She glares at me. “There isn’t really a boss, here. We’re all partners.”
“Impressive.”
“I’m already fed up of your face.”
“Could you tell me what I’ve done to make you so pissed off with me?”
“We share the same DNA. I think that’s enough.”
I scoff and follow her towards the water fountain. She takes a cup and fills it to the brim, and I wait for her to finish drinking.
“I have another class in forty minutes, Niall. Tell me why you’re here and then go away.”
I don’t really know why I’m here; but I’ve been thinking about what Tyler said, about rebuilding my relationships. What better place to start than my own sister?
There’s a twenty-year age gap between me and Rian. That’s a huge difference –toohuge – but my parents must have felt pretty lonely after I left, so… Rian happened. I was already living in Dublin when she was born: I already had my selfish, solitary life mapped out for me. I was in the initial throes of my dickhead phase. I never saw her grow up; I wasn’t there. I don’t know her, and she doesn’t know me – and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. It means that I can get to know her as the hopeless disaster I am today, and pray that she thinks I’m worthy of her time.
Rian is eighteen, but I sometimes worry that she’s the more mature sibling. When I was eighteen, I was still messing around, being an arsehole; she lives on her own, co-runs a gym, and has an air of maturity about her. She seems to know what she wants. And me? I’m living in my childhood bedroom, being bribed by the head teacher of my daughter’s school, and working a job I definitely wouldn’t have chosen to do. I slept with her – or, rather,sheslept withme– and now I can’t seem to shake the smell of her from my mind, her soft body pressed against mine.
I’m fucked, from whatever way you look at it, and I can’t seem to find a way out. The only thing I can do is to try and make things better for Skylar. That’s why I’m here.
“You’re almost the same age,” I say to Rian. “You and Skylar.”
She glares at me again.
“And she has no friends.”
“Are you asking me if I’ll be her friend?”
“I’m asking you for a favour. I know that you hate me – even though I don’t know why – but, I’m begging you, don’t hate her. She has nothing to do with me, or anything I might have done to upset you.”
“I hate you because you deserve it.”
“I totally agree with you on that one.”
Rian laughs, shaking her head. “You’re not even trying to defend yourself.”
“That would be a waste of time.”
“So you know you’re a selfish dick who doesn’t deserve my help?”
“I agree with everything you’re saying, but please: don’t make Skylar pay for my mistakes.”
Rian reflects on this for an instant. “She seems bright.”
“She is.”
“Mature for her age.”
I smile. “Like you.”
“Don’t try and butter me up.”
“It’s the truth.”
She sighs and looks at me. “I like Skylar.”
“I’m sure she likes you, too.”
