I unlock the door and roll myself into the winter wonderland we’d helped create for Sam yesterday.
Hanging from one of the branches of the largest of the Christmas trees—oh yeah, there were three of the fuckers squeezed into the house now—is a bra.
I can’t help but laugh as I roll toward it, not quite believing my eyes, laughing harder when I spot the rest of her clothing strewn all over the floor too.
I hear my brother’s footsteps and point toward the initial offending article of clothing, still chuckling. “I take it things went well then, brother.”
He scowls at me, striding over and grabbing the clothes. “Yeah. It went fucking perfect. But she’s still asleep so shut the fuck up.”
“I’m happy for you, Sam. You deserve this.”
He rolls his eyes at me, but his mouth starts to spread into a happy smile as he disappears back toward his bedroom.
I push myself into the kitchen to start making coffee but find that I can’t reach the socket to plug the fucking machine in.
“He doesn’t think anyone exists under six foot two, I swear.” Elizabeth giggles softly, reaching past me and plugging it in, the gurgling soon filling the air with the bitter scent of coffee.
“Thanks. He should be more understanding; he was a short stack until he hit puberty.”
She giggles again.
“Hey.” My brother’s deep voice alerts us to the fact that he is watching us.
He clears his throat when Elizabeth doesn’t answer, and I watch as her shoulders tighten, her fingers going white as she tightens her grip on the handle of the coffee pot.
Anna had given me her number before she left, asking me to let her know how Elizabeth was. I bring up her contact info and type out a message.
Almost immediately I get a reply.
Sam had left in a cloud of worry after some girl texted him this morning. I spent my morning searching the internet for something to pass my time now that I was out from under the constraints of my previous home.
Sam slams the door, loudly announcing his return home.
“So, what did she want? Another go on your pogo stick?” I waggle my eyebrows suggestively. “Because I’ll happily step in as a substitute now you’re off the market.”
“She’s fucking pregnant.” He drops onto the sofa, dragging his beanie off his head.
Shocked, I feel my mouth fall open. “And it’s yours? For definite?”
“Not for sure, there’s another dude in the mix. But we have to wait another few weeks before we can do the paternity test.”
His head drops back, and he lets out a groan, squeezing his eyes shut. “Why the fuck is this happening to me now?”
“Are you going to tell her?”
He peeks at me through half-closed eyes, and I point my chin toward Elizabeth’s room.
“I don’t fucking know.”
“I think you have to, bro. I know things are all pretty new with Beth, but it won’t go anywhere if she thinks you’re lying to her again. Plus, I’m pretty sure Anna will actually rip your balls off if she thinks you’ve hurt her cousin.”
At the mere mention of her name, I feel the edges of my mouth start to turn up.
“I know, I know… I just… How do I tell my girlfriend of, like, a week that I got another girl pregnant?”
A gasp and a thud of something hitting the floor draws both our attention.
Elizabeth is in the doorway, a to-go cup on the floor by her feet, its contents spilled over the tile. “W-what?”
She licks her lips, blinking a few times in obvious shock. “What will you do if it is yours?”
He shrugs. “Support her, I guess. It takes two to make it, it should take two to raise it.”
She swallows loudly, nods once, and walks past my twin, her bedroom door closing echoing through the quiet house.
“Well, she took that better than I expected.” I can’t help but try to lighten the atmosphere.
Sam scowls down at me. “Shut the fuck up, Christian.”
I roll over to answer the door and stop the loud bangs which are making the door rattle slightly in its frame.
“Hey, scarlet girl!”
The spunky red-haired girl on the other side glares down at me.
“What’s up, Robo-cock.” She nods toward Sam as she walks past me and into the house. “Robo-cock Two. What the fuck have you dickheads done to my cousin this time?”
Sam sighs heavily. He was really beating himself up over the whole situation. Elizabeth hadn’t come out of her room since yesterday.
“A situation has arisen with an old hookup.”
Anna rolls her eyes and clicks her tongue off the roof of her mouth. “Okay. I’ll go see if I can calm her freak-out down. But maybe you should go out for a bit.”
“Are you seriously kicking me the fuck out of my own house?” Sam looks pissed.
“No,” she answers, walking toward Elizabeth’s room. “I’m kicking both of you the fuck out of Elizabeth’s house.”
“Come on.” I shrug my jacket on and throw Sam’s leather coat toward him. “We’ll go to Steve’s for a bit. Let them talk things out without feeling like we’re lurking around eavesdropping.”
