The Same but Different

Paisley’s fingers twitched against his leg as he dreamed. He couldn’t help but mutter to himself under his breath. Something about those damn kids that moved in next door to his house. Those messy little beasts could only make the town worse off than it already was. He had already caught one of the girls spray painting the wall that divided their little housing community from the rest of the town.

Its not that Paisley doesn’t like kids or have a knack of art himself but he doesn’t really enjoy being woken up at all hours hearing different types of sirens going off next door; weather they be the families alarm system, fire detectors or even police vehicles, it was still annoying. He doesn’t think his family is perfect by far but they are quiet and well kept people. Well maybe not everyone, his mom has a bad habit of not cleaning after herself but that’s because Paisley will go along and clean up the mess later. She knows full and well if no one cleans it up his obsessive compulsive disorder will get to him and it will just drive him nuts until the mess is gone.

He’s not one of those anal types who goes behind everyone, cleaning up after them every second but he does prefer a more clean environment compared to a few of his family members. His brothers’ rooms look like a clothing bomb was set off, spewing different fabrics across every available space they could land on. Paisley tried to avoid others bedrooms as much as he could because you never know what’s in them. One time he had gone into his sisters room to find a used condom on the floor; it got stuck to his foot. Needless to say he hosed his shoes off outside after that incident.

There are a few things that bother Paisley; some of which he can’t touch with out freaking out. Other people’s body fluid is one of those things as well as touching people in general. His family knows about his phobias and they try not to upset him too much with them but sometimes it’s not avoidable. Years ago his mother told him that glass gets into your skin and can go into your veins and kill you. His doctor had told him differently but he has to wash his hands after touching glass or the floor. You never know what people bring in on their shoes. He can only sit on the floor if a blanket is down and after it is used he must wash the blanket before anyone can use the side that was on the floor.

He can function just like everyone else because he is just like others but he has to overcome his fears quite often. Paisley refuses to go to a therapist; he heard the OCD gets worse as people get older but he won’t go for fear they may think he’s nuts or put him on medicine. Pills are another thing he stays away from most of the time but that’s not really a phobia, just a personal choice.

Paisley’s mom is on so many different medicines from the doctors that she doesn’t even need anymore. She became too dependent on them and now she makes excuses to use them still or tricks herself into thinking that she needs the pills. Paisley fears that he may become like her one day so he tries to avoid pills as often as he can. The only thing he will take is Tylenol and that’s only when he has a bad headache.

Paisley’s family is far from perfect. His dad works all the time to make a living for their family because their mom doesn’t assist in paying the bills. Paisley has two brothers one being his older twin Chance and a younger brother named after their grandfather Ansleigh. The boys also have an older sister Exie who is taking college classes while still living at home but most of the time she stays with her boyfriend.

Life hasn’t been simple for Paisley; he’s had a somewhat troubled past with more distant relatives but that’s a story for another time. His school cut his credits when their family moved as well as when he went into home school after his grandmother had died. They did the same thing to Chance though so both of the boys have to spend an extra half of a year in school to get caught up.

“Wake up lazy bones you have a school meeting today!” Exie yelled as she threw the door to Paisley’s room open; causing it to slam into a wall, no doubt making a hole in the plaster.

Paisley groaned and rolled over. Exie’s arms crossed over her chest, she raised a brow before walking from the room. She dug in the large dresser she uses to find the hand held item. Exie made her way back into Paisley’s bedroom and pressed the button. A loud noise screeched from the blow horn causing the boy to sit up in bed and scream. His eyes narrowed at his sister, following her out of the room. Paisley groaned using one of his hands to rub the sleep from his eyes.

After a few minutes of sitting in his bed Paisley threw the blankets off and stood, stretching and popping his bones. He quietly padded to the bathroom he shares with his brothers. Relieving his bladder Paisley looked around the ocean themed bathroom; he use to love it as a kid, until his parents made him watch Jaws for the first time causing him to become deathly afraid of water for a long time. Paisley was seven at the time. Being eighteen now he wasn’t afraid of water anymore but he still wouldn’t go near the ocean.

