Tessa's Home

Eight

Tessa

By the time I had to say goodbye to Arthur, I had handfuls and handfuls of gum.

Killian wasn't lying when he told me Arthur had a whole cupboard full of strawberry flavoured gum.

My eyes practically fell out when I saw it all. I used up all my energy trying not to cry.

But now I'm eating, so my energy's slowly rising again.

"I'm on the basketball team now. Captain, to be exact. My team's headed to the national semi-finals in a few weeks, actually," Killian says, eating his homemade burger happily.

Dad invited him over for lunch when he dropped me and Tyler off, and he happily accepted.

"That's crazy. Weren't you into soccer before?" I ask, an eyebrow raised. I swear, he used to be obsessed with soccer, it almost creeped me out.

Whenever I saw him, he'd be holding a soccer ball, and always begged me and Tyler to play.

"Yeah, but about three or so years ago I sprained my ankle while playing, so I couldn't play for a while. I was bored, so I starting shooting hoops and I found out I liked basketball better." He shrugs.

How could he change passions just like that? He always used to swear he'd become a professional soccer player, and now he's a basketball team captain.

It been too long. Too much has changed. This is just freaky.

"Woah," I sigh, putting down my half eaten burger, "so much has changed. You used to worship soccer."

Killian laughs, and then points at Tyler. "Well, he's in an art club now. Guess what he's done over the last four years."

"Shut up, Killian," Tyler says, a small pink tinge on his cheeks.

"What? What'd you do?" I look between them curiously, needing answers.

"He came first place in a state wide art competition and won a thousand bucks. He's literally the best artist in the entire state," Killian explains, making Tyler really shy.

I gape at him, half laughing, half gasping. "Jeez, how good have you gotten? You have to show me."

He pulls out his phone, the blush still there, and tells me about it while he tries to find the photo.

"It was a collab piece. Umm, I used an old photo in my camera roll as inspo," he says, slowly, like he's scared of the words.

When I see the photo, my mind clicks within seconds, and I smile sadly.

It's of me. That sounds kind of vain, but I know it for a fact.

When we were younger, me and Tyler had a small phase of obsession with photography.

Naturally, because Tyler has always been the creative one, he was the photographer, and I was his model.

It's based off one of our favourite photoshoots. We bought a water proof camera and took photos in and under and around water.

The photos came out so well we thought we'd become famous. Of course, that didn't happen, but it was a sweet feeling while it lasted.

"It's gorgeous," I say, astonished. "How is it even physically possible to paint something that perfectly?"

He goes bright red now, smiling slightly. What a cutie pie. He's so adorable, my baby brother.

Everyone calls me the baby, but I'm technically thirteen minutes older than Tyler. So he's my baby brother, if anything.