Apotheosis (2)

Lily flexed her biceps. "Sorry, not sorry."

Arthur's mischievous smile widened as he swiftly changed the subject, knowing exactly how to lighten the atmosphere. "Well, at least only one of us has to do their geography assignment."

Lily let out an exasperated sigh, her eyes still twinkling with amusement. She dramatically rolled her eyes, playfully mocking her teacher. "Ugh. Mrs. Williams and her never-ending obsession with picking on me. I swear, she must have a dartboard with my picture on it."

"What did she do this time?" Arthur asked, rolling his shoulders around. 

"Get this. Everyone else has a partner to do their assignment, and since nobody wanted to partner up with me, I decided that I could do it alone, and guess who said I couldn't do that?"

"Hm. . . ." Arthur placed a hand on his chin. "I can't think of anyone who'd fit the bill." 

"Stupid," Lily said before continuing. "Anyway, I told her I could do it alone but Mrs. Williams in all her self-righteousness told me that it wouldn't be fair to me and tried to partner me up with Davis, freaking boogeyman Davis!"

"He's still picking his nose?" 

Lily gagged. "Ew, don't remind me. So, I told Mrs. Williams that I didn't want to do that and so, instead guess whose deadline got pushed to the front for being 'rude and disrespectful to the teacher'?"

"Now, that's a dick move, even for her," Arthur said. "Well, your eighteenth birthday's coming next week so I guess you can take this as the first lesson on your way to becoming an adult."

"If becoming an adult means that I'll have to deal with bitches like her then, I'd really rather stay as a kid," Lily replied with a sigh.

Arthur just shook his head, and tried his best to emulate one of those wise, old men from movies and said, "Sometimes in life, we just don't have that choice, kid. The faster you get used to it, the lower your blood pressure's going to be."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Knock it off. But seriously, if I wasn't such a genius, I would have practically fainted at the amount of work I had to do, just to make up for a bitch's tantrums. I mean, who else can recite all the capitals of every country in alphabetical order? It's like she's threatened by my awesomeness."

Arthur burst into laughter, clutching his stomach as he playfully nudged Lily's shoulder. "You're right, Lily. Your awesomeness is just too much for mere mortals to handle."

Lily threw a pillow at her brother but he managed to dodge it. "You're so annoying." She pouted at him.

"Awww, is the little bawby gwonna cwy?" Arthur dodged another pillow, while trying to stop himself from snickering. 

"Well, I'm glad that you're enjoying my pain so much," Lily said, before she remembered something. "I almost forgot. How was the interview with Gwen? Got the job?"

Arthur just leaned back, closed his eyes and smirked. "You are now looking at the manager of WORLD GYM, New York branch, yes sir. Please hold your applause."

"Woah, shit, you actually got the job?"

"Actually got the j-"

"So, how did you exactly land the job? Even if Sis Gwen is basically head over heels over you - which I seriously don't understand - I'm sure that your dumbass wasn't smooth enough to get the promotion that quickly," Lily sat beside her brother, changing the subject.

"Long story short, you're not the only genius in the house," Arthur kicked at his sister's thigh, annoying her. "And Gwen doesn't like me. She's just. . . .a friend who also happens to be my boss's daughter."

"A frIeNd," Lily mocked her brother. "Last time I checked, friends don't pay for other friend's rent. . .for a whole-ass year."

"It wasn't really for a whole year, it was just-"

"And, invite you out for dinner at the most fanciest, smanchiest place in town."

"Nah, I heard she does that for all her fri-"

Lily snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah, didn't she try to kiss you that one time-" 

"Okay, that's enough, you little shit," Arthur threw a pillow at his sister, and unlike him, she wasn't able to dodge it. "Gwen. is. just. a. friend. And, she's also somewhat of the reason why exactly your brother's going to be making bank starting from tomorrow."

Lily peeled the pillow away from her face. "Riiiiight. But anyway, suppose she does like you - wait let me finish-"

Arthur closed his mouth, and Lily continued, "Why haven't you bagged her yet? I mean, she's exactly your type. Rich, tall, and completely mommy material, if you ask me. In fact, I bet she could have you calling her mommy in one fuck if you ask me."

"Now, hold on a minute, young lady. I didn't raise you to have such a potty-"

"So, why?" Lily cut him off. This was something about her brother she didn't get. So much as she hate to admit it, her brother was very much a looker - not the handsome, wild-west type but more of a pretty boy. Hell, ever since he started working out at the gym, he even had an aesthetic 'V' taper body which got him praises to no end, especially from women who were more on the badass scale.

But, every time he received an invite or a woman tried to pick him up for something more, he always, always rejected them. Of course, there wasn't anyone so down bad for him like Amelia right now, but her point still stood. 

Why was he holding back? He was almost 25 years old by now. 

Arthur looked hesitant but decided on not telling her the truth for now. "I just don't think right now is the time. I wanna make sure we at least move out of this house, and get you to college, and also buy a new car, and maybe-"

"Arthur!" Lily clapped her hands, bringing him out of his stupor. 

". . .Sorry. But yeah, basically, I just don't think right now is the time to be getting all romantic and what-not. It wouldn't be fair for my partner to put in all her efforts towards me, while my attention was else-where because that's how it's going to be if I get into a relationship."

"It just wouldn't work out." 

It was true. Multiple times, Arthur had thought about getting into a relationship with some of the women that had pursued him, but something he couldn't tell Lily was that most of the women who liked him, didn't like the idea of the three of

them living together. Some even outright said that they wanted to kidnap him and tie him to their beds which was honestly just downright creepy. 

To him, Lily was everything. She was his responsibility, his little sister, and the only one he still had left of his family. He couldn't and wouldn't sacrifice her for anything in the world. 

He just wanted to see her happy. 

Lily was the first to break the silence. "Alright. I won't be pressing any more if you don't really want to talk about it. I mean, what would I know? It's not like I'm your sister or anything."

Arthur turned his head to see that, indeed, his little sister was pouting again. "Hold on a minute. Don't be acting like I'm the only one with romantic failures. I heard from a little birdie that someone just got a little admirer from Physics Class."

He could literally see his little sister's pony-tail jerk up like a cat's tail at that. "Oh, I think his name was Jeremy or something. Care to elaborate, dear sister?"

Lily's face had blown up completely red like a tomato. When she spoke, her voice was as soft as a mouse. ". . .Where did you hear about that?"

"Oh, nothing it's just from-"

Ding!

But before he could finish his sentence, a sudden interruption stole his attention. 

"Huh?"

A brilliant blue box materialized before his eyes, capturing his gaze and freezing him in place.

<<System Notification>>

Hello [Arthur],

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in an extraordinary event. Spin the wheel and discover your destiny. You have one hour to make your choice. No spin, no reward.