“Rio, are you sure you’re okay?” mom asked.

                “I’m positive,” I said, standing up. “Ezra, are you done eating yet?”

                “Hm? Yea, I’m done,” he said, also standing up.

                “Rio, why don’t you get out of the house for a little? Here, bring these to your cousin. I made him a batch of cookies last night. There’s some for you and Hank and your friends too,” she said. “But these are for Ethan and his friends.”

                “Oh goody. I get to play little red riding hood again!” I said in fake excitement, taking the cookies from her. “Ezra, want to come to my cousin’s house to drop this off?”

                Ezra shrugged. “Sure!”

                We went to my bedroom and I let Ezra borrow clothes. He pulled on his purple beanie and the two of us left my house, getting into my car.

                “Your brother has some anger issues. I see it runs in the family,” Ezra said with a laugh.

                “He’s going through withdrawal. He always gets like this. He gets pretty violent,” I said.

                “He’s hurt you worse?” Ezra guessed.

                I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Just don’t say anything about it. My parents don’t need to know.”

                Ezra shrugged. “I won’t say a word about it. Your family business is your family business.”

                We fell into silence and I plugged my phone in, blasting music as we drove. I rolled the windows down, letting the breeze blow in.                

                “I could learn to pity fools as I’m the worst of all, and I can’t stop feeling sorry for myself,” I sang along.

                “We only want to sing you to sleep,” Ezra sang.

                “Ah, I see you have good music taste,” I said, pulling into Ethan’s driveway.

                “Naturally,” Ezra said, getting out of the car with me.

                I led him up the driveway and rang the doorbell. Aunt Mary answered and smiled at me, stepping aside to let us in.

                “This is Ezra. He’s just tagging along,” I said.

                “Hello!” Ezra said, shaking Mary’s hand.

                “It’s nice to meet you, Ezra! I’m Rio’s Aunt Mary,” she said happily. She turned to me. “Ethan is in his bedroom!”

                “Alright. I’ll go burst in,” I said, leading Ezra upstairs and down the hallway.

                I threw Ethan’s bedroom door open. He glanced over at me lazily. He and some guy were lying on his bed together watching a movie. His head was on the guy’s chest and the guy was lightly running a hand through Ethan’s hair.

                “Knock,” Ethan said.

                “You’re such a hypocrite,” the guy said with a scowl.

                “You, hush,” Ethan said, lightly hitting him.

                “I come bearing a gift of cookies,” I said, holding up the container. “Courtesy of my mom.”

                “Aunt Jill is my favorite,” Ethan said, holding his hands out.

                I tossed the cookies to him and he opened the container, taking one out and biting into it. He offered one to the guy on his bed, who took it and started eating it.

                “This is Will,” Ethan said, gesturing to him. “He’s my inconveniently named boyfriend.”

                “Leave my name alone,” Will said.

                “It’s okay. You got off easy compared to my cousin Hank,” Ethan said and shuddered. “Hank. Who does that to a kid? ‘Oh, this is my toddler Hank’.” He shook his head.

                “You’re an ass. Leave my brother alone,” I said, rolling my eyes.

                “Oh, right, I forgot you have a name too. This is my cousin Rio and I’m assuming this good looking piece of humanity is probably named Ezra,” Ethan said.

                “You talk about me, I see,” Ezra said happily.

                “Don’t get so full of yourself,” I said. “I just told Ethan that you’re weird.”

                “You used the word intriguing,” Ethan reminded.

                “I’m going to shove those cookies up your ass,” I said.

                “They don’t go there. They go in my mouth. Like him,” Ethan said, pointing at Will.

                “Sarcasm, anger, and good looks run in your family,” Ezra said.

                “I’m figuring that out too,” Will said miserably.

                “Hey, where’s the bathroom?” Ezra asked.

                “End of the hallway, straight ahead,” Ethan said.

                “Thanks,” Ezra said, backing out of the room and heading towards the bathroom.

                “Shut the door,” Ethan said.

                I shut the door and went over closer to him. “What?”

                He eyed me. “What did Hank do?”

                “What are you talking about?” I asked.

                “You have that look in your eyes. What did Hank do?” he repeated.

                I pulled my shirt up, showing off the light bruise from the ketchup bottle. I gave Ethan a dark grin.

