Sam

My raw, red fingers snatched the corner of the page and turned it, almost tearing the paper in the process. I never liked Tom Bombadillo's song; it was half-witted, childish bullshit. A waste of space. Especially considering these books already had around five-hundred pages. Imagine having written a story like this one, with so many words. Being that famous that people were still reading it almost a century later. It'd been our goal once, June's and mine, to become like Tolkien or Rowling, have our own faces grinning at us from the back of a cover.

Or maybe it'd been my goal. I wasn't sure. The only thing I remembered was reading a lot more before I met her, and writing and drawing more too. But she'd always been better at putting her thoughts down on paper, so at some point, it felt useless to make up my own stuff, because it'd never be as good as hers anyway. Yeah, Nathan would've taken a look at my stories if I'd asked him to, and he would've given me some well thought out lawyer compliment. It wouldn't have meant a thing. He would've never been as curious about my writing as he was about hers. Guess I now knew why.

I skipped a few more pages, determined to get past that dipshit of a Bombadillo guy. I should've never given up on wanting to be an author just because my brother was more impressed with her skills. I might've been published already if I hadn't. Ha! Picture that. Me, in my own villa, somewhere in Europe, a pretty girl by my side to help me when I was stuck with my story. Mm... Why did that girl look like —

"Hayley, what the hell?"

That bouncy chick appeared out of nowhere to take a picture of me, flash and all, and was now giggling at her phone screen like she was watching an episode of Friends. I'd never understood why she was so obsessed with that show, but she found it amazingly funny. Let me tell you, I'd sat through half a season with her, hoping it'd stop her whining about how I had to try it, and if it hadn't been for her laughing all the time, I would've fallen asleep.

"Sorry, I just had to," she said, flopping down on the couch beside me. She started typing away on her phone, which probably meant I was going to be in her Snapchat story for the day, and that girl had a ton of followers. Exactly what I needed... Not. She flashed me a broad smile, one that annoyed me and calmed me down at the same time. "Why are you reading..." she pushed up the beaten cover, squinting her eyes, "Lord of the Rings? Better yet, why are you even reading?"

What? Wasn't I allowed to read just because that was June's thing? I threw the book aside. If only I had texted her the whole birthday was off, she wouldn't have been here right now, disturbing my peace. "I read. I like to read. You have seen me read before. I'm actually good at reading."

Her mouth fell slightly open, and she cocked her head, as if I'd suddenly transformed into a Hobbit. "Well, good job, little man," she said sweetly, patting my shoulder. "You want a sticker for that?"

"Oh, shut up." I shoved her away from me, something I instantly regretted. It was better to have her close. She smelled like a flower, or a few together, and it was nice. Made me forget my dickhead of a brother for a second, in a way even Frodo hadn't managed to do.

"What? No smart come-back?" The smile disappeared from her face. She seized my wrist, trying to get my attention, and to my frustration, it worked. "Sam, are you okay?" A gasp. "What happened to your hands?" Blue eyes widened as she traced my reddened skin — she really should stop doing that. It was incredibly distracting, and I was trying to be angry.

I jerked back my arm. "That hurts." I immediately regretted it, more so when she rolled her eyes at me. "I cleaned the whole kitchen. June had made a mess of it."

"More than usual?"

Definitely. If only she knew... This was something that couldn't be cleaned up with a drop of detergent and a cloth. The stain would be there forever. "Yeah, you wouldn't even believe it."

"Believe me, I would." She let out a deep sigh, shaking her head, then elbowed me in the side. "Who would've thought? Sam Redstone wiping off counters. At least we know if you ever lose your fortune, you could make a living cleaning toilets."

Cleaning toilets sounded like a good distraction from the image of my bare-chested brother kissing June. Maybe I should give it a try. Grandma would've probably approved. She'd have said it builds character.

Hayley snapped her fingers, an amused smile on her pretty face. I didn't get how she could look this nice after only a few hours of sleep, no circles anywhere and with her blonde hair damp from showering. Guess she didn't have to undergo the trauma I had. Just like after swimming, a few of the shorter strands along her forehead had coiled up into mini curls. They bounced up and down every time she moved her head. "Are you serious?" she said. "You're not going to tell me that's gross?"

"I've seen worse things."

"Like what?"

"Trust me. You don't want to know."

