Chapter 2

Dan opened the freezer and grabbed the tub of chocolate mousse ice-cream which he had bought specially for me, grabbing two spoons from the dishwasher and handing me one. We both jumped up onto the kitchen counter and sat facing each other, legs crossed with the ice-cream between us.

"Rhett is Bill's son. He comes here once every two or three years for about a week at most before he heads back to his mother. I don't really know him much, but he was a jerk last time I saw him." Dan said before shoving a spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth.

I copied him, remaining silent and trying to wrack my brain for an image of Rhett stored somewhere in its vast expanses. I came up empty handed.

"I don't remember him." I admitted.

"You wouldn't. He usually only comes in December and spends the week partying anyway. I don't think he's come here in the summer since you were about seven and then you two hated each other. The last time he came was about four years back and I remember Bill saying to Mom that he doubts Rhett would be back."

My eyes widened, thinking of all the possibilities as to why Rhett wouldn't be back. It would have to be Rhett's fault though – Bill was too nice to be anything but an amazing father.

"Oh well, I guess I'll have to meet him this summer."

Dan rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Don't sound too excited." he commented sarcastically.

We both took one more spoonful of ice-cream and put the tub back in the freezer, knowing that if Mom caught us we'd be in trouble for eating it straight from the tub. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect either, as Mom led Bill to the front door.

"We'll see you and Rhett tonight, Bill. And don't worry about him too much. You've done all that you could to make sure that he receives the best and he'll just have to acknowledge that some day." I heard her say as they walked past the kitchen.

Dan darted me a look and we crept forward to hear the rest of the conversation, like naughty little kids.

"Thank you so much Julia. You and John have kept me sane through all this drama and I can never make it up to you." Bill replied before he shut the door behind him and made his way down the garden path.

In a flash, Dan and I resumed our positions – Dan sitting on the counter speaking about some football something or another, while I proceeded to make sandwiches for the two of us. That was how our mother found us.

"That poor man." she says, shaking her head. "Your father and I are so blessed to have such amazing children."

She went to both Dan and myself and kissed our cheeks before she waltzed out of the room and back to her scrapbooking, leaving Dan and I mystified.

"I don't even want to know." Dan said aghast.

I agreed with him. Some things are just better left unsaid.

Sandwich in hand, I trudged upstairs to my bedroom to change out of my damp bikini, smiling at the photographs which decorated the stairwell. My mother seemed to believe that the more pictures you had up around your house, the better.

I paused outside the door to my bedroom for a second, taking a breath before I pushed the door ajar and stepped inside what was meant to be a refuge. But my room isn't a refuge... it's a reminder. A reminder of the curse I've had to endure since as long as I could remember. I hate my room and its pale blue paint littered with white butterflies which were painted across the walls and on the ceiling. I hate the blue curtains which are parted so that sunlight can spill onto the butterfly bedspread. Most of all, I hate the heart monitor which my father had insisted on remaining in my room. "Just in case" was his excuse, and my mother couldn't argue with him - even if it utterly went against her decor.

I sigh again, determined to be in and out of my hell-room in a matter of minutes.

I swung open my closet doors and selected a pale green summer dress which flew out in a perfect circle whenever I twirled, slipping it on me as I stood in front of the mirror. I marveled as the silky fabric glides down my skin. I suppose that when you're a cursed "Sleeping Beauty", you try and enjoy as much as you can.

My cellphone beeps and starts flashing, begging me to read the text which had come through. I find myself smiling as I read the message from my best friend – my only friend – as she welcomes me back into the "realm of the awake, alive, alert and enthusiastic". I quickly text her back so that she wouldn't think that I'd forgotten her before setting the phone back on my dresser. I'd call her later.

"Drop my bag and I'll fucking slaughter you!" I heard a familiar voice angrily shout as a car door slammed shut.

I rush downstairs, almost tripping on my mom's cat – Whiskers -as it lounged across the bottom step.

"Honey, we're home!" two voices cried out in unison as their owners stood in the entrance hall, revelling in the way that the sound filtered through the house and brought everyone running.

