RILEY

I GET OUT OF THE STUDIO FUMING.

There's no way Jade fucking Driscoll thinks she's going to get away with stealing my work. The audacity to write her signature underneath something she basically copied and pasted. God. I need a cigarette. When I make it home, I'm pleased that there's no one else here. I lock the door of my bedroom, throw my tote bag across my bed, crack my window open and search for a cigarette. Normally, I'm not allowed to smoke in the apartment but since I'm alone I'm taking the liberty.

Bingo. A cigarette inside my nightstand. Well, that was easy. I might've left it there and forgotten. I'm too upset to dive into my memory of how it ended up there in the first place so I waste no time in igniting the cigarette with my BIC lighter.

The minute I put my stress reliever between my lips and take a puff, a cough wrecks my throat.

I should give it up. I really, really should but right now it's the only thing that will take some of my edge off. Every breath drags smoke into my lungs then filters it out into the air around me. The fog thickens around my nostrils as I exhale. With my middle and index finger grasping the cigarette, I lean on my door and try to let go.

Moments later, my body begins to relax. I'm halfway through when I hear a knock on the front door. I know it's none of my roommates because they have their own keys, they could open the door themselves or... they would've done the normal thing and text me like a normal person.

Hesitating to move, I stay pressed to my door with the fog surrounding my head. Maybe if I don't move, whoever is out there will think nobody's home and leave. I'm in no mood to speak to anyone.

Except whoever is out there is determined and keeps knocking. I groan and puff one last time before walking towards my opened window. The air flowing inside is cold but I don't care since it's expected. I knock out some ashes, tapping my finger on the stem of the cigarette and then I toss it out the window.

"Who is it?" I demand, making large steps towards the door.

"It's Cole, you know, your older and only brother by twenty four minutes?"Cole responds and I'm relieved it's him out of all people. "I've texted you and got no answer. We need to talk. I knew you would be here so I made it my priority."

I fling the door open. The fact that he messaged me and I didn't see should be concerning. For some reason I didn't hear anything from my phone. "What are you doing here?" If he was someone else I would've gladly thrown in the: it's not a good time. But this is my brother and not a random guy off the street.

Cole shoots me a look and I think he sniffs me out. Instead of answering my question, he sends them my way, "Is everything okay with you? Have you been smoking?"

I shake my head. "Nothing is okay." It's too late to stop the sigh that evokes me. "Yeah I smoke when I need to figure out what's happening to my life."

With the door opened, Cole invites himself into the apartment. I lock the door behind him and cross my arms over my chest. He wanders into the living room and like a puppy, I follow him like he's got a treat. My brother takes a seat comfortably on the couch like he does whenever he comes over.

I don't join him there, I stand like a security guard.

"Is that why you're ignoring Mom?" He questions, green eyes much like mine searches for the truth.

Shock manages to tangle my features. "What? No. How do you know about that?" Last time I checked when I blocked Mom I never told Cole about it. I never expressed that I was ignoring her either even though I was— I am still doing so.

Cole doesn't hesitate to respond. "Because she told me."

Why am I not surprised with that? "Of course she did." I can't help the way I roll my eyes.

My brother comes to our mother's defense. "She's trying to be better."

I try to keep my voice down. "It's too late."

"Is it?" Cole tweaks a dark eyebrow at me and I want to ask him if he's been cloned. "She invited us for Thanksgiving. That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

I scratch the back of my head where my beanie covers. "What day is that again?"

There's no way in hell he thinks I would go.

"Thursday." The way he's looking at me tells me that he thinks I'll go or he'll convince me. I want to laugh.

"How funny is it that on Thanksgiving families come together and be thankful for having support. What should I be thankful for with her? I'm not going to be fake."

When it comes to my mother I can't even pretend.

Cole doesn't push further, he starts something else. "Mom mentioned that she got an email about you possibly plagiarizing someone's work?"