She laughed, wiggling her eyebrows. "Ooh, our rich boy has a dark past. You should write a book about that."

"Maybe I should."

That shut her up, abruptly back to a frown on her face. Her hand found mine, and for once, I didn't mind her touching me. "Sam," she said, her thumb stroking me gently. I couldn't remember the last time someone had done that — or if someone even had done that for me before. There was a sudden tightness in my chest. All I could do was stare at her, since I didn't really get what was going on anymore. "What happened? You seem... off."

"I just... don't know how to tell you. If I even should tell you. Might be better if I don't."

A deep breath, a little shaky. "You don't have to say it out loud."

What? I was about to ask her what the hell she was talking about when I discovered how near she was, and how there seemed to be less distance between us every second. From up close, I could see make-up glistening underneath her eyes, her secret to covering up a night of almost no sleep. Yesterday, her lips had been a bright pink, probably tasting of raspberries. Now, they were their natural color, though somehow just as attractive.

Something tingled in my toes. This was the part where you closed your eyes, Sam, or it'd be creepy, remember? Right. Wait, what even was going on? Kiss Hayley? Did I lose my mind? Did she lose hers? Ah, it didn't really matter, because I really wanted her to kiss me. Maybe Nathan had had a point when it came to her after all —

shit, Nathan!

A big push, making her fall back in the cushions. The image of him and June had popped up again, playing in slow-motion, and it one-hundred percent destroyed my hunger for summer fruit.

Hayley clasped her hands over her mouth, her nails painted that same shade of pink. Between fast breaths, she shook her head, hair flying everywhere, even hitting me on the nose. "I'm like, so sorry, really..."

"No, I—" I didn't know what to say.

Whoa. I'd wanted to kiss Hayley. Alright, I liked her, but she was also so annoying... Man, this was confusing. Man, she was cute, especially when she was about to kiss me. She really needed to do that more.

"I wasn't prepared," I said, almost not believing I was really saying it. "Can we... retry?"

A perfect smile, and then she was moving towards me for a second time. Her tooth-paste breath made me panic about my own. I hadn't brushed my teeth yet today, it must smell nasty. Nah, you ate the cereal, you were okay. Huh. Hadn't stopped Nathan this morning...

Oh shit.

My hands shot between us, forcing her to move back. Shit shit shit. This was all their fault... If they hadn't felt the need to do what they did, I would've had a girlfriend from this moment on, and a really great one at that. Why did they have to screw up everything?

Hayley's smile had disappeared. She was picking at her bracelet, the one June got her, her eyes flashing rapidly from left to right. "Is something wrong with me?" she asked in a small voice.

Oh no. Wetness, shaking lips, activation of the pouting-baby mode... Why did she have to try this today? I was obviously not in the mood for any of it. I told her something was bothering me, for god's sake, and her fix is to kiss me? I didn't have the energy to suss an upset Hayley — I was the one who needed to be calmed down.

A weird noise and she jumped up, rubbing at her cheeks. Shit, she was going to cry. What was it with this house and birthdays?

"Hayley, wait! It's not you!"

She turned back around, shooting me a toothy grimace. "Of course not. How original of you." And she wanted to walk away, but I really couldn't handle that. Not today.

With warp speed, I hopped over the couch, blocking her way. She stumbled in place, clearly shocked. "I swear! It's not you, it's June."

"What?" The word came out so high-pitched the windows would've shattered if this had been a cartoon.

Oh, shit! I waved my arms, heart beating loudly in my chest. "No, no, no, not like that. The carpet... It's driving me wild."

"What are you even saying?"

I stared at her, random sentence parts soaring through my mind. Come on, come on, find a way to tell her. You needed to tell her, or this would blow up like a nuclear bomb... I started pacing, hoping it'd clear my head. Okay. Try. Brace yourself for a fit of hysteria... "June," I said. "She... Nathan came home. For her birthday."

Against all logic, Hayley relaxed, slowly developing an amazed smile. "Really? She must be like, so happy!" When she caught the look on my face, she frowned: "Or... not?"

"Yes! It didn't make any sense." I pointed towards the carpet. "How can I kiss you if all I see is them together, right there?"

"Wait... Do you mean... together-together?"

"Yes. I don't know."

