Anonymous

Jess let out a sigh as we made our way toward the basement. “I just want to say,” she started, resting her hand on the doorknob before turning to look at me, “that you need to brace yourself. Because my sister can be kind of...difficult.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “I have younger sisters, too. I know that they can be...moody."

"Moody is just the tip of the iceberg," Jess grumbled as she threw open the door and started down the stairs. The steps were wooden and wobbly, and even though Jess navigated them with confidence, I found myself stepping very cautiously to make sure I didn't fall through.

The two of us found the cement floor at the bottom safely to find a huge screen TV, all set up with different gaming systems, wires sprawled out on the floor, going in every direction. Sitting on the raggedy couch in front of the thing, her tongue sticking out in concentration, her thumbs tapping the buttons what seemed like a million times a second, was the girl I assumed to be Jess's sister.

Although they really didn't look alike, there was a certain resemblance between the two of them. Maria was scrawnier, her hair was lighter and unstyled, pulled back into a ponytail that hung down her back, and she was dressed in baggy jeans and a loose t-shirt. So, in a nutshell, it looked like I was looking at Jess' teenage brother, instead of a sister.

"Maria," Jess spoke up, her voice a little courser than usual, "this is my friend. Louis."

The girl paused whatever game she was playing and turned her head to look at me. And then her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she gasped. "Your boyfriend is one of those homos from One Direction?"

"Hey," Jess snapped, walking over and slapping her sister on the shoulder. "Don't be a bitch. I don't care if you're rude to me, but don't pull that crap with Louis. Do you hear me?"

I stood by awkwardly as a whisper fight ensued, the two girls hissing back and forth at a level that I was unable to pick up, which was definitely intentional. To pretend I wasn't incredibly awkward, I looked around the room, acting as if the different details of the room were the most interesting things I'd ever seen in my life.

On the wall next to the couch, there was a series of three long shelves, and they were completely taken up with various films of all different years, genres, and target groups. I almost felt like I was staring at a movie rental store or something, back when those still existed and were relevant.

My eyes moved from the shelves of movies to the television, where Maria's game was paused mid-strike. I recognized the game as one Harry used to play, and I knew she must have been good at it, since she was in the middle of a sort of boss battle, yet she still had full-health, while the enemy was almost destroyed.

And just as I was admiring her score, I caught sight of her username. It looked incredibly familiar, and it took a second for me to place it.

Completely forgetting about the argument, I burst out, "Oh my God. Maria, do you ever play Distant Enemies on your Xbox?"

She gave me an irritated look. "Of course I play Distant Enemies. Who doesn't?"

Holy fucking shit. How was it possible that Maria, an eleven or twelve year old girl, was able to whoop Harry’s arse so easily and repeatedly on that game?! He didn’t even have drunkenness to blame, since he had been sober the majority of the time he was playing her.

“Are you okay, Louis?” Jess asked in a low voice, probably to make it so Maria couldn’t hear.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

She watched me carefully for a minute before turning back to her sister, her eyebrows drawn, her tone serious. “Look, Maria, I’m going to ask you for a favor, and I really want you to go along with it because we’re sisters and we’re supposed to love each other for all eternity.”

“Gross,” Maria commented with a scrunched face. “I already hate whatever idea you’re thinking.”

Jess didn’t look amused, but she continued anyway. “Okay, I want to introduce Louis to Mum and Dad, and I want you to go along with the story that we’re going to tell them, which is that he’s a boy that goes to school with me, and that’s how I met him.”

“Why? How did you guys even meet?” She shot another glance at me, which looked decidedly hostile, before turning back to her sister. “Over the internet?”

“Does it matter?” Jess groaned. “Are you going to play along or not?”

“Sure.” She turned back to the TV and started playing again, her thumbs moving faster than anyone I’d ever seen in my life, and I’d seen some pretty fast texting in my days.

“Wait, what?” Jess gasped, tapping her sister’s shoulder again. “Did you just agree?”

“Yeah, whatever. It’s your life you’re screwing up, not mine. It’s not like Mum and Dad are going to ask me for confirmation anyway. Now leave. I’m at an intense part. AW, SHIT.”

Jess looked at me with wide eyes before nodding toward the stairs, leading the way back into her kitchen. “I can’t believe she’s not going to rat me out,” Jess muttered, shaking her head in shock, as she closed the door behind her. “That’s so unlike her.”

“I told you I have charm,” I joked, grinning at the girl in front of me.

“Oh, please. Don’t act like you said anything except asking her about that video game. What was that all about, anyway?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”



“Hey, Hazza,” I voiced right as I walked into the flat he and I shared. Thankfully, the rest of the boys weren’t present, so Harry wouldn’t feel ridiculously embarrassed over the news I desperately had to share. “Remember that guy that you played on the Xbox a while ago that kept stomping all over your ass?”

Harry turned away from the showing of Love, Actually on the screen and gave me an irritated look. “Yeah, I remember. Why?”

“Because I figured out who the guy was. You’ll never guess.”

“How the bloody hell did you figure it out?” Harry questioned. “Do you realize how many people it could have been? Are you sure you got the right one?”

“Of course I did. I wouldn’t tell you unless I was sure.”

“Let me guess: was it Jess? Because that would just be ridiculously ironic. And I’d be kind of jealous because it’s not easy to find a girl that’s better at guys at videogames.”

“It’s super easy to find a girl that’s better than you, though,” I told him honestly. “But it wasn’t Jess, so that doesn’t matter.”

“Who, then?”

“Jess’ sister.”

“Jess has a sister? Who likes videogames?” Harry gasped. “Is she hot? How old is she?”

I snorted in laughter and shook my head. “She’s, like, eleven or twelve, and she dresses like a guy. And she’s the one that beat you a million times over.”

He glared at me in irritation before repeating slowly, “Are you…telling me…that some kid who’s not even a teenager yet…managed to hand me my ass on a silver platter on one of my favorite games ever?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“I knew you shouldn’t have gotten involved with Jess,” he mumbled indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I knew nothing good would come out of that relationship. Just look at what kind of family you could marry into! It’s a bad choice, mate.”

“Um, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Jess and I are not getting married.” I snickered and shook my head as I added, “And you’re just jealous because you never realized before just how incredibly bad you are at Distant Enemies.”

“Shut up. I’m trying to watch a movie.”

And, for the rest of the night, he pouted, interrupted briefly from time to time to ask me if I was positively sure the guy had actually been Maria. And every time, I laughed in his face and replied that I would put a trillion dollars on it.

I wondered what Maria would do when she found out that it had been Harry that had been such easy prey.

“Actually,” Harry said as he leaned against the bathroom doorframe as I brushed my teeth before bed, “I’ve been thinking, and it’s actually not that embarrassing that it’s Jess’ sister. Because I ended up beating her in the end, so it doesn’t matter.”

I stared at my friend for a long time, analyzing his face to see if he was being serious or not. And he was. There was not a twitch of the mouth, no little snicker, nothing. He meant it.

“Harry, it doesn’t matter if you beat her in the end or not. Because she beat you about five million times before that.”

He really didn’t like my reminder of the truth, so he stormed away and screamed, “Some friend you are!”

Sighing and trying not to laugh, I spit out my toothpaste in the sink, ran my toothbrush under the faucet, and tried to forget the fact that I was meeting Jess’ parents in four days.