Finley's P.O.V.

“Welcome home!” someone yelled back, probably my mom.

I dropped my bag on the floor next to the door and slipped off my shoes, heading towards the kitchen. Walking in, I saw my mother and father standing at the counter, cooking something, probably dinner.

“Smells good,” I said smiling.

At home I talked more and stuttered less.

“Why are you home an hour after school ended?” my father asked.

“I had a detention,” I said carefully, gauging my parents' reaction.

Mom raised her eyebrows. “You? Detention?”

“I was late,” I explained. “But by only a few seconds. The teacher is really unfair.”

“Why were you late?” Dad asked, drying his hands on a towel.

“I was talking to someone,” I said vaguely. “Well, I gotta go, homework!”

I quickly fled the kitchen, avoiding the flurry of questions that were about to come. I stopped by the door to grab my backpack before bounding up the stairs, taking them two at a time. As I passed my brother's door, I banged on it, letting him know I was home. We did this to each other all the time, just to piss the other one off. Opening the door to my bedroom, I ran, launching myself into the air and landing with a soft thud onto my bed. I lay spread-eagled on my bed, looking at my walls.

They were a light green, covered with posters and writing on the walls. I had posters of my favorite bands, animals and some were just pictures of me with my family. My comforter was a mixture of colors, with the same light green on my walls mixed in. I had a desk that was cluttered with all of my miscellaneous things and my laptop.

I found my eyes simply looking at my school bag, thinking of all of the homework I had, but I felt no desire to get up and do it. Instead, I let my eyes flutter shut and I fell asleep, tired from my stressful day.

…

“Finley!”

I woke up to someone calling my name, echoing faintly from downstairs. I rubbed at my eyes and sat up, glancing around my room before landing on the clock with read 6:04. I had slept through all the time I usually did my homework.

“FINLEY,” I heard my brother, Luke, yell from somewhere, probably getting frustrated with me. “DINNER'S READY!”

“Okay!” I shouted back, considerably quieter than what he had been.

I stretched and stood up, feeling my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten since lunch, which was rare since I usually had a snack after school. I pushed open my door and made my way downstairs, my stomach grumbling louder as the smell of dinner became clearer.

“Smells amazing,” I said as I walked into the dining room, ready to eat my dinner.

“Took you long enough,” Luke mumbled.

I frowned at that. Luke thought he was better than me simply because he was older, nineteen where I was a measly seventeen, but he hadn't gotten into college and I was well on the road to getting into one. “I was sleeping.”

“Did you do your homework?” Mom asked, setting the pan full of our dinner onto the table.

I peered at it, feeling relieved when I saw chicken alfredo. Chicken alfredo was good. “No, I fell asleep.”

“You'll have to do it tonight,” Mom said, ladling servings onto everyone's plate.

“I know,” I said, watching her spoon move and trying not to drool as a heaping serving came near my plate.

“So how was everyone's day?” Dad asked, digging into his own meal.

“Good,” Luke mumbled through a mouthful of noodles.

Rolling my eyes at his lack of matters, I answered, “It was alright.”

“Ah, yes, the detention,” Dad's eyes twinkled. “How did that go?”

There was a spluttering sound as Luke choked on his noodles. “D-detention?” he choked out, tears streaming from his eyes. “Finley got a detention?”

“Yes,” I said, not really understanding why I was so defensive. “Why?”

“I never thought you would get a detention,” Luke sounded still so surprised. “Why did you get it?”

“I was late,” I said, feeling slightly nervous on having the full attention of all of my family on me.

“Late for which class?” Luke urged me to continue my story.

“English with Mr. Johnston,” I explained.

“Ah,” Luke nodded, leaning backwards. “That makes sense.”

“You said you were talking to someone,” Mom remembered. “Who were you talking to?”

Damn it, I was hoping they wouldn't remember. “Just a boy,” I said quickly.

“Just “talking” to a boy,” Luke mocked. “Right, you were probably locked in a supply closet sucking his face off.”

I gasped, my fork clattering out of my hand as I gaped at my brother in shock. I had kissed a couple boys, sure, but I hadn’t ever left class for a boy and I probably never won’t.

I could feel the familiar symptoms of a panic attack, so I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to calm myself down. It worked, and I picked up my fork again, resuming eating just in time to see my mother smack Luke upside the head.

“Ow!” he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. “Bloody hell, woman, what was that for?!”

“Apologize,” Mom scolded, gesturing to me.

“Sorry,” Luke mumbled, not sounding particularly ashamed.

“What’s his name?” Dad asked, his curiosity simply overruling his wanting to eat.

“Eli,” came my soft reply, as my mind drew up a picture of him, with his lip ring and tousled hair.

“You like him,” Mom observed.

