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Chapter Four

Family Ties

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“Would you stop asking me that question already?” Riley asked, well, shouted. She had her jaw set in annoyance and she was giving Zach a glare.

“It’s just a simple question,” Zach replied calmly. “Why wouldn’t I be boyfriend material for you?”

It was the end of the school day on Friday. The two of them were sitting on the front stairs of the school waiting for Cameron and Rhuben to get out of their last class. The two of them had their last period class free and decided to spend that time relaxing in the sun.

“If it was a simple question, than you would have been satisfied with the answers I have already given you,” Riley said through clenched teeth. She slowly let out a breath of air and turned to look at him. Zach glanced left and right before catching her eye. Riley had a pensive look on her face, her head tilted to the side.

“Uh, what?” he asked.

“Do you like me?” Riley asked suddenly. Zach blinked, his eyes widening slightly.

“Um, yeah, I like you,” Zach replied. “We’re best friends, how can I not like you?” Riley rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.

“That’s not what I meant,” she rubbing her forehead. She then looked up at him. “You know what I meant.”

“Are you asking me if I have a crush on you?” Zach asked slowly.

“Mhm,” Riley replied with a nod, shifting to face him. Zach started to hum, shifting his gaze away from her.

‘How the hell is she so calm about this?’ he thought, stalling. He let out a breath of air when he heard the school doors open and heard Cameron and Rhuben’s voices as they exited the school for the day. “Hey guys. How was Chemistry?”

He paused and caught Riley’s gaze, blushing as a smirk slid onto her face.

“Boring,” Cameron replied sliding his hands into his jeans pockets. “I mean, who cares about electronic configurations?” He made a face and made a “shoot me” motion with his fingers.

“Speaking of chemistry,” Riley said rocking back and forth on her heels. “Don’t the two of you have your date today?”

“As if you didn’t know,” Rhuben said, her eyes narrowing slightly. She glanced at Zach, then Riley, and back to Zach before she spoke again. “What’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?” Zach asked.

“You’re face is red,” Rhuben pointed out. “And your face either turns red when you blush, you’re mad at something, or if it’s cold outside. You seem to be in a good mood, and it’s not cold out.”

“I-nothing,” Zach replied.

“Right,” Rhuben replied, obviously not convinced as she looked at her twin sister again. “We should get going. Our brothers are probably wondering where we are.”

Rhuben raised her hand, curling her fingers into a fist. She hesitated before knocking on the door in front of her. “Dad?”

She heard a grunting sound on the other side of the door and let out a breath of air. She slowly pushed the door open and slowly made her way into the dark room. She cried out in disgust and put a hand over her mouth and nose as a wave of alcohol and puke washed over her. Her eyes watered at how bad the room smelled.

Glancing at the bed in corner of the room, Rhuben spotted the lump that was her dad. He was half on the bed, half lying on the floor, his face pushed into the ground. Various empty bottles were lying around his bed.

“Dad,” she said a little louder, walking over to him, shaking his shoulder.

“Uh, whassamatter?” her dad, Robert, asked rolling onto his side opening one bloodshot eye.

“Is it alright if I go out tonight?” Rhuben asked after a moment of hesitation. She paused when she noticed her dad staring at her. “A boy asked me out. I have a date tonight.”

“Not with my daughter, he doesn’t,” Robert muttered pushing himself up onto the bed. He grabbed onto her shoulders to steady himself as he swung his legs onto the floor. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Dad you can’t-“

Robert slapped Rhuben across the face before roughly pushing her away from him. He stumbled over to the bedroom door.

“Go and get me a beer,” he muttered, swiveling around to face his daughter. “My mouth is really dry.” Rhuben made a face as she got to her feet, placing a hand on her stinging cheek. Robert’s eyes widened when he noticed. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He walked over to her and gripped her shoulders, breathing heavily in her face. “You’ll always be my baby. You know that.”

“Uh, yeah, dad,” Rhuben said pushing him away from her. “Dad, you need to lie-“ Robert dropped to the ground at her feet. “-down.”

“Ugh,” Robert groaned, grabbing his head. “My head hurts.”

“It’s because you have a hangover, dad,” Noah muttered as he stepped into the room, brushing his black hair out of his eyes with his shoulder. He moved his blue gaze over to Rhuben. “What are you doing up here?”

“Asking dad if I could go out tonight,” Rhuben replied grabbing onto one of her dad’s arms. Noah set a mug of coffee and a few Advil on the dresser next to him before grabbing his other arm. Together, the two of them dragged their dad over to his bed.

“Oh right,” Noah gave his sister a teasing grin despite the situation. “You have a date with Cameron tonight.” His smile quickly faded as he tucked his dad into bed. He grabbed the cup of coffee and the Advil and set on the bedside table.

“Yeah, but now I’m not sure if I want to go,” Rhuben muttered glancing at her dad.

