Family

Tension

Once, Anthony had left the room, I put my sole focus on Ian and what he was going to say, but he starts getting up and putting his dishes in the sink instead of continuing or conversation.

"I'm gonna start getting ready too." he says. "Gotta look stunning for the camera."

I lightly chuckle as he walks out into his room. I then quickly realize that I don't have any dry clothes to get ready in. Let alone any toiletries either. I'm gonna look like an absolute wreck in front of these strangers, I already did that last night and I definitely do not want to do that again.

Not sure what to do, I knock on Ian's door, since Anthony's in the shower.

He opens the door with his shirt off, looking confused.

"Huh?"

"Oh, um, I don't really have anything to change into or like a hairbrush and stuff like that."

"Oh. Uh, I think I have like a shirt and some jeans maybe that might fit you."

He then leaves the door open as he walks to his closet and rummages through it and pulls out a girls blouse with tight jeans. Why does he have girls' clothes in his closet? He then also pulls out a hair brush from his closet which is a weird place to keep it but maybe that's an American thing.

"Here, ya go."

He hands the clothes and hair brush over to me.

"Oh, uh thanks. Do you have a second bathroom where I can change?"

"Uh, no. But you can change in my closet. I won't look, I'm not creep."

I lightly chuckle.

"Well that's good to know."

He very slightly smiles as gestures me to his closet which was surprisingly bigger than I had expected. I was able to change easily, but still felt a bit awkward since it was pretty easy to see through the closed door but I kept my eyes on Ian to make sure he wasn't keeping his eyes on me so nothing awkward and weird would happen. However this is counterintuitive since he began changing so I quickly diverted my eyes and just hoped he wouldn't look.

Once we were both finished I stepped out of the closet and he looked at me with a look that I couldn't exactly tell. Was it the clothes that I was wearing?

"What's that look you're giving me?"

He shakes his head trying to move on.

"It's nothing."

"Whose clothes are these?"

He pauses for a few seconds and responds while looking at the ground.

"They belonged to an ex of mine, just seeing someone wearing it is weird for me I guess."

It was the most vulnerable and defeated tone I've ever heard. It made me feel extremely guilty for wearing them.

"I'm sorry, I can just go in sweats it's no big deal I-" he then cuts me off

"No, it's fine, they look nice on you anyways I guess. And it's about time I get them out of my closet too so you can keep them if you want."

"I mean are you sure? It seems like these mean a lot to you."

"Just take them!" He snapped.

I pushed too hard, I shouldn't have knocked on his door at all I should've just let him be.

"I'm sorry" I whisper as I quickly exit his room.

I always get really scared when people snapped because back at home my adopted siblings would always be yelling at me which always ended up with a slap or punch in the face. Or, if they were really mad, a full on beating.

Once I get back into the living room I sit on the couch and put my hair in a bun rather than brushing it. I usually don't put my hair in buns though because my blue hair looks better down. I'm deciding not to deal with that today though. Once my hair's up I walk over to the kitchen and decide to also pour myself a bowl of cereal, I can't imagine they would mind as long as I wash my dishes afterwards.

Once I finish my cereal and wash the dishes, Anthony walks in the room with slightly damped but yet still styled hair.

"Were you able to help yourself to some breakfast?"

"Yep, I had some gourmet cereal." I smiled.

"Oooh, fancy" We both laughed.

Anthony then recognizes the clothes that I'm wearing.

"Did you get that from Ian?" He asked very confused.

"Uhh yeah, I just wanted an outfit to change into and he said he had something."

"Yeah, you might want to give those back, they kinda mean a lot to him."

"Yeah, I tried, but he just kinda snapped telling me to take them."

"Oh... I'll talk to him about that later. But for now, he told you to keep them so might as well ya know?"

"Yeah, I thought the same thing. Anyways, you said that you guys are filming with a guy Josh and the gang, who exactly are they?"

"Well, our friends have a gaming channel so we like to film collaboration kinda things but in a way more simple version, we get money for making fun of each other and playing games in front of a video camera, so it's very hard and stressful." He said while dramatizing the last part.

"Ah, yes I can see. That seems like one of the hardest jobs ever invented." I say going along with the joke.

"It really is." He says as he rolls his eyes. Then we both smile at each other.

I then randomly decide to switch the tone around and ask him a question.

"So I know that we already figured out what happens if we aren't related, but what happens if we are?"

He thinks for a moment and then sighs.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure yet if I'm being quite honest. One thing to know for sure is that you will always have a place to stay and support whether it be physical, financial, or mental. And on top of that, a pretty awesome brother. And a really cool friend, once you guys get to know each other of course."

I pause for a moment and then begin to smile widely. This is all I've ever wanted. Of course I loved my mom and the situation would never be perfect without her, but I had also always wanted at least one sibling that was actually loving and kind. This is such a dream come true.

Without thinking I walk over to him and hug him tightly.

"Thank you." I say softly.

He seemed to pick up how much this meant to me and hugged me back.

"You're welcome."

We hugged for a bit more and then we naturally broke off.

"We should probably get going now, I don't wanna be late."

I nod.

"Ian common let's go!" he shouts.

"You can wait in the car," he hands me his keys, "I'm gonna talk to him real quick."

"Okay." I walk outside and click the unlock button to see which car is his and get into the backseat.

After a while, Anthony and Ian walk outside and get into the car. Anthony sits in the driver's seat but Ian sits in the back with me which is weird since I let him have front seat.

Once gets in the car and puts on his seatbelt, he looks at me and says, "Hey, I'm sorry for snapping earlier."

I look back at him and say, "Don't worry about it, it's okay."

"No, it was wrong and I shouldn't have done it."

"No really, I get it, I have a lot of keepsakes too, they were really difficult to get rid of. But, it feels like you're finally letting go of the psat ya know? It's healthy."

Ian now averted his eyes from me and nodded.

He then tried to get out of the car and I suppose to move into the front seat but whether it be intentional or not, Anthony started the car and started backing up out of the driveway so he couldn't switch seats. I guess he wanted Ian and I to become friends. We'll see.