"Hello, Mark." I said as soon as Mark answered my call.

"Hey Evie, I was just about to call you. I wanted to know what type of movie you were into." He sounded really excited and that just made me feel so much worse.

"Emmm, I'm really sorry but can we have a raincheck on the movies today. Something came up. I'm so sorry." I apologized.

"Oh, its-uh- ok. I guess we can reschedule. I'll see you on Monday." He said dejectedly.

"Okay bye." I hang up and looked towards the driver seat where Xavier sat. He was staring straight ahead. He still hadn't said a word even after he had hugged me. On a normal day when he is not looking so miserable, I would have hit him for even thinking about hugging me.

"I saw my dad with another woman at a hotel today." He broke the silence. He sounded distant and hurt.

"Oh" was my reply. Seriously Evie that is what you could come up with. An inner voice criticized.

"I know it sounds like no big deal" He chuckled humorlessly. " But this is something he has been doing even before I was born.  My mum always leaves when he does this. The last time he did it my mum left and he shipped me off to boarding school. I can't stand living with my dad alone, I'd go crazy if that happens. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He went back to beg my mum the last time swearing he had changed and would never do it again."

"Are you scared your mum will file for divorce this time around?"

"That would be best for her but she would never do that. She will just pack up and leave." He rubbed his face with both hands and turned to look me in the eyes. He looked so stressed out and a bit bruised probably from his fight with Elliot. Elliot surely did not go easy on him.

"Why won't she divorce him?"

"Because it would mean she would lose everything she has. My parents' marriage was arranged by my grandfathers. They were business partners and childhood friends and wanted to join their families and businesses no matter what. So they made my parents sign a contract that the person to first file for divorce has to give the joint business and assert to the other including children got from the marriage aka me. "

"That's just messed up." Like they basically trapped their children in this marriage.

"Yeah."

"So are you going to tell your mum about your dad?"

"I don't know." He groaned in frustration. "I mean I know I should but I know for certain she would leave again. What would you do?" He looked at me expectantly.

"I have no idea," I said truthfully. I know I am not being helpful but I don't know what I would do if I find one of my parents cheating. It is highly unlikely because my parents love each other and show lots of PDA moments that it gets annoying sometimes. I can't begin to imagine what Zave is going through right now.

"That's helpful." He said sarcastically with a smile in reply to my answer.

"Hey! I don't really know what to say." I said defensively. Do you blame me? I really suck at giving advice.

"I know. I didn't come for advice. I came because I feel crappy and you always listen to me and not judge me." He said seriously while staring intently into my eyes. I was starting to feel really uncomfortable with his gaze. 

"Besides I know you suck at giving advice. And you like seeing my pretty face." He joked. I'm sure it is an attempt to lighten the mood. Xavier might look like he has it all but in reality, he is really suffering and has everything bottled up inside. I'm glad I could help sometimes but sometimes I feel helpless like now. We stayed in the car for some time.

"Do you want to go meet my mother?" He asked out of nowhere. I turned to him quickly giving him the 'Are you crazy look.'

"You do, don't you? Yeah, you do." He concluded and turned the ignition on.

"NO! I do not! Where is this coming from?" I turned the ignition off and looked at him.

"I mean we've reached that point in our relationship. Who knows when my mum will skip town again. It's now or never right." He said convincingly. I don't want to meet his mum. I have seen his father from afar and he seemed really intimidating. Sometimes I even think his family is too rich for their own sake. If his mother was anything like his father, I don't think I want to meet her, at least not now.  

"We do not have a relationship where that point will be reached. And I know the reason you want me to meet your mum is you think you have to prove to me that I am important to you which you seriously don't have to. You're one of my best friends and that's never going to change. Insecure Xavier is annoying I need cocky Xavier back." I teased to lighten the mood. That got a smile from him.

