Brothers

Aiden

Led by our new fearsome, fearless leader Alana Ferguson, Caleb and I followed dubiously as she walked purposefully up the hall, wearing a calm, cool, businesslike expression.

I was a little terrified.

The door to the sitting room was closed and Alana paused before opening it to straighten her top and stand up a little straighter. Caleb and I glanced at each other, and then straightened ourselves as well. We had more of a reason to anyway; we had, after all, just been getting into it on my bed.

‘Right,’ Alana said assertively as she stepped into the room, but was cut off by the Wicked Witch herself.

‘Where have you been?’ Vienna demanded, glaring at Caleb.

‘Talking to my brother,’ he said nonchalantly, shrugging. ‘Something... Came up.’ I was glad to know he could still make dirty jokes at a time like this. Not.

‘Well come on. Let’s go to bed.’

It was only about four in the afternoon. Alana and I glanced at each other and I could read her mind. Somebody’s not shy.

I looked back at Caleb nervously to see how he would react. She was paying him for his body after all; how do you act in a situation like that? Right now, he was glaring.

‘I’m not just your fuck toy, Vienna,’ he said angrily, pushing past Alana into the room and dropping down on the couch next to Dylan pointedly. The twins had paused their game of Halo to watch the fun, and Rain was thrown out lazily on the last couch, a bemused expression on his face.

‘Excuse me?’ Vienna hissed. She was wearing really high heels even though it was the middle of the day and she wasn’t, by the sounds of things, planning to go anywhere. She wobbled slightly as she whipped around to glare at him.

‘I said,’ Caleb enunciated slowly and clearly, ‘I’m not just your fuck toy, Vienna.’

Vienna’s jaw clenched for a moment and she hissed, ‘I think you’ll find that you are.’

Four pairs of eyebrows shot skywards, as only half the people in the room knew that Vienna was hiring Caleb. The twins pulled faces at each other, and Rain and Dylan looked from Vienna to my brother and back again.

‘Dude,’ Dylan said, looking up at the raging girl now dominating the room. ‘You totally can’t speak to people like that.’ And Dylan would know, seeing as he hardly ever speaks, period.

‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,’ Caleb muttered, clearly regretting getting into this in the sitting room.

‘Too right,’ Rain answered, picking a bottle up off the table and dangling it in our direction. ‘She’s been guzzling vodka since you left the room.’

We all turned to look at Vienna again who was still glaring at Caleb, but starting to look a bit defensive now. I glanced at Alana, who shrugged.

‘I thought it was water,’ she whispered, looking incredulous. Alana can’t drink any alcohol at all without diluting it with a gallon of Pepsi beforehand.

‘Good,’ Caleb muttered, ‘with any luck she’ll pass out in a few minutes.’

Unfortunately Vienna heard him; alcohol apparently not numbing her eardrums, and she stumbled forwards towards him, grabbing him by the wrist. Dylan, who is a pacifist, looked vaguely shocked as she tried to wrench him upwards, but failed.

‘Sit down, Vienna,’ Caleb said disgustedly, pulling his arm out of her grasp. ‘You’re making a fool of yourself.’

Vienna leaned in close to him and started to whisper, but given the fact that she was inebriated, she only thought she was being quiet. Everybody could hear what she was saying. ‘I’m paying you good money for this, Caleb,’ she hissed. Hissing was her thing, apparently. ‘And don’t forget I can still go to the police.’

I looked back to Alana as this gem dripped from Vienna’s lips; she was the one who’d said “leave Vienna to me”. But my best friend just bit her lip, looking worried.

‘You can tell whoever you want,’ Caleb said quietly, still refusing to get up even as Vienna reached for his arm again. ‘I quit.’

Vienna narrowed her eyes dangerously. Then, in true “Cruel Intentions” style, said loudly, ‘I... wanna... fuck!’

So, yeah. Definitely not shy.

‘Spoilt brat,’ I heard the twins mutter in unison from the floor, but Vienna either didn’t hear it or chose to ignore it.

‘Well tough,’ Caleb said, a little more loudly. ‘You can’t always get what you want, Vienna.’

‘I’ll tell everyone,’ she threatened, obviously getting desperate at this point.

‘Like I said,’ Caleb replied calmly. ‘Go ahead.’

‘Vienna, why don’t you just go home and sort this out in the morning?’ Alana asked steadily, and I was surprised at how calm she sounded, given that she’d been ready to tear Caleb’s “girlfriend” a new one only minutes ago in my room. Once glance at her showed that her hands were curled up into tight fists at her side though; she was struggling to maintain her composure.

‘Oh shut up,’ Vienna spat dismissively. ‘You don’t know what I’m dealing with.’

‘You’re dealing with a father who loves you to pieces,’ Alana said through gritted teeth. Her fists were starting to shake.

‘The man is an idiot,’ Vienna shot back, finally turning her attention to Alana. ‘What would you know about it anyway?’

‘I know you’re lucky he’s hired someone to protect you rather coming home drunk and beating the crap out of you,’ Alana said without hesitation.

