Beside Him

Chapter 31// You're A Class-A Prick

"You're a class-a prick!"

"Oh, and what are you? Dora the f*****g explorer?"

"Don't you dare get smart with me! You're a cheating scumbag!"

"Cheating scumbag with nice hair."

"James!" I yelled, jumping off of my chair to glare at my flushed brother.

He sat with his head between his knees, his eyes closed. I could see the bruising around his eye from here from where Archer had punched him.

"I can't believe you..." I murmured, sitting back down.

Wondering what happened? Let me fill you in.

Once we returned back to the hotel room, we walked in to our goddamn room expecting it to be f*****g empty. But no.

Let's just say both Archer and I got a first class seat to watching our sibling and co. practically making a god damn s*x tape on the bed we'd spend the frikking night in.

Cue the shuddering.

"You're being dramatic, Chubby. Nothing really even happened. Penny and I just got a little bit carried away is all, I swear."

"Why?" I asked the question burning in my head. "Why did you choose our bed and not yours for god's sake!?"

"That's easy." He shrugged and I nearly bruised his other eye. "Penny was looking for Archer and I was looking for you. So naturally we went into the room together. We didn't see you so we sat on the bed and waited. She started looking all sexy and I'm sure you can guess what happened next..."

I cringed so hard it's not even funny. "James what the f**k does 'she started looking all sexy' even mean?"

"Stop calling me James, Chubby. It's either Jamie or Bubby. I'm still your brother."

My eyes widened in incredulousness. "My brother does not cheat on his girlfriend for 5 f*****g years!"

"Watch your tone, sis. And I was not with Taylor for 5 years. I've been with her for 2."

My jaw dropped open. I walked over to him and pulled his eyelids up and down until he slapped my hands away and asked what the hell I was doing.

"Checking if you're high." I replied.

He sighed and looked back at the ground. "I'm sorry." He whispered and I plopped down next to him with a sigh of my own.

"I know you are." I replied in the same tone he'd used.

That's all we had to say to each other. The rest was left unsaid. He was my twin brother. I knew full well that the guilt he felt was eating him up inside. I couldn't add to that. Not if I wanted to.

"Taylor," he began, clearing his throat. "She's uh... she's-"

"She's what?" I asked nervously. "Bubby?"

"She wants to get married." I blinked. My bother was the same age as me- 17. Why the hell would he want to settle down with something as big (and kinda stupid) as marriage? "Or at least... at least engaged. I guess I just got a bit..."

He didn't finish. Didn't need to.

"You need to tell her, Bubby." I said quietly. I knew he heard me because he nodded.

"I know." He replied. "It's not that that I'm really worried about. It's Pen. She- I've never met a girl like her, Riv."

I knew he was for real due only the fact that he called me by my name- or another version of my name. It seemed the only person in the world who called me River was Archie. I guess he was the only one who saw that I wasn't really Riv, or Rivi or Kitten or any of the other names I had. I was just River.

"Bubby, you live in Manchester. You can't exactly date such a long-distance."

"And I wasn't planning to. It's just- she's quite the catch, isn't she?" He asked, almost to himself.

I didn't understand how he could become so infatuated by a girl he'd met literally today.

I kind of admired it.

"Whatever you choose to do, I'm with you. You know that don't you?" I asked, leaning my head into his shoulder.

He breathed out a silent laugh. "Yeah. I know, sis. I love you."

"I love you too."

• • • •

"Are you kidding me!?" I screamed at the mirror, grinding my teeth together as Archer appeared beside me, looking rather worried.

"What's-" he stopped as he noticed my finger on the base of my neck at my collar where an angry red mark was beginning to rise. He smiled guiltily though his eyes held no remorse. "Oh." He said them with a laugh.

"Really, b***h?" I asked blankly and he stopped laughing instantly, licking his lips then narrowing his eyes at the mark.

The f*****g hickey.

"It matches the colour of your dress." I picked up my hairbrush casually and then turned with a smile.

It dropped as soon as I whacked the brush right on his chest, above the tattoo. He winced and jumped away but I chased after him, hitting him again and again with the brush as he climbed over the bed, the sofa, even the bloody mirror desk.

I finally calmed down when I ran out of breath, resting my hands on my knees as I glared at him through my lashes.

He was rubbing his body (wow that sounds dirty), trying to soothe the bruises that were sure to form.

"You're a class-a prick, Archie." I breathed out, and he gave me a pained grin. "...number 2."

That caused his smile to drop. "You're brother is a bit of an asshole."

I rolled my eyes. "He's my brother. Don't talk about him like that."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "And Penny is my sister. I'm not having some British chap come in and f**k around with her feelings. She's a sensitive girl."

