"Hey, Love," My brother called out when he saw me stood in the doorway of the living room. Thankfully, he was sat on his own, messaging someone. He didn't look too happy about what they were saying though, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Maybe now was a bad time.

He was already mad though, so he couldn't really get even more mad, could he?

I just had to get it over and done with.

Rip the band aid off quickly, so it wouldn't hurt too much.

"Alex, can I talk to you?" He looked slightly confused at the question, glancing up at me quickly, but gave me a soft smile in return.

"Sure, ask me anything," He replied, slipping his phone into his back pocket. I tentatively made my way forwards and sat on the edge of the sofa, crossing one leg over the other, trying my best to act casual.

It really wasn't working.

He shifted, sitting up slightly and leaning forwards.

"Hey, what's going on? Are you okay?" I nodded slowly, which only seemed to make his concern grow. I realised how worrying this looked; I was so nervous to talk to him, he thought that something was genuinely wrong.

"I was, um.." He frowned slightly.

"Are the boys eating your food or something? I'll talk to them for you if you want, or we can get you somewhere to hide snacks in your room, like a mini fridge or something," I almost laughed at how concerned he was about the boys eating my snacks, instead just shaking my head. His frown deepened and I could almost see him trying to figure out that could be bothering me.

"No one's picking on you, are they, Love? I'll sort them out real quick if they are," I shook my head faster this time, now worried for anyone I had interacted with. Alex always used to stress about people bothering me as I struggled to stand up for myself sometimes.

It wasn't my fault, I'm just awkward and a little shy sometimes.

Plus, I don't think anyone every bothered me again after seeing the damage to the other kid.

Yikes.

"No! No, of course not! I've barely met anyone yet..." I gave an awkward laugh.

"Are you lonely then? I'm sure we can introduce you to more people if you want," I shook my head again, the nervous feeling in my stomach growing with every word. I was going to have to tell him quickly before he really thought of the worse situations I could be in.

"I have friends already, Alex, I'm not lonely, I promise," I mean, I knew Kaiden and Grey, and Jade was always up to chat, so technically we were friendly...

"Are you homesick then? I know we live so far away, but we can always have your friends over later, I swear, there's enough room in this house for a few more visitors. Don't think that this isn't your home as well, you're allowed to invite people over," I blinked.

"Wait, really?" I hadn't even thought to have everyone fly over to visit. I just kind of presumed that they wouldn't be able to, and to be fair that was a fair assumption: we did live in another continent after all.

"Yeah, sure, maybe in the holidays though," I grinned slightly. The girls were going to be so excited to stay over for a while. They were definitely going to drive the boys insane though; they ate anything and everything and we always screaming and shouting about something.

Especially over boys.

And here, there were many.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?" The nervous feeling sprung back and I bit my lip.

"No, I just..." I trailed off.

"I'm dating your sister." My eyes widened as I span around, heart dropping down into the pit of my stomach.

It wasn't Greyson, thank God.

Ryan stood in the doorway, arms crossed and smirking at Alex's expression. I looked back at my brother, and genuinely thought he was going to murder someone.

I really hope he doesn't actually have a gun.

Really really hope.

Otherwise Ryan was going to be in a lot of pain very quickly.

"No! We're not dating, Alex!" Alex looked at me, no expression on his face. Slowly, he raised his eyebrow at me, all concern gone.

"Then what did you want to talk to me about, Mia?" He used my first name, and every atom inside of me froze.

He was mad.

Really mad.

I stared at him, eyes wide in panic as I desperately thought of something, anything, to tell him. There was no way I could ever tell him now - he would probably throw me and Grey out of a window. Not one person would be able to face his wrath and survive.

I came up empty.

My mind was literally blank as the seconds ticked by, his expression darkening with every passing moment.

"What did you want to tell me, Mia?" He rephrased the question, emphasising my name. Ryan chuckled nervously behind me, only just now realising that Alex was slowly loosing his cool.

"I'm just, um, gonna leave you guys to it... I was joking, by the way, Alex!" I heard his footsteps quickly fade away as he sprinted for the front door. Listening to it slam shut after him, all I could think was how much I wish I could do the same.

"I... um... so..." I forced out, desperately trying to stutter out an excuse.

I had to do it quickly.

Just like a band aid.

Three...

Two...

One...

"I'm dating Greyson!"

"What?"

I turned and ran.