When he finally reached home, almost two hours later, Kieran saw his car was already parked in the driveway. He made his way to the front door and into the house. It was completely dark and empty downstairs. It was likely that his parents had made their way straight to bed, but he was unsure if Phoenix had even decided to come home tonight. Kieran limped up the stairs. Although the pain had eased over the course of the walk home, ascending the stairs placed strain on the muscles of his groin. As he approached his bedroom door, he saw a streak of light emerge from the bathroom as a towelled silhouette emerged and then jumped in surprise. He quickly recognised his damp-haired sister, who was frozen in surprise, not having expected to encounter him in the dark. Her shocked expression quickly turned to disappointment as she shook her head.
"Phoenix.."
As if she was disinterested in what he had to say, she turned away from him to enter her room, but something compelled her to wait at the entrance of the door at the very last moment. "What?"
Kieran took a deep breath. "You didn't need to kick me. I was just trying to do something nice for you."
"Well you ruined my birthday," she said, walking into her room and closing the door behind her.
Kieran sighed as he entered his own room and sat on his bed. A part of him wanted to apologise for the sake of peace, but he was too stubborn. As far as he was concerned, she had ruined her own birthday. He figured the best course of action would be for everyone to get some sleep and then make amends in the morning. Kieran quickly removed both his white t-shirt and the long-sleeved black shirt in a single movement. As soon as he prepared to lie down in his bed, he could hear the sound of angry metal music blaring from the next room.
"Bloody hell, Phoenix," he muttered to himself. He waited in his bed for a few minutes, hoping that she would eventually turn the music down once she had changed and got ready for bed. However, when the music continued to blast at full volume with no sign of reducing, he stormed out of his room towards hers and knocked on the door three times. "Phoenix, turn it down, will you?"
There was no response. He knocked again, yet to no avail. The music must have been too loud for her to have heard him. Filled with frustration, Kieran turned her door handle and pushed it open.
"Turn the music down, for fuck's sake!" he shouted, loud enough for her to hear him over the sound of her music.
Kieran immediately regretted his decision to enter the room. He stood there, eyes wide in surprise at the sight before him. Phoenix was dancing around in a circle with a smile on her face and her eyes closed, her body glistening wet in her nude form, her towel discarded on the floor. Her smile quickly faded when she opened her eyes and found her brother standing there in awe. She jumped, nearly screaming as she scrambled to pick up the towel. A moment passed before Kieran turned his head and stretched his arm out in front of him, blocking the sight of his sister's body. Once she managed to wrap herself up in the towel, she picked her phone up off the bed and turned the volume down.
"Oh, stop trying to act so innocent," she said. "I haven't got anything that you haven't already seen." Although her words appeared nonchalant, she was unable to hide the shakiness of embarrassment in her voice. She crossed her arms, an effort to make sure the towel stayed covering her front side.
"Well, this is completely different," he said, lowering his hand once he realised she was covered up. "You're not one of my 'skanks', are you? This would be like you seeing me naked." He faked a retching sound to exaggerate the disgust his sister would likely have seeing him in the nude. He then laughed to ease the tension, letting her know that he was only teasing her. "Not that there would be anything left to see. I think your kick earlier completed flattened everything. I'm going to have to make sure nothing is broken now." He chuckled lightly again before turning to the door and opening it, before pausing to look back at her with a soft nod. "Look, enjoy the rest of your night, but please, Phee, keep the music at a low level, yeah?"
Phoenix opened her mouth to say something but he was gone before she could reply. She stood there, finding herself lost in thought about the image he had given her. Kieran fondling his manhood to check for injuries. She thought about it for perhaps a moment too long as she found herself frowning and shaking her head aggressively. "Ewww... no." She reached for her phone again as she thought instead about his request. It was her birthday and she was going to do whatever she wanted. She turned the music back up again and laid down on her bed, singing along to the songs as she scrolled through her social media.
Kieran had barely made it back to his bed, when he heard that Phoenix had completely ignored his last request and turned the music back to full blast. He headed straight back to her room with a groan, pounding on the door. "Shut up!"
Kieran groaned and made his way down the stairs, deciding it would be easier to avoid the music altogether. From downstairs, the blaring bass was at least somewhat muted. He was surprised that neither of his parents had any complaints about the music, but he knew that his parents were both pretty deep sleepers who only woke up to movement, so he figured they had already gone to bed. As he reached the downstairs hallway, his grumbling stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten. Phoenix had kicked off before they had ordered, and he was in dire need of food. He walked to the kitchen and began pulling ingredients from the fridge and wardrobe to whip up something easy on the stove. An 11pm fry up couldn't harm anyone. Just as he had poured oil onto the frying pan, his phone began vibrating. He quickly took his phone out and answered the call on speaker.
"Hey, babe."
"Are you at your parents' house?" He could hear the muffled sound of sobbing through the phone. "I don't like it here alone. Please, baby, can you come back here tonight?"
"I can't, I'm too tired to drive." Kieran quickly feigned a concerned tone. "What's wrong, babe?"
"Your sister. I can't believe she did that. I knew they weren't going to like me but I didn't think it would be that bad."
