Avery heard the music as soon as she stepped in front the street into the foyer of her apartment complex, and immediately knew it was coming from the loft she shared with Mack. It must've been particularly loud this afternoon, because she could hear it even with the traffic of NYC just outside, and considering their apartment was on the 8th floor. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, trying to calm herself down. After a long day of school and then straight to a modelling shoot, the last thing she wanted to do was put up with Mackenzie and whatever state he was in at the moment.
"Live with your brother, Avery, it'll keep him grounded and sensible, Avery, then someone can keep an eye on him, Avery," she muttered to herself as she headed for the lift, lugging her portfolio from art school, a heavy bag of art supplies, another bag with her change of clothes from the shoot, and on top of that, a bag of groceries for her dinner that night.
The doors opened at the 8th floor and she sighed, before lugging her stuff down the hallway. She juggled her bags around to get her keys out of her pocket, and managed to get the door open, where she was greeted with music blasting so loudly she swore that her hair actually flew back from the noise.
"JOSHUA MACKENZIE HANSON!" she yelled, both out loud and telepathically.
The music went down the tiniest amount and through the din, she managed to pick up the swearing and thoughts about her ruining his fun.
Her eyes flashed dangerously and she stomped to the kitchen, leaving the groceries on the counter while she went to her room to put her other stuff down. She rubbed her temples, feeling a headache begin in the back of her head, and she tried to take another deep breath. Her friends had all told her that she had to cut him some slack, he was still a kid, and after all, he'd never lived out of home before. But at the rate he was pushing her, he wasn't going to live anymore. Out of home or ever.
The final straw came when she walked into the kitchen to find him casually leaning on the bench, eating bits and pieces from her shopping bags.
"THAT IS IT!" she shouted, stomping over to the stereo and wrenching the power cord so hard that it broke off.
Sweet silence filled the apartment and she let out a sigh of relief.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Mack snapped at her.
Finally, she had his attention, and she unleashed. "I am so sick of living like this, Mack. I am sick of living with you! You are selfish, you're messy, you are inconsiderate, you are lazy, you - "
"You're not exactly a peach to live with either, A-ver-eeeyyyy!" Mackenzie shot back, elongating her name in the way that she hated. "You are so goddamn self righteous and I can't do a thing in here without you getting annoyed, this is my house too! I pay just as much rent as you do, and at least I try to make it fun! But I can't do anything right, can I?! You're a selfish bitch!"
She had to stop herself from punching him at that moment, and she closed her eyes, willing her anger to go down. "We can't live like this."
"Yeah, you're fucking right, we can't!" Mackenzie snapped.
"Stop," Avery said, opening her eyes, forcing them to stay her normal colour and not flare gold the way they were prone to when she was losing control of her telepathy. She forced her power back under control. "Just stop. If we continue like this, we'll never talk again. And I don't want that."
Mackenzie watched his sister clearly struggle with maintaining control over her powers and he nodded. He knew that he must be difficult to live with, but he also knew that they could never have made it work full time. They used to fight all the time as kids, it had been a silly idea to put them together. "Neither of us can afford this on our own."
"I know," Avery said, offering him a smile. "Are you going to be able to find some people to move in with?"
Mackenzie nodded. "There's a couple of guys from school. What about you?"
Avery smiled again, this time it becoming more genuine. What she loved about her fights with Mack was that they didn't go on for days. They got really angry, screamed at each other, and then they were done. "I think I can afford a small apartment on my own. I'm going on break from school, so if I pick up more jobs, then I should be ok."
"Ok, good." He paused, then grinned at his sister. "It was fun at times, right?"
Avery made a face. "Yeah, maybe."