I could feel my cheeks turning red at her statement. “N-No I don’t.”

“You’re stuttering,” Luke sang. “That means you’re nervous ‘cause we’re talking about boys!”

“S-Shut up L-Luke,” I stuttered, my grip tightening on my fork.

“Why won’t you talk about him?” Luke pressed? “Is he ugly? A nerd?”

 I shook my head, trying to warn him to shut up now before I did something that I regret.

“Oh I know!” Luke grinned now, looking triumphant. “He’s a total geek, isn’t he? Oh wait, is he popular and that’s why that you’re freaking out? No wait-bad boy?”

“SHUT UP!” I yelled, surprising both myself and my family, judging by the way their mouths dropped.

I swallowed hard, dropping my fork onto my plate and quickly fled from the table, feeling my breathing quicken and become shallow. I barely made it up the stairs before my legs gave out and I collapsed, sinking against the wall and shaking. I could feel tears being forced from my eyes as I tried to regain my breath.

It had been a long time since I’d stuttered at home, even longer since I’d had a panic attack. I don’t know what about Luke bothering me had provoked it, but he had been the cause of the majority of my panic attacks at home, considering he was the annoying older brother that simply loved to tease me.

I gaped for air, momentarily not breathing for about ten seconds. More tears leaked from my eyes as I tried and failed to bring oxygen into my lungs. Not for the first time, I wish I had an oxygen machine to make me breathe, to help me breathe. Inhaling sharply, I almost sighed in relief when I could actually get air to my lungs.

After another couples minutes of painfully sucking in air, I finally calmed down enough to wipe my tears off. I sniffled, trying to dry my face off but I only smeared my tears across my face, leaving me a memory of the pain I had just endured.

“Finley?” a quiet voice asked.

I looked over to see Luke standing at the top of the stairs, looking guilty and cautious; as if he was concerned I was going to start screaming at him again.

“What, Luke?” I sighed, in a mood as I always was after my attacks.

He came to sit next to me and we sat in silence at the top of the stairs, in total darkness. “I’m sorry,” he apologized.

I glanced at him. “Did Mom make you say that?”

Luke laughed a little, before pushing his hair off his forehead. “No, she didn’t. She was pretty pissed, but she didn’t make me come.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling a little foolish.

“I’m sorry, though,” Luke swallowed, not used to apologizing. “I didn’t mean to push you over the edge.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m just really sensitive.”

“No,” Luke smiled. “You’re my sister.” I smiled at that, realizing that this has been the first time in a long time that Luke had acknowledged me as his family, as usually he liked to pretend he was an only child. “And I was just curious about this boy,” Luke continued. “I wanted to make sure he was nice.”

“He is,” I said. “He bumped into me at first then he helped pick up my books.”

Luke nodded. “What does he look like?”

“He has a lip ring,” I said, that being the only feature I could think of at the moment. “And dark hair and eyes.”

“A lip ring?” Luke questioned, his fist tightening.

“Yes, a lip ring, aren’t you listening?” I teased.

Luke laughed. “You’re back to normal, I see.”

My lips were tugged upwards in a smile, one that only Luke could coax out of me. We used to be close, when we were younger, but since I started having panic attacks and Luke started dating, we had grew apart. It had been a while since we’d had a heart to heart.

“Finley,” Luke said, making me look at him, “We need to hang out more.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“I’m not going to say it back, this isn’t The Fault in our Stars,” Luke said warningly.

My mouth dropped. “You read The Fault in our Stars?”

Luke realized what he said and his hand immediately went to the back of his neck, his nervous tic. “I didn’t say that.”

“You read it!” I exclaimed, starting to laugh, as The Fault in our Starts was a book leaning more towards the females.

“A girl made me read it,” he mumbled, looking down.

That sparked my interest. “A girl?”

“Yeah,” Luke said, looking up at me and quickly looking back down.

“But you never do anything for girls,” I said, puzzled, all too aware of my brother’s dating habits.

“She’s different,” Luke muttered, clearly not wanting me to hear that.

“Aww,” I cooed, looking at my embarrassed brother, him clearly not wanting to have shared this. “What’s her name?”

“I’m not telling you,” Luke said, glancing up at me. “You’ll just tell Mom and she’ll demand to see her.”

“Luke, c’mon, when have I ever spilled a secret you didn’t want me to share to Mom?” I asked, knowing full well that I hadn’t told anyone a single secret someone didn’t want me to.

“Never,” Luke mumbled, admitting I’m right.

“Exactly. Now spill.”    

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Surprise! Hi guys :) Now, I'm warning you right now, most updates won't be this long, this was just rare. But I had this written and I really wanted to post it, because if it's written I have to post it, so I hope you enjoy! Bye!

-11tay99