My lips lifted into an admiring smile. I admired his love for his step-sister. I admired how possessive he was about those he loved. I admired him. Just him.

The hickey was forgotten as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pecked his nose. "Jamie isn't the kind of guy who pisses around with girls. If he likes Penny, he'll do everything in his power to make it work." I said, trying to convince him. His eyes softened as he gave me a small half smile, his own hands going around my waist.

"If he's anything like you, I can believe it." He replied and I blinked, not really understanding. "Why do you call each other those weird names?" He asked suddenly. As soon as he did, I started grinning, nuzzling my embarrassed face into his neck.

He chuckled lightly and pulled me down so that he was sitting and I was on his lap, my legs on either side of his. "Tell me."

So, I did. "It's a long story." I said, breathing out a laugh.

"Well we've still got 8 hours before your sister's wedding starts. I'm sure it's not that long. But then again with the amount you can talk-"

"Do you wanna hear the story or not?" I asked blankly and, after giving me a small smile, he nodded.

"Ok, well when we were 8, me Bubby and Amanda were playing in the back garden-"

"The yard?"

"Shut up. Anyway, we were in the garden and I was trying to climb the monkey bars to reach the top. But then because I was-" I coughed. "chubby-" I glared at him when he opened his mouth so he closed it again quickly. "I was a bit chubby and I kept falling off, landing right in the pile of mud that the rain and my ass had made. So I told Amanda to help me up and she said to go away and I got very angry and started singing 'Mandy Wandy has Sandy Candy in her undies!" Don't look at me like that. She had a boyfriend called Sandy and I only then learned what Sandy Candy meant. Needless to say, she got a little angry at me.

"So then Bubby helped me up and I remember I gave him a really really tight hug and Amanda got angry and stormed off. So then we're sitting on the monkey bars and I told him that I really liked that he was my brother and that I loved him loads. And then he said that he wants us to be special brother and Sister- which thinking back now sounds a little weird- but obviously he didn't mean it like that. So I said yes and then we ran to dad and asked him how we could be special.

So he gave us a really long look and said 'you're already special to one another'. We called him boring and went back out into the garden and then he suddenly like a light bulb moment. He said you can call me brother and I'll call you sister and I said that's too long. Eventually brother turned into Bubby. And Chubby happened because of this prick kid in my primary school."

"Primary school?" He asked, tilting his head.

"It's like elementary school for you guys. Anyways he was always yelling at me and bullying me and Bubby would always hit him and make him cry like a little sissy-" Archer laughed at my murderous expression. "So he would always call me Fatty. And then I punched him real hard and I swear to god I still have the bruise I got on my hands because the kid was like a walking fridge. So then when I was crying because he called me fat, Bubby came up to me and told me he loved me no matter what. And that I wasn't fat. I was just cute. And Chubby. That's where the name was born. Still hate it to this day but, it is what it is." I said, my face burning from embarrassment as Archer laughed at me.

"Nice to know you were always my little warrior. Even when you were 7."

I bit my lip and twirled the bottom of my hair about with my finger. My. My warrior.

"Shut up." I murmured and he laughed, nuzzling his face into my collar bone. He placed a feather light kiss on my neck where the hickey was and I heard his muffled voice as he spoke.

"I can give you another one to match." He said and, needless to say, I whacked him a couple more times with the brush.

• • • •

"Rivi," Amanda said with a tentative smile as I stepped into the room she was changing in.

I'd already gotten dressed and Archer had already seen me, the rising red mark at the bottom of my jaw a clear indication of just that alongside my probably bruised lips. Then again, he'd looked like a piece of meat himself and I was more than eager to take a bite.

I bit my lip, shaking away the thoughts as I sat on the mirror desk in front of my older sister. "Hey." I replied, pulling my hair out over my jaw to hide the god damn stamp of King.

"You look so beautiful, sis." She said softly and I smiled slightly.

"Thank you." I replied and looked at her. Really looked at her. "Is everything ok?"

She looked away and began powdering her face. "I saw him, Riv." She said and I frowned.

"Saw who?"

Her voice cracked when she next spoke. "Tobi." She said quietly, so quietly I barely even heard.

My eyes widened. Mr Bryan was here? But why? I thought he said he'd moved on.

"He was with-" she stopped and took a deep breath in. "He was with his girlfriend."

My eyebrows raised as I searched my sisters face. "And that's a problem?" I didn't mean for my voice to sound so rude and harsh, it just came out.

She looked away. Her eyes closed briefly but when she opened them again, they were full of tears.

She said 6 words after that. 6 words that made me stop breathing for a minute. 6 words that shook me to my core.

She said to me what she had clearly been holding back for so many months. The raw pain, the passion, the feeling in her voice shocked me.

"I don't want to marry Vince."