When Apollo asked me out, I was thrilled because for the first time, someone had picked me over my sisters. We were fifteen and more identical than ever, it was before Daisy decided she'd look hotter as a redhead.

We were just starting to discover ourselves individually but it seemed like everyone had already decided that I was the least of our trio. I was just as pretty and smart, Daisy said we were all hot, a triplethreat, the whole package; beauty, brains, booty and boobs but I was still the boring, do-gooder, no fun one and no teenager wanted a stuck up girlfriend.

Then Apollo approached us at lunch and spoke to me, not my sisters, he asked for my number, not theirs and invited me out on a date and while I was overjoyed that the gorgeous Apollo Timon had asked me on a date, I was still skeptical.

    As I got ready, Daisy suggested we do the triple trick on him, the one we used to do to our relatives when we were younger, the one only our mother never fell victim to and when Dahlia looked away from her homework to smirk evilly, I knew objecting would be useless so I sat there and watched them put on my clothes and style their hair like mine.

Apollo was already at the Italian place when we got there, he had dressed up, the effort put into his hair was obvious and I was touched that he tried to look good for me, as if he wasn't already beautiful enough. My sisters quieted down as he looked up from his phone. He took off his earphones and smiled at us and a little part of me felt like he was smiling at just me. I held my breath as he approached us and only let it out when I saw that though walking in our general direction, his eyes were on me.

"Hey girls." He greeted my sisters but his eyes never left me.

"You look amazing." He told me and Daisy butted in.

"Right? All thanks to me by the way." He laughed softy, still looking at me.

Dahlia cleared her throat noisily and announced that she was going to get takeout for them, she pulled our sister away with her.

"I'm sorry I brought them." I apologized after a moment of simply staring at each other. "They are not staying".

"It's cool. What's up with their appearance though, is it like some sort of identity test?"

I had felt the urge to hide under one of the old tables in embarrassment.

"Yeah." I looked away. "Childhood prank. Sorry." He chuckled.

"It's kinda cute." I snuck a look at him to see him still smiling softly.

"How did you know it was me?" He scratched the back of his neck and his smile turned shy.

"Your eyes, they are different." I frowned because I knew they weren't, we all had clear brown eyes. He saw my expression and explained further.

"Not the color, it's just them, like their emotions, clear and sincere. When I look in your eyes, I feel calm." He laughed nervously after a few beats.

"You think that's lame."

"No." I told him with a smile that he eventually returned.

Standing in that dingy restaurant with him consuming me with his eyes, I knew that if ever there was a person made for me, it was Apollo Timon. He'd always know me, the real me and he held the power to destroy me if he ever stopped looking at me the way he did that night.

      Over two years and he still looks at me that way, just with a little concern these days but I won't have it any other way. I look away from the clear sky to steal a glance at him sprawled out beside me on the grass with his hands under his head, eyes fixed on the setting sun. After the incident at swim practice yesterday, he has transformed into a protective dad, keeping a close eye on me, not leaving my side unless he has to. Anto was okay with letting him drive me home after school and we've been laid out at the backyard for over two hours now.

"Do you remember our first Valentine together?" I ask and watch him cringe but there is a small tilt of a smile on his lips.

"We really should have just stayed in and eaten chocolate."

I cannot even disagree because even if it gave us a memory to laugh over, experiencing it wasn't fun at all.

Daisy had roped us into a double date with the guy she had been seeing at that time, Taylor Norman. Taylor had just broken through the walls of puberty and was basking in the afterglow. He was cute, played soccer and was obnoxious enough to draw attention and Daisy liked attention. She said he had prom king potential but her opinion quickly changed that night. He chewed with his mouth open, getting crumbs on his shirt and made the weirdest jokes.

"You remember when he went all; hey babe, I made you my wallpaper. Take a look!" Apollo try to mimick his loud voice and I laugh not just at the tone but also the fact that it had been my picture on the screen of Taylor Norman's phone, not Daisy's.

"Zero points for Instagram stalking. He could have just taken a picture of her."

Apollo's chest rumble in laughter.

"That was one weird night. The pair of them never made sense to me."

"Well, she saw potential in him."

"Potential for what? To be a massive dumbass?"

Taylor has grown to be one of those guys on the soccer team who eats everything, hits on everything that breathes and laugh louder than the bell. His mouth is always busy, be it with food, gossip or other stuff.

"She was something, your sister." Apollo muse and I picture her smile, her mischievous wink, then her face in a casket.

"Now she's not."

He calmly stare at me, I don't look at him but I feel it, feel his concern grow. His phone dings and he sigh after checking it.

"I need to pick up a shift for mom." He tell me and lean over to kiss me briefly but then he leans in again and kisses me for an entire minute, then place his forehead on mine.

"I love you. Okay?" I smile and nod because I know he does, without a doubt, he made sure of that a long time ago. Apollo isn't just action, he is words too, words so heavy you can't doubt them.

"Okay."

"Come on." He gets up and help me off the carpet grass.

We walk, fingers entwined into the house and he goes up to my room to get his school bag.

I saunter into the living room to wait for him but catch sight of my parents in the kitchen. My dad has a paper in his hands but even from here I can see that he isn't reading, he has all his attention centered on my mom who has a faraway look in her eyes and a glass of wine in her hand that I am sure isn't her first or fifth. She hasn't returned to work since the funeral but still I do not feel her presence in the house. She stopped making breakfast since we were little and got a caretaker for that instead, only letting her go when we became old enough to make food for ourselves and clean up our mess.

We were all used to her being away or busy most of the time but whenever she got a break from work, she spent it with us, watching 80's romcoms, playing dress-up and gossiping. To anyone else at Lakeview, it'd be weird seeing Vivian winter, the stiff, well worded lawyer have flowers braided into her hair but in those moments, she was just a mom to three happy girls.

Now, there is no work, no movies, no playing dress-up and  no happy girls. Now the gossip are about us and we can't get a break.

"Hey honey." My dad call out to me as I hear Apollo's feet pounding down the stairs.

My mom seem to jolt out of her own world and turn to face me. Her eyes look like they'd rather be plucked out than stay open, her cheeks are hollow, making her cheekbones much more prominent than is considered enviable. A smile form on her face as she places the glass down.

"There you are." She say with an air of relief.

"How was school, Daisy?"

My blood run cold as I watch her smile widen with every second. Then Apollo appear by my side and it gradually drops, her face slowly twisting into something indescribable. Her shoulders slack as she let out a sigh.

"It's not her. It's not Daisy." My dad abandon his paper and rush to her, tired eyes laced with confusion as he grip her shoulders. She turn and lean into him but not before I see the tears fall.

I grab Apollo's hand and pull him out of the house but I still cannot breathe properly, I still can't begin to understand it. Slowly, he wrap his hands around my waist and hug me tightly.

"It'll get better." He say firmly. "She'll get better."

I nod furiously because I have to believe it, I cannot lose everyone.