"I thought I was your bestest friend." He said smirking smugly at me. I never really had lots of friends, mainly because I had my brothers and they tend to have trust issues. We used to have a friend though, Zoe, she was more family to us than a friend, but she moved away. When my brothers tell people they had a sister they used to think it was Zoe because she was kind of a tomboy. I ever saw her wear a dress once and that was even because she lost a bet to my brothers. She also had this strange hold on them, mostly Max. I really miss her.

"Sorry, but Nina was a year early, be content with being number two." I playfully tapped his shoulder.

"Fine, I guess." He fake sighed. "But I really do want you to meet my mum. I need an excuse as to why I didn't meet my dad. Besides she wants to meet you." He looked and me with pleading eyes. I couldn't turn him down. My brothers already think I am going to the movies with Mark so they won't be texting me for long. I feel really bad for canceling on Mark. I made a mental note to make it up to him, again.

"Fine let's go. The things I do for you." I shook my head and buckled my seatbelt. 

He got a call from his father to meet so we ended up not going because there was no way I was going to meet his father. I've seen him from afar and he looked kind of scary. I was about unbuckling my seatbelt when he placed his hands on the lock to stop me.

"Are you up for a bowling match with me?" He asked.

"Uh... Are you not supposed to go meet your father?"

"I really do not feel like having a talk with my father about how my choice could rather make our family or break it. His assistant probably told him about me looking for him already and he is just going to give the same old lecture he always gives."

"This happens often?" He turned on the ignition and drove off. I thought he wasn't going to answer but he said,
"It's definitely not the first time." He came to a stop at a red light and turned to me with a smirk on his face. "So what do I get if I win this bowling match."

"Do there have to be a price when two friends play a game? How about we just play for the fun of it." I suggested. 

"Pfft. No way. Can you not do this for a friend who could possibly be living in a broken family soon." He said with a sad face which I knew it was just for a show, not totally for a show though. He is downplaying the situation so he won't have to face it and at the same time guilt-tripping me too. He was turning into the driveway of the bowling alley now.

"How about you get bragging rights."

"I do not need to win a game to do that. You know how many times my team won against your school team? Uncountable. I have enough to brag about and I do not need permission from you to do that. I'm awesome and I make sure to let you know of that." He said smugly and got down from the car. He didn't walk over to my side to open the door for me. I already warned him not to do it. I'm perfectly capable of opening my car door.  I promised to cause him physical pain if he does that after he persistently ignored my earlier requests for him to stop. He'd use his key to lock the door so I couldn't open it myself just to annoy me. 

I got down from the car too and checked the time. It was a quarter past seven. Which means I had an hour and a half to make it back home. My curfew, voted for unanimously by my three brothers, was nine p.m.

We got our bowling shoes and went to our lane. Zave ended up winning, no shock there. But at some point, I really thought I stood a chance. We were supposed to play five rounds to determine the winner. Zave intentionally made me win the first three rounds,  not that I knew that it was intentional, then he proposed we add another four rounds to the already played three. 

I was pretty confident in my bowling skill, in fact, I've won against all three of my brothers. Come to think of it I think they made me win on purpose. Anyways after laughing so hard at Zave I gave into his proposal because I was confident. His face immediately turned into a smirk and I knew I made the worst mistake of my life. He continuously knocked all pins four times in a row while I almost knocked all pins in a row. 

"You should have seen your face after I won. It was priceless."  Zave laughed out loudly as we made our way to his car. He's been this way since my last ball barely knocked any pins down.

"Haha funny. You totally cheated."

"No, I didn't, I won fair and square. Don't be a sour loser Evie."

"You totally manipulated me." I locked my seat belt and turned to face him. He had a smug grin on his face I totally wanted to knock off.

"Do not blame me for your overconfidence. I cannot believe you really thought you stood a chance of beating me." He turned on the ignition and pulled out of the driveway. It was like a quarter to nine. It's either I make it home right on time or I'm late. Honestly, I don't care what my brothers do anymore.

