One Time Thing [Wattys 2021 Shortlist] ✔️

Chapter 6: Either...or

XANDER

All the piled-up aggression found its outlet through the punching bag that Xander repeatedly hit for the last twenty minutes. His hands hurt even through the boxing gloves and the bag swung, threatening to fall off the ceiling. Blood boiled through his veins, pumping through his muscles and the nerve-endings in his fists. Last night's alcohol left his body in the form of sweat.

Xander didn't come home last night.

He stopped on the porch, the impact of the night settling on his chest, right when the magic of alcoholic denial disappeared. Realising there was something missing in his relationship made him turn around. He went to his family house, where his sister currently lived.

Xander hit the bag, hoping it would clear his mind, or magically make his decisions for him. But the bag disappointed, and Xander couldn't keep the thoughts out of his head. Frustrated, he shouted at the bag.

"Woah, there, big bro, I didn't know I'd find you kicking the living shit out of my bag."

Xander turned around, wiping the sweat out of his eyes, his breathing hard. His sister, Zora, stood at the door with her hands crossed. Xander frowned at her additional tattoos, that now covered most of her neckline, her cleavage and her legs. Now she definitely looked older than nineteen. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he liked her collarbone tattoo the most. The carefully intertwined flowers climbed around her collarbone, creating a three-dimensional illusion.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't go home last night." Xander groaned, removing the boxing gloves off his hands, throwing them on the dark blue mat.

Zora squinted, her icy blue eyes shooting arrows across the room. Being 'beautiful' wasn't a part of her image, but her toughness was so extraordinary that one had to find her mesmerizing. If one was into girls that could kick one's ass.

"What did you do?" She asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, Z, I had too much to drink and didn't want to show up before Annie like that." Xander wiped his face off with a towel, feeling much better than he did when he woke up.

"I couldn't imagine exercising hungover. You're gonna die, dude, you're not that young anymore." Zora threw him a bottle of water.

"First of all, you're too young to drink-"

"That's naive."

"And second of all, I exercise hungover because otherwise, I would feel so shitty that I'd have to kill myself." Xander finished.

"I usually just take another shot." Zora shrugged her shoulders, her sentence catching Xander by surprise.

"Where did I go wrong as a brother?" He asked.

"You decided you wanted to be a 'cool bro.' If you had been a 'strict brother,' I would've worn pink and listened to One Direction." Zora smiled, taking a strand of her black hair. "This would've been blond."

"Yeah, alright. Sorry for barging in, anyways. I knew the folks went to Clarks' for the weekend." Xander checked his phone, no messages from Annie. She received a drunk text somewhere during the night where Xander explained he was out drinking with his baby sister, which in retrospect, didn't seem like a good excuse.

"What happened, X?" Zora persisted. It wasn't unusual for her to ask so many questions. Growing up, their parents were busy building their careers, so Xander and Zora basically had each other.

All the carefully-constructed denial vanished under Zora's observant stare.

"I met someone." Xander said finally, the weight of the words settling on his heart. Zora approached the small coffee table next to the punching bag and sat on the washed-up brown couch. It was an improvised gym, with nothing but a treadmill and a punching bag, but it seemed to be her safe haven.