Unwilling complaining.

"So when are you telling us why you were late this morning?" Grace asked me, shoulder to shoulder with me, poking my cheek. We were sitting on the mattress in the old music room with Mila to my left and Sarah on my lap. Standard setup at this point.

I let out a soft groan. “My sister followed me out the house. I didn’t want her to follow me to this room too, so…”

I didn’t want to explain the entire thing that happened that morning. A part of it was that I didn't want to bother them with my own problems, and the other was that it felt… a little pathetic. ‘Waaah, I had a fight with my sister! Please cheer me up!’ I wanted to avoid sounding like that.

However, my answer earned me three glaring stares.

“W-What?” I asked.

“What are you leaving out?” Sarah asked me.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, say so,” Mila added, “But there’s more to it, right?”

It was at times like these that I really believed these girls had a sixth sense too. Well, if they were asking…

“I… had a bit of a fight with Isabelle today,” I admitted with a sigh. “Or it would be best to say that I got frustrated and told her everything I’d been bottling up.”

“Why don’t you get along with your sister?” Grace asked me.

“Do we really need to talk about this?”

“Yes,” Mila said. “Is it bad that we want to learn more about you?”

I grimaced in defeat. “I don’t understand it well myself. There was this time when we were kids when she badmouthed me behind my back to get friendly with other people. Since then, she's been doing things on her own. Going out with friends, going to parties… We used to be extremely close, so I guess I started to resent her. She’s been antagonistic lately, too. She doesn’t like that I’m hanging out with you, even when it’s none of her business.” I furrowed my brow. I was starting to vent, to let myself say things. My next words came without thinking. “She even snuck her boyfriend home last week and had sex right next to my room.”

“Woah! What the hell!?” Sarah exclaimed, and the three girls looked equally taken aback.

Shit. I was saying too much!

“I mean… ugh. I get it, but still.” Grace groaned. “That’s going over the line.”

“So you heard her?” Mila asked me.

With my face heating up, I nodded. The three girls shared a glance and a wordless conversation like they sometimes did. “L-Look, it doesn’t matter. The point is that Isabelle and I aren’t close anymore, but she has her life, and I’m… starting to build mine. I think. It’s fine like this.”

“In the end, it’s your choice,” Sarah said, running her fingers through my hair. “But you’d rather get along with her, right?”

“...Yeah.”

The girls shared another look, and both Sarah and Mila turned to Grace with an unspoken question. Grace gave it some thought, then shook her head.

“Okay. We won’t bother you anymore,” Grace told me. “But don’t feel like you can’t talk about these things with us, okay?”

“But I don’t want to whine and complain.” Especially not in front of them.

“Oliver,” Mila started, holding my face and pecking my lips. “We whine and complain to each other all the time.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. It’s not good to keep things inside, as you probably know by now,” Sarah said. “Better to let it out with people who’re willing to listen.”

Grace kissed my cheek. “That’s us, if you haven’t realized it.”

“...” I didn’t want to whine and complain. I didn’t want to be a bother and make them think ‘there he goes again…’ and get tired of me. But I suppose it was a little late to try to build up a strong, confident facade, huh?

I smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“That said,” Grace continued, “do you mind if we talk to her?”

“Ah? Why?”

“She’s your sister. We’d rather get along with her than have her hate us for dumb reasons.”

Dumb reasons? These girls knew something, didn’t they?

“Well, I’d prefer it if you got along, yeah,” I admitted.

“Great.”

“Changing the subject,” Sarah said, “You’re hanging out with the guys this Friday, right? What will you do?”

“Just going to Thomas’ house. Should just be the four of us.”

“Excited?” Mila asked, teasingly poking my ribs to tickle me.

“Yeah. And nervous.”

“You’ll be fine!” Sarah told me. “It’ll be a good opportunity. Don’t let them carry the entire conversation. Don’t be afraid to chip in.”

“But if you guys hire a stripper for Thomas, you’re not allowed to touch her, okay?” Grace laughed at her own joke, as did the others.

However, I furrowed my brow in thought and held my chin. Should we hire a stripper for him? Nah. He probably wouldn’t like it. That was the feeling I got, anyway.

Mila laughed harder. “He’s considering it!”

“I was wondering if it was a good idea or not!” I argued.

“Hey,” Sarah said, pinching my cheek. “If you want to watch a strip tease so badly, I’ll do it for you for free. But only for you.”

“Oh?” I got my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “Will you?”

Sarah bit her lip and traced her finger along my jaw. “Any day.”

Mila leaned closer to whisper in my ear. Though I say whisper, she still spoke loud enough for the others to hear. “Ask her to do a pole dance!” she said, giggling.

“Ask your mom to install a pole down in the gym,” Grace teased.

“And have the brats start asking what it’s for? No, thank you. Or worse. What if she starts using it?”

We laughed. Just like that, I was already feeling better. A part of me wondered if Isabelle had gotten over our little fight already, and I had to believe she had. Being with the girls cheered me up, and my sister had even more friends. She’d be okay.