ears.
"No, Mother," I said as calmly and non-confrontational as possible. My fists clenched to help control the anger so strong it surprised me. "You never told me I would be sharing the space...with him."
"Oh," her hand met her lips in mock-apology, "I'm sorry. Guess I forgot," her face smarted in mock apology. I was left to wonder why everyone in my life had suddenly turned into such assholes. With all my strength I reminded myself that this was my only option and I would have to stomach all the shit shoveled my way. Eat shit and smile.
My nodding indicated to Mother that all was ok so she simply said "Goodbye," and turned to head back to the large mansion she now called home. No look back, no 'hey, do you need any help?'. Nothing. I would be moving my boxes all by my lonesome but didn't forget: eat shit and smile. Even if that gross, slimy stepbrother came by and even if he insisted on helping, I'd tell him it would be fine to do it by myself. As my gloved hands pulled the metal ramp out of the truck and pointed it the first door I saw, I imagined the many different ways I planned on rejecting my new stepbrother's attempts to show me up.
"Pound sand, dude," I played out in my head, "and stay out of my way."
I'd set the tone early in the beginning, letting him know his rich playboy shit wasn't gonna work on me, he'd have to learn to respect me and stay out of my way. Then, if all went according to plan, in no time at all my life would be back in order and, poof, he'd be out of my life and we would never have to interact again.
The reality of my new stepbrother became clearer once I pushed open that side door; the remnants of his existence were everywhere, the place was a complete mess. Pizza boxes, gym shorts, socks and even underwear were thrown all over the place. Magazines were all over every flat surface, looking as if someone just took a stack and threw them up in the air, letting them fall where they may. Dishes filled the sink and the trashcan was overflowing. The scores of “help” that I saw buzzing around the estate clearly didn’t venture into this carriage house, the responsibility to clean was seemingly mine now.
Before beginning the great unpack, I wandered around a little, checking the house out and trying to figure out what room I was supposed to take. It was hard not to notice the pictures my new stepbrother had hung up around the place, pictures of him that had never appeared on any trashy, gossip website. I'm not proud to admit that my first thought was about how much money I could get if I leaked these photos to the media. Of course deep down I knew I could never sell out someone so hard, I wasn’t ice cold like Becca and Derick. It was still fun though to fantasize for a moment that I could actually do something so wrong.
What popped up next in my head shocked me: I was suddenly realizing just how handsome Rorke was. My new stepbrother certainly took care of himself (even if he didn't take care of his living quarters). He was blessed with an insane set of genetics; sparkling teeth, perfectly symmetrical face, cheeky smile, he was genetically disposed to be good looking no matter if he was born into wealth or not. It was only an added blessing for him to fall ass backwards into over a billion (with a 'b') dollars. Of course that fact only helped add to his attractiveness. My head shook, reminding myself that thinking in that way was “wrong” and to stop entertaining such thoughts immediately. Eww, gross. He was a pig and more importantly, that pig was now family.
There didn't seem to be any space at all set aside for me. There were just two doors down the hall and one clearly had his bed in it. The next room kind of looked like office? I don't know, he had a small desk in there and some weights lying down on the floor. Figuring it was the best bet, I started to pull his things out of that room and place them in the middle of the busy living room. Not like he'd even notice a little more