"We fought an uphill battle. One we had no hope of winning."
~~~
Felicity-Flick as most call her-Carter, has learned a thing or two in her 12 years of life. How to deal with drunk parents without waking the neighbors, how to smoke a cigarette withou...
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"Isn't this nice?"
Wren tried, showing off a shiny smile that I was sure wasn't supposed to look quite so forced. Emil hummed in agreement, but other than that, no one said a word. We could all agree Wren was trying too hard. Nothing this family did was ever 'nice', let alone anything we did together.
I rolled my eyes and glanced up at Cameron, who just shrugged in response. I would never admit this out loud, but it was nice to have an ally in the face of so many enemies and intruders, even if I still considered him one of them. It's been a long time since I felt like anyone was on my side. And even if it was only temporary between the two of us, I couldn't help but wordlessly savor it.
"Yeah, Wren, this all very lovely, thank you guys for putting together such a nice meal," Lily smiled, humoring my pacifistic brother.
"Kiss ass," Mom muttered, topping off her third glass of wine with the blood colored liquid. I'd thought about stopping her after the second, but I knew better than to even bother at this point. It would only cause problems between the two of us. And god knows we don't need any more of those. I saw Emil and Emmett exchange a look across the table. I was sure they wanted to say something too, and a part of me hoped they would. Just so this one time, I wouldn't have to be the adult. But, of course, they didn't say a word, unwittingly making Mom my problem, yet again.
"So, how was shopping you guys?" Lily asked, ignoring Mom's snarky comment. She seemed like the type of person who did that a lot. Ignore ugly things for the sake of peace.
"It was good. I missed going downtown." Wren answered.
"Did you get everything you needed?"
The conversation was almost painful to listen to. If I wasn't so hungry, I would have left already. But, the rumbling in my stomach and the promise of allegiance to Cameron forced me to stay at least for a little longer.
"Yeah," Emil muttered. I saw his eyes flit to me out of the corner of my eye. "Yeah, we got something for everyone."
"Flick, what about you, did you get everything you need? I can take you to the store if you haven't yet?" Emmett offered, giving me a smile that looked more like a nervous grimace.
I narrowed my eyes on him. "First of all, I don't need you to take me to the fucking store, I'm almost 13 years old I don't need you for a god damn thing. Second of all, you're not getting shit from me. None of you are. I wouldn't waste a cent on assholes like you." I said casually.
Emmett sighed and slumped back in his chair in what I assumed-and for his sake, hoped-was utter defeat. The audacity of my brothers never ceased to amaze me. After all this, they still think I'm buying them a fucking Christmas present. Delusional, was the only word I could use at this point.
Noel chuckled humorlessly from the other end of the table. He hadn't said a word the whole meal. Just stared down at his plate, picking at food and wincing every time the fork touched the raw looking cut on his bottom lip. He had clearly drawn the short end of the stick in his fight with Cameron, who had managed to get off with one small cut on his kaw and a bruise on his cheek. Although I wasn't surprised that Cameron had evidently won. He was a good three inches taller than our brother, and I knew from various occasions that Cam was a really good fighter.
