“You think I’m the favorite? The last five years, I’ve heard nothing but how perfect you are. Oh, Ash, why can’t you be more like Julian?” I pitched my voice to mimic my mom when she was berating me for not being as good as Jules. “He’s so dedicated. So smart. So well liked. You and your perfect grades and perfect attitude.”
“You think it was easy getting those grades? I had to work my ass off to get a fucking scholarship because I knew Dad and Crystal wouldn’t pay for school, and I don’t have a rich daddy to pay for my tuition.”
“No, you just have an asshole one who broke up my family.”
“It takes two to tango. If your bitch mother hadn’t gotten knocked up and broken upmyfamily, then I wouldn’t have to deal with your stupid face.”
“Your dad is the one who knocked her up.” I took a step closer to him, so my knees were pressed against the coffee table.
“Go cry to your daddy and his piles of money.”
“You think I get even a fraction of that money?” I burst out. “Yeah, my dad is loaded, and he spent my entire childhood ignoring me while he worked his ass off to make his money. But newsflash, Julian. He doesn’t give me shit. The courts ordered him to pay for school. All that child support that was supposed to go to me was spent on everyonebutme. You think a few hundo a month for ‘living expenses’ makes up for being abandoned by the man who fucking made me? Hell, you’re the one who benefited the most from it.”
“You thinkIgot your child support?”
“I know you did. Mom and Ken put it in a trust to offset your school costs. I overheard them talking when they thought I wasn’t home. They spentmychild support building your college fund, then used the rest to fund vacations and whatever the fuck else Mom decided shedeserved.”
“But I got a scholarship—”
“For your tuition, yeah. But who paid your dorm expenses? Your books and supplies? Your allowance. All that money had to come from somewhere.”
“No. I don’t believe you.” He shook his head, his eyes uncertain.
“Believe what you want. They haven’t done jack shit for me since I graduated. And not even before. Notice how I got shoved into the attic while you got an actual bedroom? Who’s the favorite now?”
“That’s because I had to live there full time. And the attic is way bigger than my tiny-ass room.”
“I spent four days a month with my dad, and that was when he couldn’t weasel his way out of visitation. That’s pretty full time.”
“The attic is bigger.”
“Yeah, it’s bigger. Guess that’s why I get to sleep on a fucking futon instead of a real bed. Why I have to use a space heater in the winter so I don’t fucking freeze to death, then fans in the summer so I didn’t die of heat stroke while you got to live in a nice, climate-controlled room with a bed and a light.”
“You had a light…”
“I had a lamp and some Christmas lights I strung up so I could do my homework without getting a migraine from eye strain.”
“Yeah. Like you ever did any homework.”
“We can’t all be little geniuses like you.” I flopped back down onto the couch and picked up my phone.
Everyone thought I was a slacker who didn’t care about schoolwork when the truth was I had to work for my grades. I’d been diagnosed with dyslexia when I was ten, but my mother and dickhead dad hadn’t bothered to do anything about it, so I’d had to work twice as hard as most people just to pass.
It was even worse in college, but I’d managed to keep my grades high enough not to get in trouble, which was about all I could manage.
Just because perfect Jules never saw me study didn’t mean I didn’t.
Knock knock knock.
“The fuck is that?”
“My Uber Eats.” I smirked.
“Seriously? You steal my apples and order fucking Uber Eats?”
Ignoring him, I stood and went to get my food.
It was sitting in front of the door, and I scooped it up.