Alyssa

I give Michael's sisters a nervous smile. Their cute and cheery smiles have been replaced by murderous glares. They don't really look like Michael, except for their eyes – dark and piercing, and currently shooting daggers at me.

I have no idea what to say. Is this about the accident? To be fair, I'd probably be furious if I met someone who injured one of my brothers.

"What are your intentions with our brother?" one of them asks – I realize I have no idea who is who.

"Lillian," Michael says sternly.

Lillian is in gold, Marissa is in pink, I repeat mentally to myself. Thank goodness for the different coloured dresses – they're identical and I don't see any differences between them.

"You're stepping into dangerous territory," Marissa says. "No one messes with our big brother and gets away with it."

"He's dated some pretty dumb girls," Lillian adds. "I hope you're not one of them."

"Girls, you don't have to try and protect me," Michael chuckles. "If anything, I'm the one who should be watching out for you two."

"We're not dating anyways," I clarify. If this is how they reacted over the possibility of me just being his girlfriend, I don't even want to know how they would react if they found out about the accident.

Michael nods. "Regardless, Alyssa is a good friend. She's very nice, I promise." His words are short and simple, but they still make me smile. The Michael from two months ago would never have referred to me as a friend, let alone a good one.

The twins seem to relax a bit, but a mischievous smile spreads across Lillian's face. She leans towards Michael and whispers something into his ear. They both suddenly look at me. Michael's face has turned bright red while Lillian just giggles.

Michael clears his throat and tugs at his collar. "How about we do some catching up," he quickly suggests.

-----

Marissa and Lillian both finish signing Michael's leg cast. He refused to let anyone sign it, he called it childish, but I guess his sisters are the exception.

"Are you going to use crutches?" Marissa asks him.

I feel my stomach sink as I'm reminded of the thought. Pretty soon, Michael won't need me around anymore.

He's already becoming more independent, I don't even see him every morning now. With both of his arms free, he can move the wheels of his chair. He can technically get around by himself, but it's a pretty strenuous task and he's still very slow. I usually get a text from him by noon, asking for some help.

We agreed at the beginning that our relationship was purely circumstantial, but neither of us can deny that things have changed between us.

What has our relationship changed into? I'm not exactly sure.

I wouldn't put it past him to avoid his feelings by just pushing me away afterwards.

"I wish," he snorts. "The doctor said my arms are too weak after being in the cast and splint for crutches.

A small part of me is relieved, as bad as that makes me seem. From what I remember, his leg cast isn't coming off for another two months or so.

"I'll do some physical therapy to take care of that, but in the meantime, I'm basically stuck in this chair until my leg heals."

I absentmindedly watch Michael as he talks to the twins. His usually messy hair is styled nicely, the new clothes make him look polished and mature, and I can even smell cologne. Dare I say he looks good? I notice my face suddenly beginning to heat up. The room is dim enough for no one to notice me blushing, and I quickly take a sip of water to cool my face.

One of the guests, a teenage boy wearing a suit clearly too big for him approaches our table.

"Hey Marissa," he greets her nervously. "Want to dance?"

Marissa's face lights up. "Oh right! Michael, this is my boyfriend, Jacob."

Michael immediately narrows his eyes. The poor kid avoids eye contact and shuffles his weight back and forth on his feet.

"Boyfriend, huh?" Michael says. His voice is calm but I see the fire in his eyes. "Jacob, was it? How about we go have a talk first."

"Michael," Marissa whines, "leave him alone."

Michael ignores her and directs Jacob where to bring them. They head out of the ballroom to God knows where.

I laugh. I've gone through that exact situation with my brothers countless times, it rarely turns out well.

Marissa sits back down with an annoyed huff.

"I know that feeling all too well," I say to her. "I have four older brothers."

Marissa doesn't say anything, but she gives me the same look Michael does when he's curious but pretending not to care.

"He means well," I reassure her. "He really cares about you and just wants the best for you."

It took all of five seconds for my heart to totally melt at how adorable his relationship with his sisters is. It's probably one of the very few times I've seen him look genuinely happy.

It's an entirely different side of Michael I've never seen before, I doubt he's even aware of it when it comes out. As it turns out, he is capable of being kind and caring, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy seeing it.