“You should go,” Noah said, heading towards the bedroom door. “Take your mind off things for a while. Be happy for once in your life. Who knows, maybe he’ll be your boyfriend,”

“I doubt it,” Rhuben said shaking her head.

“You’re never going to find the right guy for you if you keep pushing them away from you,” Noah said looking up at her.

“When’d you get so smart?” Rhuben asked, raising an eyebrow. Noah glanced at their father’s bedroom door and let out a sigh.

“Unfortunately, I’ve had to grow up too fast,” Noah replied with a grim look. “Being smarter goes hand in hand I guess.” Rhuben smiled and mussed his hair, causing him to smile. “Anyway, go out and have fun. You deserve it. I doubt dad will do anything else tonight and we still have Riley here with us.”

“Thanks, Noah,” Rhuben said before heading into her room.

“No problem,” Noah replied before heading into the living room where the rest of his siblings were watching TV. “Dad’s out again.”

“Big surprise,” Patrick said rolling his eyes. “The longer he sleeps the better.” He raised his hand and fingered a scar behind his right ear.

“What’s the matter?” Sydney asked, looking up from where he was sitting on the floor.

“What do you mean?” Patrick asked, looking at him.

“You’re doing that thing you do when you get nervous,” Sydney replied, widening his blue eyes. “What’s the matter?”

“I just have a bad feeling,” Patrick replied. “I can’t put my finger on it. I just-I don’t know, I don’t feel right. Maybe Rhu-Rhu shouldn’t go out tonight.”

“She’s going out alright,” Riley said raising her eyebrows. “It’s obvious she’s nuts about Cameron and we all deserve happiness.”

“I’ll be happy once we get rid of dad,” Sydney muttered, sitting up, balancing himself on his elbows. A somewhat confused look crossed his face.

“What is it, Syd?” Noah asked, crouching down beside his brother and put his arm across his shoulders. Sydney looked at each one of his siblings in turn, biting on his lower lip.

“You know that saying, ‘If you know someone who is being abused and you look the other way, you are just as bad as the abuser yourself?’” Sydney asked quietly, messing with a crayon.

“Yeah,” Riley replied slowly.

“Well, are we abusing ourselves?” Sydney asked in a quiet voice. Patrick, Noah, and Riley exchanged glances. “Because, we don’t ever try and get help.”

“You know why we can’t,” Riley said rubbing her forehead. A defeated look crossed her face. “It’s because he’ll kill us if we do.”

“We have no choice,” Patrick added.

“We’ve survived this long,” Sydney said, raising his eyes to look at him.

“That’s true,” Patrick agreed with a nod. He let out a heavy sigh. “We’re just going to have to live with this, alright?”

“But, what if we do die?” Sydney asked quietly.

“We won’t,” Riley replied firmly. “I’ll make sure of it. Rhuben and I, we’ll protect you guys no matter what.”

“Ri-Ri,” Sydney said quietly. “We have to tell somebody. I’m tired of being scared!”

“We’re not going to tell anybody, alright?” Riley snapped getting to her feet. “We can get through this, don’t worry. If we tell, he’ll find out, and he’ll be even angrier.” She started to pace back and forth. “We’ve survive this long, we can survive even longer.”

“Riles,” Patrick said quietly.

“No,” Riley snapped, causing her brothers to jump. Rhuben walked back into the room, a confused look on her face. “We can’t tell anybody. We can’t!”

“I’m tired of being scared!” Noah snapped suddenly mad. Tears started sliding down his cheeks. “I’m tired of lying! I’m tired of being in pain!” Patrick wrapped his arms around his twin, resting his forehead on the back of his head. “I’m tired of making excuses for everything! I just want to live a normal life. One with two parents that take you to the park just to play, one where you get into fights with your brothers and sisters, one where you can come home and feel safe instead of-“

“Instead of coming home and worrying if you’ll live to see the next day,” Sydney whispered, as Noah’s body shook with silent sobs.

“We’ll be separated if we tell,” Rhuben said quietly. “You know that.”

“We’ll be put into foster care,” Riley added. “Someone will definitely take Sydney, and Patrick and Noah won’t be split from each other. But, there’s really a slim chance that someone will take us in. We can’t tell. We have to stay together.”

Ding, Dong

“That’s Cameron,” Rhuben said glancing at the front door. “Are you guys sure that I should go?”

“Yeah,” Sydney said, a smile coming to his face. He got to his feet and raced over to Rhuben, throwing his arms around her waist. He pressed his face into her stomach as he hugged her. “Have a fun night.”

“How about I call Zach and ask him to come over?” Riley suggested. “Would that make you guys feel better?”

“Vic too?”Patrick asked, his eyes widening. But, then a thought struck him. “What about dad?”

“I’ll make sure he’s asleep all night,” Riley replied, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Go out and have fun, Rhu.”

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