelia stood awkwardly in between them, trying to make herself as quiet and invisible as possible.

"Not when you're being an asshole" She replied assertively. "You just broke poor Padma's heart, picked it up again and stumped on it"

He came to a halt as the words left her mouth, shaking his head in disbelief as he let out a weak laugh. "I know you think you know everything about everyone, Maxine, but you don't. I had my reasons, ones you're too close-minded to wrap your head around"

Mentally, she was pacing back and forth anxiously, the urge to take a hold of Marcus and tell him to close his mouth only growing larger by every second. She could see it in his eyes, in his face, the way he was just dying to throw out the words she so neatly had locked into a drawer not ever wanting to open.

"Go, then! Try me! I'll gladly hear whatever good reasons you have" Max rolled her eyes with her arms crossed. It was a mistake to say she was too closed-minded to whatever bullshit reasons he meant was valid, that was like a challenge.

He glanced over at Amelia as if he just realizing she was there and his bothered facial expression changed into a softer one. She shook her head at him, silently pleading for him to not. He looked back at his sister, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"See, you don't have any" Max said with a slight hint of satisfaction as she started to walk again. It was as if she had just won some game the way she was smiling. "You're just a dick, right Amelia?"

"Yeah" She breathed out as she turned her head to look at him. "An incredibly big one"

As she played what she said over again in her head she realized how odd it came out, especially considering the image of his dick flashed into her mind a second later. Marcus cleared his throat, trying to hold in his laugh as he noticed Amelia's cheeks turning red.