"Fine." I sighed. "What torturous thing will I be doing for you?"

"Patience, my dear, I'll tell you in due time. Just live your life knowing you owe me." He simpered. For some reason, this is worse. He intends to torture me more. I ignore him throughout the whole drive to my house and this just made him laugh more. I unbuckled my seat belt when he came to a stop a few blocks from my house. I planned to not say anything to him and just get down. Yes, I am a sour loser, sue me. But then he stopped me by calling out my name.

"Thanks for today." He expressed sincerely.

"You are welcome," I replied with a smile.

"Just know, I mean it when I totally and absolutely say that" he started and then paused, I stared at him waiting for him to continue, " you suck at bowling and should never ever play against anyone" He laughed out while I groaned and got down.

"Bye Julliet!" He bellowed.

The lights were off when I got home except for the front porch. Which is weird because there's no way my brothers will be asleep at 9pm. I unlocked the door and entered.

"You're late," a voice said from the darkness making me jump in fright clutching my chest.

"Seriously Elliot, you scared me." He was a bit illuminated by the light from the porch. I turned and turned on the light. He was sitting on the couch facing the door with his legs crossed. I wonder how long he has been sitting in the darkness. 

"You're late" He repeated. I checked my watch for the time.

"For like five minutes" I pointed out.

"Your curfew was 9 not  9 'O 5. We were well aware of 9 'O 5 when we gave you 9." He said. Clearly being irrational.  He was standing now with his arms crossed. His hair is messy and he was in a white Tee and pajamas bottom with little footballs printed on it. I gave him that on our birthday last year. I was tired and by no means ready to deal with his crazies.

"I'm late for 5 minutes, so what? You are not allowed to have a say in my affairs only Max and Aiden can."

"I'm your older brother too," He said with a frown.

"Yeah by like five minutes."

"See the importance of those five minutes." He said triumphantly.

"Well I don't care and I'm too tired right now to deal with crazy you now. I'll see you tomorrow big brother Elliot Martin Denver." I added sarcastically and left for my room. He tried to follow but I slammed the door in his face and locked it. Keeping the key in because I am almost 100 percent sure my brothers have a key in my room. How do I know? Cause Elliot always manages to get my hair drier even on days I intentionally lock it to keep him out. 

Elliot looked better the next day, His bruises were not all that visible but he was still going on about how angry he is at Xavier and how he hates him blah blah blah. 

"How was your date with Mark yesterday?" Max asked when we were having breakfast. He genuinely looked interested and not humoring me by pretending to. That's why I didn't lie to him.

"We – uh- rescheduled," I answered.

"Why were all dressed up yesterday then? You came home late too." Elliot asked accusingly.

"My friend had an emergency. I went to help with that rather." I said vaguely as possible.
Max got a call from his coach that ended the topic for me thankfully for now. 

As usual, I went to school with Aiden on Monday, with him driving of course.

"I don't know what's going on between you and Allen. But whatever it is, it has to stop." He suddenly said. Like I don't even know where that came from. I just asked him if I could change the song playing on the radio.

"What?" I asked.

" I saw you two last night in his car on my way home from my night run." He turned and looked at me briefly before staring straight ahead. There's no making up excuses now.

I settled back in my seat the radio long forgotten and Taylor Swift's Love Story blasting through it. The irony.

"We are just friends," I stated.

" Max isn't going to be particularly happy about this. None of us are."

"You guys said I could be friends with anyone I wanted. Well, I want to friends with him. Seriously what happened between you guys." 

As usual, he did not answer. He just packed the car in the school's parking lot and turned to look at me. 

"Not important. Just do as I say and no one will get hurt. If what I am thinking about is true this will be best for everyone especially Allen." He opened the door and left me sitting in the car pounding on his last statement. What has he figured out? Seriously, sometimes I just wish Aiden will just communicate with us like a normal person and stop his half information-giving attitude.