"Does it bother you that I party?"

I look down at Olivia and give a confused laugh. "What?"

We're in the basement of my house, curled up on the couch, watching a movie. She looks up at me seriously. "Does it bother you that I go to parties still where there's alcohol?"

"Er, no. Why would I?"

"Because you can't."

I'm not sure why, but that sentence made a snap of anger run through me. I suppress it, though. "I can still go to parties without drinking, Olivia."

Sensing my tension, she backs off a little. "Oh... right."

We go back to snuggling. But after a few minutes, she moves away again so she can look at me. "I mean, wouldn't the temptation to drink be there?"

"Argh! No!" Annoyed, I reach forward and take up the TV remote, pausing what we're watching. I look at her, and she looks uncomfortable. I sigh in an attempt to calm myself. "Why are you asking me this? Did you want to go somewhere?"

"Yes. I mean no." I give her a withering look and she rushes on. "I mean, in the future it'd be nice to go places with you."

I'm starting to get offended. I narrow my eyes. "We can go places, Olivia."

My girlfriend starts wringing her hands. "I know, but I just don't want to put you in a situation where you wouldn't feel comfortable—"

"I don't feel comfortable now."

She blinks. "You don't?"

"You're acting like I'm some sort of helpless thing that can't go anywhere for myself. Like I have zero self-control."

Olivia's pretty eyes widen. "I didn't say that."

I cross my arms. "Well it's how you're making me feel."

"Orion—"

She's cut off by my door bell ringing. For a moment neither of us move, simply stare at one another. When the door bell chimes again, I get up and head to the stairs. Olivia decides to follow me.

"Orion, I didn't mean to upset you," Olivia says as we make our way up my spiral staircase. "You're not—"

"Look," I say, abruptly stopping halfway up the stairs and turning to look down at her. "If you have someplace to go and want to invite me to tag along as your boyfriend, fine. If there's going to be alcohol there, that's fine, too. I don't need a Goddamn chaperone."

Olivia looks a mix of hurt and angry. "Really? Well, ya coulda fooled me given your lack of control at the dance club every time I saw you."

"That was different," I seethe through pursed lips, my eyes slits. "I'm not blowing my sobriety this time. No way. And I'd appreciate it if you had some faith in me."

The doorbell chimes a third time. Without another word to Olivia I turn back around and head up the stairs. She follows me. I check one of the camera screens embedded in the wall.

"Shit."

"What?" Olivia asks, following to the door. "What? What's wrong, who is it?"

I open the door. Amy and John are standing there, Amy with her backpack and suitcase and John with a duffle bag.

"The hell are you doing here?" I ask.

John busts out laughing, bending over. Amy puts her hand on her hip, rolling her eyes, talking over our brother's laughter. "It's the last week of our summer vacation. You invited John and I to stay here? Remember?"

It clicks in my brain. I did, in fact, say that. I had, in fact, completely forgotten though. I quickly look Amy over and frown. "Where's your flute?"

She looks shocked, which just makes John laugh even harder.

"I told you!" John said to her, earning him a punch in the shoulder.

"You didn't bring it, did you?" I press, narrowing my eyes.

"Oh come on," she groans, "I start band in a week, lay off." It's then she notices Olivia. After giving her a quick up and down, she frowns deeply. "Who's the hussy?"

John abruptly stops laughing.

I feel myself turn red in anger. "AMY!"

I look over at Olivia. She seems confused, like she can't decide if she's supposed to laugh or be offended. Olivia glances at me.

"This is my girlfriend, thank you very much!"

"Not cool, sis," John mutters.

"Sorry," Amy mumbles, but I can tell she doesn't mean it, and I clench my hands into fists at my sides.

"It's okay," Olivia says, extending her hand. "I'm Olivia. And you are...?"

Amy shakes her hand. "Amy. Orion's little sister."

"Oooooh," Olivia replies, pointing at Amy, "so that's where the bad attitude comes from."

The air shifts to very uncomfortable. Olivia holds up her hands, squeezing her way between my siblings.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Olivia tells me over her shoulder.

"Okay," I say, still bright red. The three of us watch her until she drives away. Once the car disappears around the corner, both Amy and John shove me inside.

"Hey!" I snap at them.

"How old is she?" John presses.

At the same time, Amy says, "Look, Ori, I didn't mean to upset you—"

"How long have you guys been together for?" John continues to speak at the same time.

"But for real, she was dressed kinda like a skank, but in like, a wanna be, retro, boho look —"

"ENOUGH!"

They both shut up. I take off my glasses and briefly rub my face. Taking a deep breath, I look at them. "Can I just—"

My siblings look at me in expectancy. I deflate.

"Sorry," I mumble, "you just caught me at a bad time. I don't mean to be a shitty host right off the bat, but could I please just have a little time to myself?"

I don't miss the worried look exchanged between siblings.

"Sure," John beams at me, "whatever you need."

"We can find the guest rooms," Amy says quietly.

I smile. "Thanks. Just give me like, twenty minutes, okay?"

"Sure," Amy says still quietly.

I give a half-hearted smile and begin to make my way back downstairs. The thought of talking with them, even after twenty minutes, seemed daunting to me. Really all I wanted to do was go to sleep and forget the world for a while. My good day suddenly became anything but.

Laying down on the couch, I closed my eyes. I told myself I wasn't going to fall asleep, but after a few minutes I take off my glasses. Even so, I tell myself I'm not going to drift off. Yet I do, resorting to my age-old escapism of just leaving the world for a while, hiding away in my dreams. 

Apparently I wasn't quite the new Orion Bauwens yet, still running away from my problems.