loving you is a losing game - avery x jameson

chapter 4 - brotherly beatdowns

AH YES, THE beauty of Hawthorne House. 

Brotherly beatdowns. 

Xander saw us coming and looked sheepish, but when he saw Jamie, he hid. Not well enough though, because Jamie found him and they proceeded to brawl like eight-year-olds. Max and I walked over to the other side of the room and pretended not to notice, while examining things that we had no clue about. 

"The face-off between brothers Jameson and Alexander. Who will win? Who will die? Will someone get punched in the eye?" Max joked, in a sports commentator voice. 

You could hear the boys fighting behind us. "I didn't do anything!" Xander yelled out. "I have literally no idea what I did!" 

I was going to leave it, but something told me that the poor boy really was clueless. 

"Jameson, wait. Let him explain before you punch his brains out." 

Xander stopped and caught his breath. 

"Well?" I prompted. 

"Ok, firstly, WHAT THE HELL WHY ON EARTH IS JAMIE BEATING ME UP WHO SAID WHAT AND WHERE AND WHY AM I IN TROUBLE?" Xander yelled faster than light, anxiety spreading across his features. 

 He paused, taking a deep breath. "Avery. You're like my sister, what did I do?" 

I could tell he was genuine. I took a deep breath. "Well, according to Thea-" I started. 

"THEA? YOU'RE BEATING ME UP BECAUSE OF SOMETHING THEA SAID?" Xander yelled, unable to control his volume. 

Jameson cracked his knuckles and looked at me. "Hold on - both of you. Thea said to me this morning that she heard that I had had a busy night, and when I asked her what she meant, she said "I know of a certain Hawthorne who may or may not be trialling some new scone listening devices." I mimicked in my most annoying Thea impression. 

Xander cracked a smile at the accent, but his face turned cold. "Avery, I would never invade your privacy like that. Jamie, Gray, Nash, maybe." Jameson turned red. "But you?" Xander continued, "I could never do that to you. As terrible of a mother as Skye was, she taught us to respect women and think of them as equals. I don't know what the hell Thea is on about, but she's known for stirring up drama to get reactions, and it wouldn't be the first time she's pinned something on me." Xander stared into the distance. 

I didn't dare inquire more, as it seemed to be a touchy subject. 

"Oh." Max said quietly. 

We all stood there, frozen in place. No one said a word, not until the door was slammed open. We all looked up. Grayson stood there, taking in the scene, one by one, until he got to me. He diverted his eyes frantically, like just looking at me would be a betrayal. The others noticed his quick movement and looked towards me, all aware of the situation except for Xander, but he pieced it together. He was the youngest, tallest and arguably most brilliant Hawthorne. 

Grayson took a breath to start talking, but it was knocked out of him as I hit him on the way past, walking as quickly as I could away from that scene.

I pushed open the backdoors of Hawthorne House and ran until I reached a bench. "In memory of Emily Laughlin", it read on a gold plaque. The bench was sturdy, but you could tell blood, sweat and tears had gone into it. Mr and Mrs Laughlin, I thought. 

"How am I ever going to survive here?" I asked, to no one in particular. "I mean you chose between the two of them, and look how well that went over." I said bluntly. 

Bit harsh, I heard someone say in the back of my mind. 

"Sorry." I added. 

"Ave? Avery?" I spun my head. Two voices were calling my name. One Max and one... deeper voice. I couldn't quite place it. I stood up and worked my way out of the little clearing that I was in. I'd learnt not to reply until I knew who else was in the conversation. I was searching for an answer when I saw an unmistakable cowboy hat. That was easy, I thought to myself. 

"I'm over here!" I yelled out. They turned towards the sound of my voice and I walked towards them. 

"Darlin', you scared us to death. We thought you ran away or hurt yourself-" He was cut off by Max grabbing me in the tightest hug I'd ever gotten. 

"Don't scare me like that again." She said softly, her voice quivering. 

"Pinky promise," I replied, squeezing her hard. 

Once she let go of me, Nash started talking. "Well sweetheart, I'm glad to know that you're ok, but we have to get you back to Oren and Alisa before they kill us." 

Shoot, I thought. I am so dead.