"Matty! Mikey!" I called out, launching myself at the intruders.

I found myself fully enveloped by two pairs of identical arms, squeezing me until I'm gasping for air.

"Let her go doofus twins." Dan taunted, leaning against the wall and smirking at the twins.

The only reply he got was to be pulled into the circle and vigorously squeezed until he couldn't breathe and began bashing on the nearest twin's back.

"Matthew Dean Summers and Michael Drew Summers, let go of your siblings before I bring out the wooden spoon." I heard Mom threaten.

Sheepishly, the twins pulled apart sending each other a look which had to have been encoded in twin language because an instant later they moved as one and were squeezing the living daylights out of our mother. Eventually, they pulled apart and each kissed Mom on the cheek like naughty little boys trying to suck up to the agitated parent.

"Oh, get on with you." she chastised with a wave of her hand and a hint of a smile on her face.

Mom really did try to be stern... sometimes it worked, other times it failed miserably. In this case it was a complete and utter fail.

The guys and I traipsed up to the room they had shared since they were babies, never liking to be too far away from each other. Dad actually had to knock down the drywall between their room and the spare room and had put up a movable screen in its place just so that the guys could have a bigger room with their own space, but still invade on each other's privacy whenever they wanted to.

"How was the drive?" Dan asked the two as he and I jumped up onto Mikey's Spiderman covered bedspread.

"Woah it was crazy, man! Stuck behind trucks all the way from campus until home." Mikey clearly embellished.

Matty rolled his eyes as he set down his suitcase on his side of the room which was littered with guitars and other musical instruments.

"It wasn't that bad. Mikey just wanted to travel at the speed of light and I wasn't willing to get another speeding ticket because of him. It's bad enough that he used my driver's licence when he got the first ticket. Being identical twins with that sponge is a pain in the ass!"

Mikey pulled a face as he began chucking all of his clothing into his cupboard in a haphazard manner, muddling up shorts with shirts and vice versa. I had to smile at how different the two were as I turned and spotted Matty's immaculate closet (the clothes are even colour coded!), and I was rather happy about that. Too much of either of them would be just painful. At least they almost seemed to balance each other out.

"Okay, done." Mikey grinned, flopping onto the bed next to me and wrapping an arm around me.

"So, what's news this side Sleeping Beauty?" he asked.

"Well... I woke up three days ago to find that this beast over here" I kicked Dan softly "had come home alone and single. Then I discovered that Mom had replaced the lounge suite and earlier today we learned that Bill's son is coming to stay with him for a year."

Both of the twins looked at me horrified.

"Oh hell no! Say it isn't true!" Matty begged Dan, who nodded sadly.

"It's true."

The twins moaned in unison.

"And it sounds like they're coming for dinner." Dan continued, grimacing.

"Dude, do you think it's too late to head back onto the road and pretend we didn't make it home in time for dinner?" Mikey asked Matty, his eyebrows waggling as if he'd just suggested a master plan.

"Too late, man... Momzilla already saw us." Matty sighed, diving onto his bed.

"I guess we'll have to put up with the prick... at least for tonight." Dan gave-up.

I rolled my eyes at their dramatics, surely the guy couldn't be all that bad... could he? He could have grown up too. I mean, three years can make a serious difference. Maybe he'd surprise them all.

"Hold on there little sis... did you say that the beast got dumped? I mean – I know he'd not as sexy as me but he still has an okayish personality." Mikey's voice was a tad incredulous.

The twins were both taller than Dan and had grey eyes instead of blue, but all three boys had Dad's broad shoulders and dark hair. Another thing that seemed to run in the family was brains. Dan may be studying to be a lawyer but Mikey was studying engineering and Matty was premed. I wished I could have had some of those genes, but being adopted makes that kind of impossible.

"I was too hot for her." Dan sounded genuinely sorrowful, but I knew that it was probably just another act so I ignored it.

I heard a car pull up and I leapt up from Mikey's bed and strolled to the bedroom window, hoping that it was Dad getting home from work. Instead, a taxi had pulled up against the curb... it's passenger none other than Rhett Douglas.