Vienna’s expression changed for a split second but then the mask was back on. ‘Whatever. That has nothing to do with anything.’ She stopped talking to Alana and seemed to be addressing the whole room, though her attention was back on Caleb. ‘Right now I have an itch that needs scratching.’

‘Jesus, are you always so horny?’ one of the twins demanded. This coming from the brothers who seemed to nearly always be touching each other.

Then again, I couldn’t really talk.

Vienna straightened up and started shrugging off her jacket. We all watched in bemusement as the article dropped the floor, wondering if she was gonna start doing something really crazy like stripping or table dancing.

Instead, she angled her body away from Caleb, and pointed at her right bicep, where a clear plastic patch reflected the light.

‘Intrinsa?’ Caleb asked flatly. ‘Seriously?’

Vienna grinned, swaying on her feet more obviously now as the vodka attacked her nervous system. ‘I thought we could have some fun.’

‘What’s Intrinsa?’ I whispered to Alana, who shrugged.

‘Aphrodisiac,’ Caleb supplied, obviously overhearing me. ‘Like female Viagra.’

‘Holy shit,’ Alana muttered. ‘What an idiot.’

‘So are you coming to bed?’ Vienna demanded, ignoring the aside.

‘No,’ Caleb said forcibly. ‘I thought we had established that.’

Vienna pouted and lowered herself onto his lap, facing him. ‘But I need-’

‘I don’t care what you need!’ Caleb exclaimed, pushing her gently but firmly off his lap. She stumbled, falling over backwards onto the floor, narrowly missing hitting her head off of Rain’s couch. She sat there, her hair tangled around her face, a drunken mess, glaring up at him with narrowed eyes.

‘I could have anyone in this room!’ she hissed. There were dubious glances all around; I’m pretty sure nobody in this room wanted her in the house anymore, much less in his – or her – bed.

Vienna looked up to her right, where Rain was peering down at her, half bemused, half worried. ‘You’ll do,’ she said, and tugged herself up onto the couch, sitting on his abdomen, before anybody else could move.

‘Um,’ Rain said, clearly uncomfortable, but before he could do anymore she had leaned forward and smashed her lips against his.

‘Oh that’s it,’ Alana hissed, not bothering to hold back her rage any longer. She was at the other side of the room in a flash, grabbing Vienna by the hair and wrenching her up off the couch. She dragged the screaming drunk girl across the room and shoved her through the sitting room door.

Before Alana could close the door, however, Vienna threw herself back through it, landing on my best friend and pushing them both to the ground. Rain sat up and swung his legs off the couch, but then stopped, unsure of whether to even stand up. Jayden and Peyton, who were nearest the action – and both bisexual, it bears mentioning – were staring wide-eyed at the wrestling match on the floor; both swallowed at the same time, shifting around a little to give room to their obviously growing, um, discomfort.

Alana had rolled them over at this point and was sitting on top if Vienna’s chest, pinning the girl’s arms to the ground with her knees. Vienna was thrashing and struggling, and suddenly freed one of her arms, her hand going straight up and grabbing a chunk on Alana’s hair. She yanked it towards her and Alana’s head twisted painfully as she let out a feral sound of pain and anger, one hand going to her own head to try and dislodge Vienna’s grip, the other going straight to her attacker’s face and scratching her nails across her cheek.

‘Ouch,’ the twins whispered in unison, leaning forward for a better look as Vienna screamed, four red lines appearing across her face.

‘You bitch!’ she shouted, pulling harder on Alana’s hair.

‘Do you think Vienna is still horny?’ Peyton asked his brother, his eyes growing in excitement.

‘Oh baby,’ Jayden whispered.

‘Shouldn’t we stop them?’ Rain asked awkwardly, looking at Caleb.

My brother shrugged. ‘I think Alana’s got a handle on this one,’ he said confidently.

Alana had one hand around Vienna’s throat, pressing down on her windpipe, and the other was scratching mercilessly at the other girl’s arm, trying to get her to pull away. It worked, and Vienna withdrew her hand from Alana’s hair, raising it instead to slap her across the face. Alana caught her hand mid swing and forced it back to the ground, her other arm still pressed firmly to the floor beneath Alana’s knee.

Vienna was now pinned to the floor again, squirming and whimpering to be let go.

‘Calm down,’ Alana snapped at her, breathing heavily, her hair hanging down over her face and she leaned over Vienna. This was not the first time I’d seen her in a catfight, but I think it might have been the most brutal. ‘Take some deep breaths and a hold of yourself.’

Caleb nodded to himself in satisfaction. ‘See?’ he said to Rain. Jayden and Peyton looked disappointed.

After a few moments Vienna stopped struggling and Alana tentatively got to her feet. Vienna followed suit, tripping away from the victor in fright.

‘You’ve done it now,’ she hissed, pulling out her phone. ‘I’m calling the police.’

‘Oh no you’re not,’ Alana retorted calmly. ‘Or I’ll tell everyone your dirty little secret.’