A loud pounding on the door made Paisley jump and caused a stream of urine to miss the bowl and hit the floor. “Come on little brother you only have fifteen minutes before we have to get you to school!” Exie screamed through the door. Damn sister!

Paisley tucked himself away and grabbed some toilette paper off the roll; he quickly wiped up his mess and flushed it. He made sure to wash his hands really well, he may not have actually touched the floor but he was touching something that had.

Back in his bedroom Paisley walked to his oak dresser and opened the first drawer. Clothes were unfolded and thrown around but he at least knew they were clean. He grabbed a pair of briefs, some jeans and a band tee as well as a pair of striped black and white socks. He threw on his clothes and grabbed a black and white hoodie from his closet before making his way down their spiral stairs; on a mission to quickly find food in the kitchen.

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen Paisley groaned to himself seeing his twin already sitting at the table, the milk jug nearly empty and his favorite cereal was probably already gone. He shook the box and glared at his brother who in turn gave him a smile; milk cascaded down his chin. Chances eyes widened and he wiped his chin with the sleeve of his coat. ‘Oh gross,’ Paisley thought, turning around and grabbing some fruit off the counter.

Exie came in the room shaking the keys; signaling that it was time to leave for school. Both teens groaned and walked up the stairs to grab their homework. They got to the front door and before leaving slipped on their shoes.

“How do I look?” They said at the same time. Each twin looked the other over before down at themselves. They both let out an aggravated grown.

“Why does this always happen to us?” Paisley asked as he realized that he and his brother had picked the same exact pants and sweaters today, their shoes were identical too. It’s not like this is new to either of them, many mornings they have greeted one another in the same exact clothes.

“Maybe because you buy everything that I do?” Chance pondered fully blaming his brother for the entire situation.

“I do not you ass! For your information I bought this sweater first and mom bought us the shoes for our birthday.” Paisley argued back as their sister ushered them out of the door before locking the house up.

“You both wear the same type of jeans most of the time too.” Exie pointed out pressing her palm into the back of each of their backs; pushing them towards the car. “So this situation is not all that avoidable.”

“I’m comfortable in jeans like this though. I started wearing them first before Chance realized how good my ass looks in them and he had to wear them too to impress the girls at school even though we only go in once a week.” Paisley stated climbing into the middle back seat, letting his twin take the front passenger space.

“You can’t blame me they are comfortable kind of like a second skin.” Chance fired back. Exie groaned, smacking herself in the forehead knowing full and well this conversation wouldn’t end until they were both at school. Even then it would take their teachers calling them in for their meetings to stop the arguing.

‘Why is my family so dysfunctional?’ Exie wondered to herself making sure she didn’t say it out loud. She has a knack for speaking her thoughts and embarrassing herself.

“Okay shitheads we’re here. Please don’t embarrass me like last time we were here, last Friday.” Exie stated after parking the car and turning in her seat to look at both of her brothers.

“It was his idea.” They both chorused pointing a finger at their twin, glaring when they realized what the other did.

“I don’t care. Teenager’s pants should not come off in public unless you are in the restroom.” Exie gave each of them a hard stare before taking the keys from the ignition. They all climbed from the car and began walking up the walkway to the office.

“We were just trying to show our teachers our tattoos.” Paisley murmured so no one but his siblings could hear. He pulled at his piercing with his teeth waiting for his sister’s response.

“Two eighteen year old males should know better than to pull their pants down in front of their teachers just to show off their tattoos when they are in such inappropriate places!” Exie stated trying to keep her voice quiet.

“Come on its not like they haven’t seen an ass before.” Chance stated quite loudly. Exie turned around momentarily to smack him in the back of the head. They made it into the office and signed in; still bickering quietly while they waited for their teachers to call them back.