Leia is blackmailing her little brother into caring for himself. While the intentions are good the methods so very much so aren't.
We’re playing that game again. Mom’s pretending to suspect nothing. I’m pretending not to notice that she’s pretending not to notice, while Riley’s pretending to check texts to get out of eating his breakfast.
He’s texting me.
I keep the sound off, watching the text bubbles appear on my blue wallpaper one after another - forcing each other upwards on the screen like little drowning men pushing each other toward the surface.
It feels like we’re playing monkey in the middle - lobbing messages over mom’s head through cyberspace.
“Just cut the act and let’s go. I’ll tell mom we have to leave early so I can find parking, but I’m not helping you out of lunch.”
“Leia…”
I look up and glare at him, so I won’t start screaming.
I’m so sick of being the middleman - girl - the land bridge between the three islands I call my family - trying to play damage control-
But I’d hate saying something even more. I’d hate breaking Riley’s trust, and I’d hate what mom and dad would say and do if they found out.
It has to be better this way, right?
I talk until my face hurts - anytime mom asks a question - just so that Riley won’t have to-
He’s so much worse at lying than I am. But I’ve had more practice.
“Look, if you just eat whatever fruit mom packed in our lunches today, I won’t say anything else about it for the whole day. I promise. Deal?”
He doesn’t look up but I feel his expression quaver with a wash of inexplicable fear so palpable I can almost taste it. I feel sick to my stomach, and the bubbles spam the screen.
(this is available for free for everyone to read on my Patreon public posts