Family Comes First

B25

- A m a r a R u s s o -

"I haven't been here in so long." I murmured, stepping into Adrian's condo.

"Welcome," he grinned, giving me a pat on the back. "Hey babe."

"Hey," Sandeo greeted back, giving Adrian a kiss.

"So, what's up?" Adrian questioned. "You never come here. I'm always the one who goes there." he said.

"There's just a small argument going on at home." Sandeo shrugged nonchalantly. "Didn't want to get caught up in it, so I came here with Amara."

"You don't mind, right?" I chimed in. "I don't want to come in if you're not comfortab-"

"No no, it's fine." Adrian waved off with a dismissive shake of his hand. "Why would I not be comfortable?"

"No idea," I answered with a shrug of my shoulders.

"I'm not." Adrian assured, patting me on the shoulder before turning on his heel and walking towards the kitchen.

"So, what are you doing?" Sandeo asked, pulling out a chair and shuffling through the papers on the desk.

"Going over some work for your brother." Adrian replied, going over to his pantry and taking out a soda. "Want one, Amara?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Here,"

Before I could react, Adrian had thrown his bottle over to me. I barely had enough time to catch it, my hand just barely grasping onto the can before it fell onto the floor. Thank God for my improved reflexes these days.

"Nice catch," he noted.

I grinned in response. "Thanks."

"You drink diet coke?" I commented, opening the can.

"Yeah," he nodded. "It's just easier to help keep my physique in check."

"Your physique?" I repeated.

"Yeah," he agreed. "My physique. Got to keep these muscles somehow. Or else a certain someone will leave me." he winked cheekily over to Sandeo.

My brother rolled his eyes. "You know I don't care how you look," he groaned, looking up from the papers. "It's you who wants to train like a madman everyday. Not me."

"Well it makes me happy," he protested.

"I've never complained." Sandeo retorted with a small smile. "But you do spend nearly four hours everyday at the gym."

I chocked on the coke, the carbonated soda going down the wrong pipe.

Coughing, I moved over to the table, grabbing a piece of tissue to cover my mouth as I spluttered in shock. "Four hours? Everyday?" I repeated incredulously when I was done.

Sandeo chuckled in amusement. "Yeah. This guy right here enjoys the gym for some reason."

"It's a stress-reliever, let's say." he said when I looked at him for an answer as to why he thought that going to the gym four hours a day was anywhere close to fun.

I had no answer to this, so I just hummed a response.

"So," Adrian started, nudging towards the papers in Sandeo's hands. "Like what you see?"

"No." Sandeo said flatly. "Is all of this true?"

"No, it's fake." deadpanned Adrian. "Of course it's real. Why would I fake something like this?"