~A Shoulder For Responsibilities~

It had been an exhaustive day, Nicolas thought, as he parked his car in the small garage in the backyard of the decent looking, spacious three bedroom flat. His sister had been mute all through the drive and if he made a wild guess, she was mad at something or mulling over whatever happened in school. She grabbed a hold of her bag pack, jumping out of the jeep as quickly as possible. He frowned at her behavior. She always wanted to wait in the car to talk to him before she stepped into the depressing atmosphere in their house. But today wasn't meant to be one of those days.

He quickly stepped out after her too, ignoring how awkwardly big the jeep sat in their small garage. "Aurora, wait up."

She scoffed but stopped nonetheless. When he was done securing the latch of the garage gate, he turned to her with a worried expression. "What happened at school?"

"Nothing." She replied in a clipped tone.

He knew she was upset about something judging from the tone of her voice. "Talk to me, Aurora. Did someone do something?"

Taking a deep breath to keep herself from raising her voice at her elder brother, she explained. "It's been weeks since you promised to get me the Mac book now. Almost all my friends have it and they rub it in my face about it."

He sighed. Were they still on this topic? The last time she asked this question was two days ago. His innermost being wished she would at least try and be attentive to the financial status of their family. They had bills to be paid, a rent to renew amongst a ton of other important things. He didn't want to refer to her as being self centered but to God, she was.

Biting back a spiteful remark, he turned her to face him. "Give me a little time, Aurora. There's still other things that need my attention. The peanuts I get at work won't be enough to go round but at least we can try place our priorities right so we don't end up misplacing our necessities for our wants." He spelled out slowly like he was talking to a four-year old girl.

"Really now? My MacBook pro max is a misplaced priority?"

He slapped a hand against his forehead. It was going harder than he thought it would.

She continued regardless. "I'm not the one who promised myself to get me one, am I? Serena gets to school and all she ever opens her loud mouth to say is how she can afford the latest wears and electronic devices while I'm stuck here with your hand-me-downs shirts and jeans and some clothes we got at a thrift store. I can't even--"

"Stop it, Aurora." He snapped. "Just stop. Stop thinking solely about yourself like you're all that exists and all that should be catered for. Look at Dad, he hasn't been able to do much at work since Mom left. I'm left to afford his medications every month. I don't know what else to try anymore so please stop your unnecessary whining."

She narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. "How then were you able to afford that expensive ride? Someone at school said it's in vogue and I even got to make more friends because of that."

Nicolas's face blanched as the question came out of her mouth. He coughed, avoiding her eyes. "I told you already. It was a gift from a friend."

"What kind of friend gives such expensive rides for a gift? I would like to meet with him to show my appreciation and perhaps ask him to get me the MacBook instead." She finished, bumping her shoulder into him as she walked past and into the house.

He could only stand and watch in anger with closed fists and clenched jaws. Willing his feet to move, he stepped into the house as well. Today was already a bad one and he didn't need his sister adding to his truckload of troubles. Speaking of which, his mind wandered unbidden to Dolores, the brown haired girl with blue eyes which seemed to conceal a heavy heart. They held a tinge of sadness each time she was alone without that annoying Adelina standing by her side. Oftentimes, he wondered what he would find if her thoughts were laid bare before him.

Was she as broken as he was?

As he pulled his shirt over his head, the image of the blue container he found laying on the floor when she bumped into him flashed again in his head like it had been doing since the awkward incident. How come she was asthmatic and he hadn't noticed it? He recalled how stupid he had acted by wheezing in class and almost kicked himself for it.

"I'm a fucking idiot." He cursed at himself again. He didn't say a word to Carlos and the rest of the guys about her being asthmatic but Carlos, on his own, just assumed he was making those sounds to piss Dolores off as always.

He was starting to regret agreeing to work for him. Although Carlos gave money generously when any of his selfish bid was done, it took a portion of his conscience each time he collected his monetary compensation. Other times, instead of a business deal as the benefactor liked to call it, Nicolas felt as though he exchanged his sanity for money each time he got paid. It was only a matter of time before he becomes an emotionless animal like Carlos.

Another thought wandered into his head as he tugged off his trousers, collapsing on the bed in his briefs with his arms folded underneath his head.

Where on earth was he seeing such huge amounts of money from? The amounts he gave to him and some of the other guys very well surpassed the usual allowance a parent should give to their teenage son. He mulled over what factor was responsible for how Carlos turned out and if there were no other relative or guardian watching as his Dad was often too unavailable to watch him.

A soft rap on his door broke through his train of thoughts. He didn't need to ask who it was to know that it was his sister. She probably wanted to apologize for how she had spoken if she was still the same person he was used to. The door squeaked open as a head peered first into his room. It was her, true to his second sight. She placed a hand over her eyes as she caught sight of her brother's nearly naked body.

"Cover up, will you?" Her whole body followed from behind the door.

He growled, throwing the duvet over the lower half of his body. "What do you want?"

"Are you decent at least?"

"Yes." At his reply, she uncovered her face. "What do you want?"

"About earlier," she paused then added, "I'm sorry about what happened, about what I said. I went to my room and realized what an ungrateful little sister I was fast becoming because of what my friends thought of me." She bit down on her bottom lip in a nervous habit she developed since she was three.

Nicolas let out a resigned sigh. "It's okay. You're fifteen, Aurora. It's totally normal for people your age to feel the mount of peer pressure weighing on them but it'll be an error for you to be swayed from your discipline by caving in to them."

The words that spilled from his mouth sounded alien to his own hearing. He was in no position to judge how she lived her life when he was doing otherwise just to please another at the detriment of his ethics. Still he couldn't blame himself for wanting to play the role of a big brother and a guardian.

While growing up, he had just his nanny around who, after making sure he had had dinner, retired to the living room with her legs propped up on the table to watch her favorite soap opera until his parents got back. His Dad worked a twelve hours shift everyday for sixteen years at a radio station which was slowly becoming renowned and his Mom was a chef who was barely home due to the nature of her job.

"...like I can't help it if they start to snicker when they think I'm not looking." She was saying. That was when he realized he had zoned out of their conversation. But as his eyes met hers, they were moist with raw emotions. He was not sure how to deal with hormonal teenagers so he did the one thing that came to his mind.

"Do we go for a ride?" His voice was quite unsure and when she sent him an incredulous look, he knew he had spoken out of turn.

She smiled so wide that he was afraid her cheeks would hurt like hell after. "I thought you would never ask. Let me go get dressed then." She skipped happily out of his room.

Groaning in frustration, he rolled over to lay on his front when another image of Dolores's smiling face during break hour sat, unbudging, in the back of his head. "Get out of my head, blue eyed angel."

~~~{•}~~~

This isn't a late update. I mentioned I was gonna make updates twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays.
So, here it is.
Now we're seeing from Nicolas's point of view, I hope we enjoy it.
Don't forget to leave a star and drop a comment.

~~Tequila~~