I open my mouth to speak but Cole continues so I don't say anything. "And if I knew you, I know you would never do anything like that. You take pride in your drawings, paintings, everything you do."

At least he knows me in aspects of my ambitions.

"You're the only person who seems to think that. My professor doesn't believe me." My mouth pulls into a frown. "Please tell me Mom's not to gonna show up to the hearing or anything." Then again if she doesn't show us to Cole's games, what makes me think she'd show up to see if I'm being kicked out of school not?

A shrug of his shoulder answers. "She didn't say that. I don't know if she will, you don't want her to?"

"No." My voice is an octave higher. I don't want to see her face and I doubt she could help me. Dolores can't prove that I didn't copy another student's painting.

"What really happened?"

My wind wipe feels tight. "One of my classmates stole my work and submitted it as her own. Professor Grimshaw couldn't tell who copied who so she reported it. Now I have to prove that I didn't do it but I don't know how."

"Is there any way I can help? Do I know who it is?"

"No, you don't."

"Listen, I would be such a fool if I returned to the same house for dinner after Mom kicked me out the last time we had dinner. Did you forget that she threatened to cut me off? That was the only time I started selling my art to make money for some of my necessities because I didn't want to rely on her 'corporate' money. I don't know if you want to go and I'm not stopping you but you should know that I'm not going."

You know what? I'm furious. "Why do you keep giving her so many chances? She proves why she isn't our mother every goddamn second. She doesn't support your hockey games, I do. And every time she calls you're running to her. I really don't get it." I don't. How he still lets her back in every time. She's only going to hurt him.

Cole exhales. "You need to talk to her. There's a lot you don't know."

Like what? How about when I was excited to show her my painting and I saw it in her trash the next week? What about when she labeled the food that belonged to her husband just for us not to eat it? How about when she makes our food, not our requests by that way but we had to eat what she made?

"Why? What don't I know?"

"Riley, I get that she hurt you and she hurt me too. But she's going through—

"So am I!"I cut him off.

Hurt? She did more than hurt us and maybe I'm being selfish or inconsiderate. Maybe I'm not. Maybe I should hear what Cole was going to say but I don't want to because I'm going through something too. I have a feeling he was going to say divorce. It wouldn't be her first.

"She's reaching out because she's ashamed and her husband probably left her now. Like all the others. She's trying to speak to us right now but what happens when she hooks another man and marries him? She can't be alone for one second and you know it. She'll throw us to the side again like junk mail. She never really cared about us growing up and how many times is she going to prove it before you finally get it."

The day she kicked me out was the day she picked Fernando over me. Another man over me. I'm not having this conversation. This is the same woman who never spent quality time with us but always had time to prepare meals for her husband if he asked her to. Fernando could tell her to jump and she'd do it a heartbeat without even asking how high.

"You're not going home for Thanksgiving, I got it,"Cole concludes, jumping from the couch onto his feet. "You went without me to the last dinner she invited us to so this time I'm going alone. It's only fair. Is there anything you want me to bring back from your old room?"

"Nope. I have all I need here." I say, managing to keep my voice low.

Strangely enough, out of nowhere, I have an idea how I'm going to handle my plagiarism case. I've never been remotely close to anything as serious as this before so the smart thing to do is research. But before I do that, I need to calm down and get my mind off things for a while. "Your game's tomorrow right?"

Cole nods, heading to the door. "Yeah. Toledo. If you can't come, don't force it." He tells me. "You have your own stuff to take care of. Like that classmate of yours. Are you sure I can't do anything? Who do I speak to?"

"If anything, going to your game will get my mind off the situation for a few days. I have until next Tuesday to figure my shit out." I tuck my fingers into the pockets of my cargo pants. "I'll see if my friends want to tag along."

I just need one day of rest because trust me, today was fucking ridiculous.

____

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Happy Friday! See you guys next week or maybe tomorrow I wonder if I should update again, look out tomorrow if I feel like it! <3