                “He’s hit that point again. He always does, and things get bad, and that’s when he relapses. It won’t be long now before he steals money or sneaks out and has sex for a fix. My parents can’t watch him 24/7. They’re only human,” I said.

                Ethan watched me calmly. “Anyone else would think you’ve given up on him. But I know you haven’t, Rio.”

                I hooked my thumbs in my pockets. “I gave Mitch all my money to keep at his house. But he always finds a way.” My grin grew. “He always finds a way. I’m just waiting now. He’ll never get better because he doesn’t want to get better. I’m just waiting for the time he gets so irritable that he causes serious damage. Or for the day he overdoses and my dad doesn’t find him in time.”

                “You have some serious issues,” Will said. “And coming from a guy that dates Ethan, that’s saying something.”

                “Hush William,” Ethan said dismissively. “So what’s up with this Ezra kid?”

                “He was out in the storm last night. I brought him back to my house,” I said. “That’s it, Ethan.”

                “You him brought him back to your house and didn’t screw his brains out? I disown you as my cousin,” he said.

                “Well of course I didn’t screw his brains out. I was too busy with Will,” I said, winking at him.

                “Why did I get stuck with the most perverted family in history,” Will groaned miserably.

                “Don’t forget that we’re also sarcastic assholes,” Ethan said cheerfully. “Well, except for Hank. Hank used to be too nice to ever be sarcastic like us. But now he’s just an asshole.”

                “Basically,” I said with a shrug.

                The door opened and Ezra came back into the room. “Trying to lock me out?” he asked, gesturing at the door.

                “That would require us to actually turn the lock,” I said.

                “I figured you weren’t intelligent enough to do that,” he said.

                “I can feel the love,” I said.

                “This guy is like your Hispanic twin,” Will said to Ethan.

                “No, he’s just my Hispanic cousin,” Ethan said.

                “Partially Hispanic,” I said. “Thanks to your side of the family, I’m a Spanish-German mutt.”

                “Yea, yea,” Ethan said. “I have my cookies and I have my boyfriend and I can think of 12 different ways to combine those two to increase my own personal pleasure, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to witness 9 of those. So, goodbye.”

                “Whatever. Adios bitches,” I said, pulling Ezra out of the room with me. I said bye to my Aunt and Uncle before leaving the house with Ezra.

                “So you told you’re cousin I’m intriguing?” he asked smugly as we got in the car.

                I pulled out of the driveway. “Well, you are. I don’t typically meet people who crouch up on a wall all night and put on a super happy act constantly,” I said.

                “It’s not an act. I’m a bubbly person,” he said.

                I raised an eyebrow. “No, you’re a person with a pretty messed up background. I don’t know what is so messed up, but it has quite the effect on you.”

                He pulled out his lighter, flicking it casually, letting it spark but never catch. “Phoenix, remember? Maybe I’ve risen from the ashes.” He smiled over at me.

                “I think you’re still waiting to burn down to ashes,” I said. “Besides, we’re humans, not Phoenixes. Maybe once we burn down to ashes, we just get blown away by the wind and scattered away for good.”             

                He clicked his tongue. “So negative!”

                “Put your lighter away before you catch us on fire,” I said.

                He shoved it back in his pocket and leaned back against the seat. “I honestly think that people can rise from the ashes,” he said after a moment of silence. He glanced at me, and he wasn’t exactly frowning, but he wasn’t smiling either.

                I thought of Hank, and of the way he had overdosed at the age of 17. He had flat lined that day, and I liked to think that was the moment the brother I had grown up with and loved had died.

                “Maybe people do rise from the ashes,” I said, speaking slowly. “But they’re not the same as the person who burned down. Sometimes they’re worse.”

                “Maybe.” The smile finally broke through on his face. “But sometimes they’re better.”

                My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket, tossing it to Ezra since I was driving. “Read me that text,” I said.

                “Mitch said to come over,” he said, checking the message.

                “I guess you’re coming with me since we’re near his house anyways,” I said.

                “I don’t think Mitch is my biggest fan,” Ezra said curiously.

                “Judging by the scar on your eyebrow, I’d say he’s probably not,” I agreed.

                I pulled into Mitch’s driveway a minute later and we got out of the car together. I led Ezra into the house and Carol looked over at us.

                “Hi Rio. Hi kid I don’t know but judging by your scar I’m going to assume is friends with my son,” Carol greeted.

