The doorbell rang and I bounded down the stairs. Mom was talking to Nina as she stepped into the house.

                “Hey Nina,” I said, cutting into their conversation. She was here to be with me, not my mom.

                “Hi Shawn,” Nin said with a small smile.

                “Shawn, just try to keep it down upstairs, okay? You father was tired, so he went to go take a nap. You don’t want to wake him up,” mom said.

                “Yea, whatever,” I said flatly, grabbing Nina’s hand and pulling her upstairs before mom could yell at me.

                I shut my bedroom door and locked it. Nina went over and sat on the bottom bunk, looking around our messy room.

                “Where’s Shane?” she asked curiously.

                “He and Luna went on a date,” I said with a shrug.

                “Shawn, do you think Luna and Shane have had sex?” she asked.

                I narrowed my eyes at her. “No. I know they haven’t. Shane would’ve told me if they had,” I growled.

                “But you didn’t Shane,” she pointed out. “So maybe he wouldn’t tell you.”

                I grabbed her arm and forced her to stand up. She stared at me in surprise as I released her arm. She rubbed it and watched me nervously.

                “Shane tells me everything. Absolutely everything. I’m his twin brother. He’s loyal to me,” I said angrily.

                “Shawn, calm down. I know you guys are twins. But you keep your share of secrets from Shane, and you guys are 16 now. He might tell you almost everything, but not every little detail of his life,” she said softly.

                Before I knew what was happening, my hand had swung around and made contact with her face. The sound of my palm on her cheek seemed to ring through my ears, along with her shocked and painful gasp.

                Nina began to stumble away from me, and I reached out and gripped her arm, this time much together. I pulled her up to my face and she stared at me in terror.

                “You don’t know shit about what Shane and I went through together. He was mentally disturbed from the attack 6 years ago. I’m the one who has been healing him. He tells me everything. So you don’t you dare act like you know him better than I do,” I snarled dangerously.

                “Shawn, let go of my arm. You’re hurting me,” she said, trying to pull out of my grip. “God, what the hell is wrong with you? Since when were you ever abusive?!”

                I slapped her again, wanting her to shut up. I wasn’t abusive! She just needed to be taught a fucking lesson!

                Breathing heavily, I shoved her away from me. I went over and opened my bedroom window, grabbing my cigarettes out of my drawer. I lit one and leaned out of the window, trying to calm down before I hit that stupid bitch again.

                Nina watched me nervously, gently rubbing her arm. There were marks in the shape of my fingers on her arm, and her cheek was red from me slapping her.

                She watched me in silence for a few minutes. When I had finished my cigarette, I flicked it out of the window and stood up, rubbing my temples as I moved over to her. She flinched back, watching me in fear.

                I pulled her into my arms and hugged her, kissing her. “Just don’t talk that way anymore,” I said, forcing a small smile.

                “I w-won’t,” she said quietly.

                “Good. I love you,” I said, kissing her again. I pulled away and my smile got a little wider. “You love me too, right?”

                She nodded immediately. “Yea Shawn. I love you,” she whispered, burying her face in my chest. I held her tightly.

                The bedroom door opened and Shane stepped in. He blushed shyly as he noticed us, and I offered him a smile.

                “Hey Shane,” I said, casually fixing Nina’s shirtsleeve so that he wouldn’t see the marks on her arm. She slowly pulled her head away from my chest.

                “Nina, what happened to your face?” Shane asked, frowning deeply. “It looks like someone slapped you.”

                “I mouthed off to my dad,” she mumbled. I kissed her uninjured cheek. Good girl.

                Shane nodded at her and moved over to his bed, dropping down on it and grabbing his iPod. He began to flick through it, and I took Nina’s hand and led her out of the bedroom.

                “Don’t make me have to do that again Nina,” I said, gently stroking her cheek. She winced and nodded, her lower lip trembling.

                “I promise I won’t,” she said shakily. “I’m sorry Shawn.”

                I walked her downstairs and to the door. “I think you better go now Nina. We can hang out tomorrow,” I said, kissing her deeply.

                “Okay. Bye Shawn,” she said, dropping her head and hurrying out of the house.

                I shut the door and made my way back towards my bedroom. I nearly ran into my dad as he sleepily walked out of his bedroom.

                “Sorry Shawn,” he said as I jumped back to avoid running into him. He stretched and rubbed his eyes, looking exhausted. “I just napped for a little.”

                “It’s alright dad,” I said. “Nina came over for a few minutes, but she just left.”

                “How is everything with her going Shawn?” he asked.

                “Everything is fine, dad,” I said with a shrug.

                “That’s good. I hope you’re being a gentleman to her, and I hope she’s being good to you,” he said, ruffling my hair before moving downstairs to go find mom.

                I went back into my bedroom and climbed onto the top bunk. God, Nina was getting out of hand lately. How dare she even suggest that Shane would keep something from me.

                I would have to make sure she didn’t get too out of line. I didn’t like it when I didn’t have control over a situation.

                “Hey Shane?” I crawled down to his bunk, sitting next to him.

                “Yea Shawn?” he asked curiously, looking up from the book he had been reading.

                “You’re not keeping anything from me, are you?” I asked, just wanting to be safe.

                Shane shook his head, looking confused. “No. Would I be keeping from you?”

                I smiled and slung an arm around his shoulders, ruffling his hair. “Nothing. I was just asking,” I said with a shrug.

                I smiled even wider, realizing that Shane had barely been stuttering lately. His speech was getting better, which I was pretty sure meant his mental state was getting better. After he had endured the attack, he had been horribly mentally scarred, and I think some of that was finally starting to go away.

                That stupid attack on us 6 years ago. I had just watched the whole thing go down, held by some random stranger so that I wouldn’t get hurt too. Just standing there, crying and screaming and watching my twin brother get viciously assaulted until my dad had come and rescued him.

                I shook those thoughts out of my head, pulling my arm away from Shane. He went back to reading his book, and I crawled back up to my own bunk, lying down and folding my hands behind my head as I stared up at the ceiling.

                Nina wouldn’t tell anyone I had slapped her, would she? I had just been trying to teach her to watch her fucking mouth.

                But if she told someone, I could get in trouble. Ah great. I’d have to make sure she didn’t tell about us having sex, or me hitting her. I’d have to keep strict control over this situation. 

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A.N.- Sorry I haven't updated this story since the dinosaurs were walking around .__. And, this update kinda sucks...a lot...but I'll try to update again this week? :3 I haven't forgotten about this story! I've just had writer's block >.<