9. Max
9
MAX
O ur parents haven’t been gone two weeks yet and already Liv has dragged me around half the city to look at apartments. Apparently this weekend, her goal is to drag me around the other half.
So instead of relaxing on the one Saturday we don’t have a game, I’m watching Liv ooh and aah over apartments.
I don’t even bother to walk around apartment number four with her. I know it’s going to be exactly the same as the other three we’ve seen today. Instead, I plant myself on the first piece of display furniture I see and whip out my phone.
I know it’s not the most supportive thing to do, but I’m over this whole moving out thing.
Is staying with me really that bad?
It’s not like we’re on top of each other in a tiny shoebox. I own a penthouse, for fuck’s sake. There’s more than enough space for the two of us.
“Oh, so this is where you ran off to,” the lease agent says, sauntering over to me, a playful sparkle to her eye. “For a moment, I thought you snuck out.”
Liv follows behind her with pursed lips and a furrowed brow. I don’t blame her. This has happened at every place we’ve seen today.
The leasing agent puts a hand on my arm and leans in close. I know if I look down, I’m going to get a perfect view of her cleavage.
I fight the urge to shove her away.
“I just had to get you before we saw the master bedroom. I don’t want you missing out on everything this place has to offer,” she says.
I slip out of her grasp as gently as I can. “Actually, it’s my sister who’s interested in renting the apartment, and it looks like she’s already checking it out.”
“You’re such a caring brother,” she says, latching onto me again. “You simply have to see it now. I know she’s not going to want to move in without her big brother’s stamp of approval.”
Steam is practically pouring out of Liv’s ears, and I’m not too far behind her. Stuff like this is exactly why Connor, Dimitri, and Aiden are my only close friends. Everyone else gets really tired of always being second fiddle really fast.
Still, I let the leasing agent drag me along anyway, only because it’s the fastest way to get this over with.
She drags me to the bedroom, pointing out every feature of the master bath, then insists on revisiting the places Liv has already seen so I can give my ‘stamp of approval.’
“So, is it a winner, Max?” she asks.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Olivia.”
She turns reluctantly to my sister. “Well, do you want it or not?”
Honestly, I’m surprised it hasn’t started snowing in here with how quickly the agent’s tone chills.
“Actually, I’d like to talk things over with my brother privately. Give us the room.”
“Fine. I’ll be waiting out here in the hallway.”
The agent scuttles out quickly, a faint scowl on her face.
“Well, that was a disaster,” I say as soon as the door closes.
Liv snorts. “Her head was so far up your ass I could see her eyes peeking out of your mouth.”
I laugh so hard I practically fold in half.
“So, I’m guessing this isn’t the winner then?”
“Hell no.”
“Liv, why are you trying to move out in the first place? I feel like things are going well with this whole cohabiting thing. I mean, we had a few hiccups, but we fixed them just fine. It’s not like we’re teenagers anymore, constantly at one another’s throats.”
The right side of her mouth twitches, a sure sign she’s not going to tell me the whole truth.
“I just need some space, that’s all,” she says.
“But I have plenty of space. So much space, in fact, that if we wanted to, we could go weeks without seeing each other at home at all.”
“It’s your space, not mine.”
“Okay, so we’ll make it our space then. I’ll give you some of the rooms by your bedroom. You can redecorate and completely take them over. Whatever you want.”
“I appreciate the offer, I do, but I really need my own place.”
“I just don’t get it. All you have to worry about is chipping in for utilities. There’s no reason for you to take on all those expenses for a quarter of the space you have with me.”
“I would have been able to rent Mom and Dad’s house if you hadn’t convinced them to rent it to some strangers instead,” she snaps.
I feel my face flush. “I did that for them. They refused to take money from me for their trip, even though they would have been able to do more if they did. Convincing them to rent out their house was the only way I could get around them being so stubborn. Now they’ll be able to visit everywhere they’ve talked about seeing since we were kids. You saw how happy they were. After they did the math, they were able to add two more countries to their itinerary. Why would you want to take that away from them?”
“I’m more than capable of paying the rent they’re getting right now,” Liv argues.
“You know damn well they would never have taken money from their precious baby girl. They’ve always given you everything you wanted, and you never had to do anything for it.”
“Me? They worshipped the ground you walked on. I didn’t exist during hockey season while we were growing up.”