In that moment, her whole face lit up like a Christmas tree. "They're together? Like, a couple?" She clapped her hands, bouncing up and down, then threw herself around my neck to strangle me. "Oh, I'm so excited! This is literally the best news ever. I didn't even think it'd ever happen at this point... Did you? Oh, I need to call her. Oh, wait, no, they're probably together right now, right? Have they gone out? Are they upstairs?" A fit of giggles found their way out. She pressed her hands to her mouth, as if trying to stop them. "We could spy on them again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, like that Christmas remember, with Nathan kissing her on the cheek, and Charlotte catching us..."

"That was about the card!"

"Sure. For you, maybe."

Had the whole world gone upside down? Did I hit my head on a stone this night at the beach or something? Did I go into a coma? I squeezed my own arm, just to be sure, really hoping I'd wake up from this nightmarish alternate reality. It didn't work. "How can you be happy about this?"

Another one of those eye rolls. "Uh, maybe because my best friend has finally kissed the guy she always wanted to kiss more than anyone?" She flushed, sucking in a breath. "Ooh... or did they... you know... do it? — Why are you looking at me like that?"

Why? Because she was screwing with my mind! June, wanting to kiss my brother? No, June had never even been in love, she'd never liked anyone, no matter what she told me this morning after she woke up and she lied to me, saying it'd been a guy from work, asking if I'd seen him leave, like she wasn't ashamed at all... I'd been so mad. How could she lie so easily?

"Nathan is gone. There is no... couple."

"What? Why?"

"Because he's a pervy creep, and he knows it." Weirdly enough, that made her grin, like she was getting some sick pleasure from hearing my whole family were losers. "That's not funny. He slept with his baby sister."

She snorted. "Baby sister? She's not your real family, you know. And she's like, far from a baby."

"Are you seriously defending them? He slept with my best friend, okay! They slept together. That doesn't even... It's incest, and it's illegal."

She was holding her breath, cheeks gradually turning red, her lips pressed together in a way that made me think she was going to barf, which would be understandable in this situation. But when she did let go, it wasn't puke that came out, it was full-blown, loud laughter. "We're talking about Nathan here," she said, staring at me like I was the dense one. "It's not like he's some pedophile. He really loves her, and you know it."

That was the last straw. Something in me exploded, and with a grunt, I kicked the wall as hard as I could. My toes screamed in pain, and hot tears left me as I kicked again, and again, and again. "Why are you defending him? They can both go to hell, for my part. It's not right. They shouldn't... he shouldn't..."

"Gosh, Sam, chill!" Her voice came from miles away. I prepared to lunge out again, when two arms cast themselves around my waist, keeping me from reaching my target. I shrugged her off, breathing fast. "Can't you just be happy for them? She's going to be eighteen in a year, and then it doesn't even matter anymore."

"It. Does. Matter." My muscles twitched, waves of heat surging through me, breaking out into a sweat. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. We had a good thing going on, the three of us. First, he screwed up by moving to that stinking city, and then this. I licked my lips, trying to keep myself from hitting something. "And he knows. I told him what a son of a bitch he was, and he fled. So you can wipe that smile off your face because he knows what a creep he is. He's gone, back to Charlotte, where he belongs."

Oh great, now she was crying, sulking like a toddler, hugging herself close. "You don't even like Charlotte," she whined, her voice so annoying I had the urge to cover my ears.

"Doesn't matter. It's his girlfriend. He shouldn't cheat."

"I remember this plan of you to make him cheat so he'd break up with her and come back. Now it could've happened, and you don't want it?"

"Yes, because it wasn't supposed to be June."

Through her tears, a mocking smile took its place on her face, giving me the chills. "Ah," she said, suddenly steady again. "I see what this is about. You're jealous."

"What? No!"

But she shook her head. "You're jealous because you're afraid they love each other more than they love you. And guess what, Sam? It wouldn't surprise me if they do. Especially with you being a jerk like this."

"Oh, you're full of shit."

"Am I?" She gave me a look, wiping her cheeks with her arm. "I'm out of here. You better fix this, or you'll lose your brother and both your friends."

Well, great! If they were all acting crazy, I didn't want them anyway. She disappeared into the hallway. I slammed the door behind her, using all the strength I had in me. The large landscape picture on the wall shuddered, threatening to fall down.

Jealous. Me. As if. They were all wrong, the three of them, and in time, they would see it. Just wait.