The Way It Goes

{ Rio }

There's only one thing on my mind during the two hour drive from Tallahide to Fallonmore: telling my twin everything that's happened.

I know he's mad at us right now, but he still has to hear that Laurie is Tallahide's new Alpha, that’s freaking awesome.

As soon as my grandfather drops me off at my house, I run up to my room to tell my brother everything he missed out on by being upset. I'm about to fly upstairs when I realize he's in the couch, furiously texting someone.

"Hey, dude, let's go to our room," I call out to him, trying to contain my excitement. Alex doesn't even turn around, "Trust me, you want to hear this."

"I know what you want to tell me, I already know Laurie is Alpha of Tallahide," he mumbles as if he doesn't care at all, not even looking up at me yet, "Aunt Olivia called dad to brag about it."

"Oh yeah? And what did dad say?" I ask, begging him with my eyes to turn to look at me, but he still doesn't. Alex is still upset and I don't even understand why anymore, "Alex?"

"I don't remember, something passive aggressive," he mumbles, totally being weird. We always make fun of Dad's petty fights with Aunt Olivia, I can’t believe he didn’t pay attention to that one, "I'm busy right now, can you give me a moment?"

"Who are you even talking to?" I ask, moving closer to the couch to look at his screen, but Alex moves the phone quickly so I can't read his conversation. I narrow my eyes at him, "What the fuck is going on with you, Alex? Do you realize how crazy you’re acting? I don't even know you anymore."

"Whatever," he mumbles like a fucking child and turns his attention back to his phone, "Can you leave?"

I'm left with no choice. I shake my head and walk straight to my other best friend besides Laurie and Alex: my dad. He's cooking when I walk into the kitchen.

"Did you hear that?" I ask in a whisper. My dad turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow, answering my question, "Can you believe it? He's a complete brat, he hasn't even stopped texting, and who is he even texting? He has no friends besides us."

That's not true, Alex has a lot of friends, but none that matter. None that he has that much to talk to. My dad lets out a laugh.

"I have no idea what's wrong with him, but something has to give here. Something has to happen for his damn Taffy brain to… snap out of it," he grumbles, speaking in a whisper too, "He's just like your mother. And just like Olivia. That's a divine punishment for me."

"And how am I?" I ask even though he always tells me, just because I like the praise. My dad steps away from the stove and reaches over to squeeze my cheek with a smile.

"You're just like me, my beautiful boy," he replies, making me smile, "We just have to leave him alone so he doesn't explode on us and make everything worse. Do you want to help me with dessert?"

"Yeah, I need something sweet," I agree immediately, moving to the fridge to start pulling out the ingredients to make my favorite cookies.

Alex lied when he said they were 'just okay', the truth is that they are delicious and he always tries to eat them all. He’s just being a little bitch right now.

While I'm making my cookies I talk to my dad about everything that happened in Tallahide and how crazy it is that Laurie has a whole damn clan to take care of, I still can't wrap my head around it. It's really cool and I know I'm going to live there with him. Whatever I'm going to do with my life, it's going to be there with him and my brother, that's the only thing that's clear to me at this point.

When the food is ready, we all sit down. Alex didn't help bring anything to the table, he didn't lift a finger. Typical. But if I were the one not helping, I'd be the world's biggest jerk.

I take my place next to my dad and Alex sits across from me. My mom sits next to him and spends the entire meal trying to get him to talk and being sweet to him like she's never been sweet to me. To be completely honest, she always thought we would both be alphas so she always treated us the same... but ever since Alex surprised us all by presenting as an omega, she has been Miss Sympathy to him.

We spend most of the meal in silence, which is starting to become normal now that Alex is being so stupid. He only opens his mouth to speak once we've all finished eating.

"I have something important to tell you," he begins, sounding completely serious, "As you might know, I haven’t been happy lately. I don't like the way you've been treating me..."

"Aow, really?" I ask with an extremely fake pout and a baby voice, "You don't like being the favorite? Having everyone do everything for you? Having everything you want without anyone questioning you just because no one can stand your bitchy attitude lately?"

"Hey, stop it. Be respectful," my mother commands, which is exactly my point. Suddenly I can't curse my twin anymore? I can't call him a bitch? I've been doing it my whole life and it never mattered before.

"No, I don't like all that, Rio," Alex replies in a tone similar to mine, "No one stops for even a second to listen to me, no one takes into account what I think, everyone just talks over me. I'm an omega, so immediately everyone knows what's best for me, except for myself. I hate it and I don't plan to put up with it any longer, just like I don't think you guys want to put up with me. So, I've decided that I'm going to leave."

"What?" I spit, "Where to?!"

"I'm going to go live in a human city for a while, I don't know where yet. I just know I want to be a normal man, no designations or expectations to live up to, no one trying to tell me what to do," he replies, causing my mouth to drop wide open. My parents both share a look that lets me know they were both expecting something like this, they knew it was coming.