“Horseshit!” I shout. “It was always, ‘look after Liv,’ ‘make sure you’re protecting Liv,’ ‘you’re the oldest, you have to look out for her.’ That’s all I ever heard.”
“You’re the oldest by six fucking minutes. You didn’t need to protect me then, and you don’t need to be protecting me now.”
Her face has become as red as mine.
“Obviously, I do because you’re making stupid-ass life decisions. I mean, who the fuck willingly triples their expenses besides an idiot?”
As soon as it’s out of my mouth, I regret it, but there’s no taking it back.
“Alright, jackass, you want to know the real reason why I need to move out?”
“Yes, tell me what you think is so much more important than making smart financial decisions. I’d love to know what it is.”
“I need to get laid by something other than my fucking vibrator, and I can’t do that when we’re living under the same roof.”
My nose wrinkles in disgust. “I really didn’t need to know that.”
Liv plants her hands on her hips. “Oh, no. No way you’re getting out of this now. You started this whole I have to protect you thing. It’s ride or die now, buddy, and from where I’m standing, you’re buckled in tight. My whole life, any time I’ve attempted to bring someone home, you always had to stick your nose in my business. As soon as you heard a man’s voice, you came barging in. The exact same thing is sure to happen now. If I were to bring someone home, the guy will start fawning all over you because this city thinks you’re the second fucking coming, that, or you’ll intimidate him into leaving.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I sneer. “How horrible of me to want to make sure you’re not bringing home some psycho killer.”
“Fine, then I get to grill every single bimbo you bring home about their intentions with my brother.”
“That’s completely different.”
“Why? Because you’re a man?”
“No, because it’s my house, and I get to decide what goes on there.”
“And there it is.”
“There what is?”
“That self-righteous hypocrisy you wear like armor. You bring a string of puck bunnies home almost every night, and I mind my own business. If I’m in the kitchen and I hear you come in, I take my snack to my room as fast as possible. You never even know I’m there. But the second I step out of the innocent little virgin box you and Dad keep trying to shove me in and bring my own bit of fun home, it’s suddenly irresponsible.”
“That is not even remotely true,” I protest.
“So it’s pure coincidence that as soon as I call you out on your one-night stands, it’s suddenly your house and your rules like I’m some kind of delinquent?”
“I…”
“What? Nothing to say now? When are you going to get it through your thick fucking skull that I’m not a child? I don’t need anyone looking after me. Not you. Not Dad. Not anyone. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”
The last shred of my self-control snaps. “Fine. If you’re so desperate to do it all on your own, if you think you’re so capable, then I want you out of my place by the end of the week.”
“I’ll do you one better. I’ll be out tonight.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
Liv turns on her heel and bolts, slamming the door on her way out, leaving me to deal with the clingy leasing agent. She’s always been such a selfish brat. All she ever thinks about is herself.
I’m glad we took a cab because I’m in no fit state to drive home.
As soon as the elevator doors open and I stumble into my place, I half expect Liv to rush up to me with her face still red, ready to finish the argument we started at the apartment.
She isn’t there though.
The penthouse is quiet and still.
I don’t need to check her room to confirm what my gut already knows but I do it anyway.
The drawers are open, clothes littered all over the floor. I peek into the closet to find that half of her clothes are gone, and so is her big suitcase.
It’s clear now that this isn’t one of our usual arguments which are loud and messy but over just as quickly as they start. This is something far more serious.
All the breath gets sucked out of my lungs as I drop down onto her bed with my head in my hands.
What have I done?
My father’s voice thunders throughout my head. You’ve acted like an entitled child, and now she’s run off to who knows where. If something happens to her, it will be entirely your fault.
In the moment, it felt so good to tell Liv to screw off and get out. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t worrying about her safety or my father’s inevitable disappointment at my behavior. It felt incredible having no one except myself to answer to.
Well, except for my father's soul that lives in my head and only comes out to yell at me for being a shitty brother, apparently.
Unfortunately, he’s right. I do have to look out for her. She’s my sister. We’ve been connected since before we were born, and family looks out for family, no matter how irritating they are at times.
Liv is right too, though. I am being a massive hypocrite. I’ve been treating her like a child. I don’t know when I stopped being her brother and started acting like a second father to her, but I know it was a while ago.
I also know that parenting my sister was never my job in the first place. I just hate that it took getting to this point before that truly sunk in for me.
The guilt is eating me alive. All I want to do now is apologize and try to fix things, but I have no idea where she could be.
I just hope she’s okay.