The Wrong One

Sian woke up with sun glaring in her eyes. She groaned and rolled over, her hand flying out and hitting her bedside table. She felt her sunglasses, and in a still-drunken moment, she put them on her face. She sat up in bed and looked around through cracked eyes.

Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and she found herself in just her brother’s USC shirt she had worn the day before and underwear. She stood up and reached in her suitcase, finding a pair of shorts on top and slid them on.

She made her way, stumbling, through the upper floor until she found the stairs. She almost fell twice, but she was able to get down the stairs. That’s the thing she hated most about drinking; she never had hangovers, she just remained drunk until it wore off the next day.

She reached the kitchen and looked up to see Kyle and Zacky both sitting at the kitchen table. As soon as her foot touched the kitchen floor, she immediately turned back around and started back up the steps.

“What’s up, Corey Hart?”

Leave it to Kyle to try and make a joke and fail.

“Corey Hart wore his at night. This is daytime and I’m a just a badass,” Sian said, walking to the counter and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Not caring that it was black, she took a sip anyway. Shuddering at the nasty taste, she went to the fridge to get her creamer.

“How you feeling?” she heard from beside her.

She looked to her right and found Zacky standing beside her. Looking past him, she saw Kyle was gone.

“I’m still drunk.”

“Did you puke anymore?”

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t even remember changing,” she admitted.

“Well, I got you here and you were stumbling a lot, so I helped you inside and up to your room. You were barely inside before you started ripping your clothes off.”

“Jesus,” she whispered as her cheeks turned beet red.

“Well, honestly it was just your shirt. When you started taking off your bra, I turned around. You had on a cute pink thong, though. I didn’t peg you for the thong type.”

She almost choked on her coffee. She even peeked under the waist of her shorts to see if she was wearing the same ones. She was and slapped her palm against her forehead. Her face was a bright shade of red and she wanted to crawl back upstairs into bed.

“I’m kidding, Sian.”

“No, you’re not. I really fucking did all those things. Oh, my God,” she said, and lifted her coffee cup to head back upstairs.

“Wait,” Zacky called after her and followed.

He watched as she made her way across her room to pull out her laptop at her desk. She lifted the sunglasses from her face and set them on top of her head as she arranged her things on her desk. She sat down and opened the computer. Zacky sat on her bed and watched her.

Suddenly, her phone rang and he turned to grab it from the bedside table. He stood up and handed it to her, watching her balance it on her ear with her shoulder as her fingers moved across the keyboard, writing a reply to an e-mail. She looked so comfortable doing work like that. Her left leg was lifted up so her foot was in the seat of her chair, and she was rolling her right ankle around on the hardwood floor.

“Hi, mom,” he heard her say.

“Sian, I’m going to have to be away for longer than I thought.”

“How long this time, mom?”

“About four weeks.”

“A whole month?!” Sian asked, incredulous.

“Yes, baby. I know you’re in town and I’m sorry I’m going to miss seeing you, but I’m sure you’ll find ways to cope.”

“Yeah, I’m sure I will, too,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at Zacky who was looking around her room.

“How’s Kyle?”

“He’s fine. He’s around here somewhere.”

“Have you talked to your sister?”

“No, mom, I haven’t. I need to call her today.”

“I talked to her about a week ago when she first got to Italy. They're in Florence and supposed to be moving to France soon.”

“Well, that sounds fun.”

“Look honey, I’ve got to run. If you and Kyle need money, let me know and I’ll send some back. Thank goodness I went grocery shopping before I left. That should last you at the most a week. Just let me know when you guys need money.”

“I got it, mom. I worked some this semester and I’ve got money.”

“Alright. Well, if you need anything, let me know sweetie. I love you.”

“Love you, too, mom,” Sian said, and dropped the phone beside her computer.

“She gonna be gone for longer?” Zacky asked.

“Yeah, she’s going to be gone for a month now.”

“That sucks. I would’ve hated my mom leaving for long periods of time like that.”

“Shit happens,” Sian said, shrugging.

“Speaking of shit happening,” Zacky started. “Want to tell me about that scar on your hip?”
“Not really.”

“Sian, something major happened. That’s a huge scar and I saw it twice. That thing covers your side.”

“I know how far it covers, Zacky. I went through the pain of getting it.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing, Sian.”

“Nothing happened that you need to worry about. That was a long time ago, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t ask Sam or Kyle about it. They don’t know, nor do they ever need to know.”

“You’re saying you’ve never been in a bathing suit or naked around your sister?”

“No, she knows I’ve got it. She doesn’t know how I got it, though.”

“Well if I don’t know, how could I possibly tell her?”

“I don’t know, but don’t ask her; she doesn’t know.”

“Fine.”

“Good,” Sian said, and turned back to her laptop, her fingers flying over the keys.

“Isn’t your semester over with?”

“Yes, but I’m still in communication with my professors. I’m doing some extra projects this summer, and I need more information about them.”

“Don’t you ever just have fun?”

“I had fun last night.”

“When was the last time before that?”

“My friends and I went to the bar the night before in Los Angeles. You know that.”

“Yeah, according to Shads and Syn, you only stayed for an hour.”

“That was fun for me.”

“I don’t know anyone who could have fun in one hour in a bar.”

“Then you don’t know a lot of people, do you?”

“Actually, I know a lot of people. Look, the main reason I came over this morning was to ask if you wanted to come listen to the band.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Samantha’s not here; you’re coming around an awful lot. I’m not her, Zacky. I can’t replace her. I may look like her, but I’m not her.”

“I know you’re not, Sian, but I feel like shit because I don’t know you, and we’re going to be family soon, right?”

“Yeah, in a way.”

“Well, I’d like to get to know my future sister-in-law.”

“By doing what?”

“We’re recording a couple of things today, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me to the studio and listen in. You can meet Val.”

“Who’s Val?”

“She’s Matt’s girlfriend. She’ll be there, too.”

“Where is the studio?”

“Los Angeles.”

She sighed, and looked around at her desk. Once she finished the e-mail, she didn’t have anything else to do. She’d already gotten all the information on the project she could without her professors’ help, and she still had almost four months to get the project done. One day couldn’t hurt.

“Fine, but I need to shower.”

“I’ll wait,” Zacky said, smiling.