"That's the most idiotic thing you've ever said," I blurt out, snorting and shaking my head. He's seriously losing it. Alex hates humans almost more than I do, this doesn't make an ounce of sense.

"I understand," my mom replies, surprising me. Alex gives her a very small smile as she places a hand over his on the table, "I know you haven't been happy since your presentation, I don't like seeing you suffer. If this is what you need to do to feel better, I'll support you."

"Are you serious?" I ask, looking from my mom to my dad, who just nods, too. Everyone in this house is completely insane.

"Yes. I want what's best for him and if this is it, then so be it."

"Thank you, Mom. I love all of you, but I really need to go away and be alone," his eyes are completely on me when he says that last sentence. I almost feel like something is ripping my heart out and I'm not even exaggerating, "I have everything ready, I'm going to leave today."

"When are you coming back?" my dad asks, his voice shaking. Alex looks at him and sighs, shrugging, "Okay. If this is going to make you happy, I can let you go."

Alex nods and gets up from the table to go upstairs.

"If anything happens to him, this is going to be on you two," I spit as soon as we're alone, "How can you just let him leave just like that? Don't you know everything that could happen to him?"

"To be honest, I don't think anything is going to happen to him. Alex is more than capable of living on his own for a while. I just want him to stop feeling so miserable and, obviously, being around us right now makes him feel that way," my mom replies, leaning back in the chair and raising a hand to massage her temples, "Let him go, Rio. He'll come back when he feels better."

"No," I reply and stand up abruptly, "I'll go with him."

"Absolutely not," my mom blurts out suddenly, "You're staying here. Or in Tallahide."

"What? Why can Alex leave but I can't follow him?"

"Because I don't trust you to go live alone, especially not among the humans," my mom admits, making my mouth drop open in offense, "Besides, Alex needs time away from you, specifically. You know why you don't understand that? Because your pea brain hasn't finished germinating yet. You're still an impulsive, dumb pup, you don't know how to behave, just like Laurie. It's not your fault, son, alphas need a little more time to grow up, it's completely normal."

"Are you calling me stupid?"

"Obviously."

"Well, you’re wrong," I growl, "I'm going with Alex, whether you like it or not. I'm going to take care of him and I'm going to make sure that nothing bad happens to him, which you don't seem to care about. And you're going to lend me your car to do it because Alex will obviously take his car. The car you gave to him even though it was supposed to be for both of us, and you know why you did that? Because he is your favorite."

"I don't have favorites, Rio, don't talk nonsense," she grumbles, shaking her head. She wants to say something else, but I don't let her. I go upstairs and march toward our room with determination.

When we were little and happy we begged our mother to have only one room, so she destroyed the wall separating our rooms to let us have just one giant one for both of us. I bet Alex is regretting that decision we made back then now as I walk into the room. He turns to look at me and rolls his eyes before continuing to stuff things into his suitcase.

"Do you really hate me now or what?"

"No, I'm just sick of you having everything I want," he repeats what he's been saying lately, but I open my arms and look around in frustration. I have nothing. I have no idea what he's talking about, "I need to stay away from you before I end up hating you, okay?"

"Really? So just because I'm an alpha now you can't stand me? You don't care about everything we've been through our entire lives?"

"Not at this point," he admits and pulls a box full of money out of his bottom drawer. Completely full.

"What the hell? What is that?" I ask, stepping closer to get a better look as he pulls out the money and arranges it with rubber bands before stuffing it into his suitcase. There must be several thousand dollars in here, "Where did you get it?"

"It's my money. I've been saving for years," he answers. My mouth is still hanging open, "You and Laurie are stupid and love to throw money away so I never have to pay for anything. I knew saving my money was smarter."

"You fucking bitch," I blurt out and try to get closer but he stops me with his eyes, "You scammed us."

"So? It's not even your money, really. It's not like you ever did anything to earn money... but I have," he reminds me. And it's true. Alex has always done little errands and jobs for the family while Laurie and I just watch him, I just never realized he didn't spend that money, ever. He's always made me pay for him.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

"Yes," he answers, but doesn't elaborate on his answer, "I've been planning this for a couple of weeks. I even have a place to stay."

I stare at him like a fool as he pulls out an unfamiliar cell phone and leaves his old one on the bed. Fuck, he really wants to disappear, he knows me or my dad could track him down and he wants to avoid that.

"Okay, do whatever you want," I spit, walking straight to my bed and looking towards my open closet as I sit on the bed. I have a camping backpack in there. As soon as he leaves I'm going to grab it and fill it with my stuff, "Get going, I'm sick of your attitude anyway. I don't want to see your stupid face either."

"Fine," he replies and zippers his suitcase shut before taking one last look through his things to make sure he hasn't forgotten anything, "I'm leaving."

"Leave faster," I mumble, making him roll his eyes before he leaves, slamming the door behind him. As soon as I'm alone, I jump out of my bed and move as fast as I can to grab my backpack and fill it with essentials.