                “Think again. Your son gave him that scar,” I said, laughing.

                Carol groaned. “I am so sorry. My son’s an idiot. Oh god, I’m sorry.”

                “I deserved it,” Ezra said and laughed as well.

                “Are you here to kick his ass over that or…?” Carol watched him nervously, worried about Mitch’s safety. She and her husband usually acted like they couldn’t care less what happened to their sons, but I knew that they were constantly worried about them, and Carol got especially protective of them.

                Ezra frowned. “Why does everyone think that? I’m not mad about it. I said I deserved it. I attacked Mitch. He was just defending himself. I mean, I think that’s what happened.” He got a confused expression. “That night is kind of hard to remember. I was pretty drunk.” He nodded to himself. “But we definitely attacked them! So, yea, I probably deserved it.”

                “Beautiful. Let’s go find Mitch,” I said, grabbing Ezra’s arm and pulling him down the hallway to Mitch’s bedroom. I opened the door and pulled Ezra in.

                “Why did you bring him?” Mitch demanded, glaring at Ezra suspiciously.

                “Because he was with me,” I said. “And I was almost here. I’m not going to waste gas dropping him off and coming back.”

                “Who is he?” Shane asked.

                “I don’t know, but apparently I punched him in the face a couple of months ago,” Mitch said, gesturing to Ezra’s eyebrow.

                “I’m Ezra. Whoa, you’re Mitch’s brother. You guys don’t look alike but…you do like alike,” he said, looking between them. “That’s so creepy.”

                It was true. The Marion brothers looked nothing alike, and yet when they were together they were so similar that it was creepy. Shane had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and lightly tanned skin. Mitch had light brown hair, pale blue eyes, and white skin. But their features were too similar for my liking.

                “I look nothing like my brother. My brother is ugly,” Shane said.

                “Shut up Shane. I’m the one with the hot boyfriend and you’re single,” Mitch said, kicking an empty soda can at Shane.

                “Where is your hot boyfriend?” I asked.

                “Ditching me for his mom again,” Mitch said.

                “That’s okay. As long as Shane is here,” I said, winking at Shane.

                “Mitchell, please choose better friends in the future,” Shane said. “Life is all about choices and Rio was not a good one.”

                “Why am I getting lecture because of Rio? Rio, go home,” Mitch said.

                “You invited me here,” I said.

                “True. Ezra, you go home,” Mitch said. “I didn’t invite you.”

                “I actually do have to go,” he said, holding up his phone where I could see a text inviting him over. “But thanks for the…intriguing time.” He smiled at me before leaving the room. We listened until we heard the front door shut.

                “Don’t hang out with him. I don’t trust him,” Mitch said.

                “Mitchell Jacob Marion, please stop physically wounding people because one of them is going to come after you and kill you and I won’t even be able to feel bad for you as I write your obituary,” carol said, peeking her head into the room. “I’ll write ‘He died of his own arrogant stupidity’.”

                “You’re such a nice mother,” Mitch said.

                “Ezra’s harmless,” I said. “I think he just used to be-” I stopped myself, realizing what I was about to say.

                “I think he just used to be like Hank.”

                I sat down as Mitch looked at me curiously. Hank had been lost; he’d fallen in with the wrong crowd and done the wrong things.

                And that’s what I thought of when I looked at Ezra with his scar. He had fallen in with the wrong crowd and done the wrong things. But he was trying to rise from those ashes. That’s why he wasn’t friends with those people anymore. It’s why he hid up on the wall, instead of wandering the streets. Why he hid his anger and desperation with a smile. Because he didn’t want to be self destructive anymore.

                “Rio?” Mitch said, and I could hear the light concern in his voice. “What’s wrong?”

                “Everyone has secrets,” I mumbled, my mind flashing to the other night on the wall. I leaned back and mentally sighed.

                It was official: I was too curious to just brush Ezra to the side any longer.

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A.N.- Another Shio fanfic for you bitter souls! Here's the link:

http://www.wattpad.com/59444336-shio-part-1

(If you can't click on the link, click on the person that the chapter is dedicated to, and the story is on their profile. Same thing goes with the one I posted in the last chapter)

So, Will makes a little guest appearance here, and I hope you enjoy his scowling, moody self ^-^ And now Rio has an interest in Ezra, so let me know what you're thinking of the story!