Marissa gives me a soft smile and slightly turns in her chair towards me. "You're right-"

"We obviously already know that," Lillian suddenly interrupts. She rolls her eyes and looks at me like I'm an idiot. "He's our brother, he took care of us."

I immediately see the resemblance between Michael and Lillian.

"He took care of you?" I ask.

Marissa nods. "Yeah, when we were little-"

Lillian elbows Marissa and cuts her off. Lillian furrows her brows while Marissa does a half shrug. I watch as they proceed to communicate without any words, using facial expressions and slight movements instead. Some sort of twin telepathy, I guess.

"We don't want to talk about it," Marissa finally says while avoiding eye contact with me.

"That's alright," I say and give her a reassuring smile. Despite my curiosity, it sounds like it's personal and I don't want to push.

The music suddenly pauses as the DJ begins to speak, "DJ Snake Eyes here! Hope everyone's having a good time!"

I manage to see him through a gap in the crowd. He's surprisingly young, probably only around the same age as the twins.

I peek at Lillian from the corner of my eye as I notice her movement. Her demeanour has completely changed. She props her elbows up on the table and rests her cheeks in her palms. A wide smile stretches across her face, while a dreamy look glazes her eyes.

How cute.

"Let's give it up again for the birthday girls, Lillian and Marissa!" he shouts enthusiastically and points to our table.

The room breaks out into cheers and whistles. The girls smile and wave, but a pink blush starts to creep up Lillian's face as she continues looking at the DJ.

"Now let's get back to partying!"

The party quickly ramps back up. Marissa and Lillian are whispering to each other – Marissa has an amused grin on her face while Lillian is blushing even more than before.

"Excuse me, I'm going to go to the washroom," I say and stand up.

They nod and I head towards the door. I peek over my shoulder to make sure they aren't watching, before I turn and sneak along the wall to the front of the room.

I approach the side of the DJ table and wave to catch his attention.

"Hi!" I call over the noise.

He comes over and takes off his headphones. His blonde hair is messy and partially covers his eyes when the headphones aren't holding his hair back. "Sorry Ma'am, only DJs are allowed in the booth," he says, surprisingly politely. "You're not the first person to ask to try it out."

"Oh no, it's not that," I say. "DJ Snake Eyes, was it?"

He chuckles. "Kyle is fine."

"Alright Kyle, I'm Alyssa. How did you end up with this gig?"

"Marissa asked me," he explains. "We've been friends since kindergarten so I didn't mind doing it for free."

Ok, not exactly the answer I was hoping for, but I'm too persistent to give up. "You're not friends with Lillian?"

He shrugs. "Not really, I feel like Lillian hates me," he says and rubs the back of his neck. "She always avoids looking at me when I look at her. She's talkative with other people but gets really quiet and fidgety around me."

I bite my tongue to stop myself from groaning. Are all boys this oblivious?

I give him a small grin. "Do you want to be friends with her?"

His face begins turning red and he quickly crosses his arms. "W-who are you again?"

"I'm friends with the twins' brother," I say impatiently. "Now back to the point."

He looks down at his shoes and nudges one of the long cords on the floor. "Yeah, I do," he mutters.

"She's still over there." I point to the table the twins are sitting at. "It's now or never, someone is bound to ask her to dance tonight."

His eyes nervously dart from their table to his DJ setup. "I would, but I can't just leave the booth."

"Isn't there anyone who can replace you?"

"Well," he begins and scans the room, "my friend Winston went to DJ camp with me, I think he's here."

"Perfect!"

-----

I take a different path back to the table and sit down first. The twins are still talking to each other and don't seem to notice.

"Hey Lillian."

Lillian's eyes widen the moment she looks up. Her cheeks begin to flush. "H-hi Kyle."

He nervously runs his hand through his hair and looks up at the ceiling. "Do you want to, uh," he mumbles, "dance?"

This is too cute, it's like watching something straight out of a rom com. Maybe I should play matchmaker more often. In the corner of my eye, I notice Marissa giving me a knowing look and chuckling. Ok, maybe I wasn't being as sneaky as I thought I was.

"S-sure!" she squeaks.

He takes Lillian's hand and helps her out of her seat. What a gentleman.

Marissa leans over to whisper to me. "Thanks," she says. "I've been waiting forever for that!"

A/N:

I've tried, but I'm definitely not a good wingman 🤦‍♀️

Thanks for reading!