Starling

"Your brother!" Hanna's voice reached an impressive octave that made Starling and Griffin both wince.

"Her twin brother no less," he answered with a practiced wink.

Starling watched her friend, praying the girl was immune to his cheesy charms, but a faint pop of color on Hanna's cheeks dashed her hopes. She sighed. She could toss those hopes on the kitchen floor, where they could rot with ruined dreams. All because Griffin Anders decided to pay a visit to the little people in his life.

"Griffin, what are you doing here?" Starling demanded, taking the cokes from Hanna's hands before she dropped them. Setting them on the counter, she fixed her brother with a steely glare. "If I remember correctly, we agreed that you'd stay far away from here until I graduated."

"Don't worry Star- I'm not staying with y'all. Can't a man just stop to see his Nana?"

"Why are you here?"

He sighed dramatically and the light vanished from eyes that matched her own. "I'm shooting a show here. Trust me, I'd much rather be running around L.A. than backwoods Mississippi."

Beside her Hanna squeaked before slapping a hand over her mouth. "What show?"

The sparkle returned, but it was dimmer than before. "Southern Secrets. It's like a younger True Detective."

"Since when did you do television shows?" Starling asked, sweeping past him to grab glasses from the cabinets. She wanted nothing more than to get her fizzy fix and get away from her brother. He was the worst kind of person. A stranger with the power to wound her. "Is your star fading?"

"Switching to diet drinks? Good for you. Bout time you get your weight under control," Griffin said instead of answering her question, but the aggression proved she'd hit a sore spot. That was new- she never remembered being able to hurt him with her words, not like he did to her. The saccharine way he let his million dollar voice caress the cruel words didn't make it any less hurtful.

"Hanna, do you want to go to my room? We can get caught up on the latest episode of Marines."

Griffin pushed away from the counter, his strong jaw clenched tight. "Why are you watching that trash?"

"Oh, you mean the trash that stars your competition? Samuel Perez? It's our favorite show."

"I'll just be upstairs," her friend said, taking the glass Starling offered her. The edges around her eyes were tight, her pink lips drawn down. Well, that was just grand. Escaping her brother wasn't going to give her any peace, not when Hanna was clearly upset.

"Griffin," Starling hissed when the other girl was out of earshot. "Rent a house. You are not staying here."

"Actually," he sneered, popping a piece of candy into his mouth, "I am."

Hot tears clouded her vision. "Why? Do you just enjoy being cruel?"

"Starling...I have to. The studio wants me to enroll in school and live with my family. It was a requirement. They said I need to get in touch with what it means to be an average student to play Peter Richards. Whatever the hell that means."

She snorted and swiped at her damp cheeks. His features had softened, almost as if he was sorry for putting her through this. "You just don't get it. You're going to enroll in school, everyone will fall all over themselves to be near you, and I'll become nothing more than a pawn in the master plan to be your best friend. Or your next lay. When you leave, I'll be left with the fallout."

The two stood across from one another, mute and tense. Neither would back down. Griffin was too consumed with self, and she- well she had worked so hard to find happiness in this town, or at least solace. She didn't have to question every smile or invitation. She got by on her own merits. All of that would change when they found out Griffin Anders was her brother.

"It didn't have to be like this," he said, breaking the silence. "You could've gotten into the biz. Still could."

The laugh that escaped soured her tongue. Gesturing down at herself, she shook her head. "A size fourteen is not welcome in Hollywood. No matter the talent."

"It's not right. They shouldn't get to dictate what makes us worthy of being stars. People wanna hear your voice, Star."

Ignoring his vehemence- he couldn't be sincere- she grabbed her drink and turned away from him. She had one foot on the first step, when she stopped and called over her shoulder. "What does it matter to you? You're their golden boy. Go preach to your choir." She didn't give him a chance to respond, running up the stairs and slamming the door. 

                                                                *************************

Griffin

The force of the door slamming rattled the photographs on the walls, but not nearly as much as her words rattled his soul. Griffin slumped across the counter, his head pressed into his hands while he tried to piece himself back together. Once, Starling had been his safe harbor in the storms caused by his fame. Now, she looked at him with such derision- it was the same way he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Damn it," he growled, pounding his fist into the counter top. He'd told their mother that this was a bad idea, but she'd been baffled. She'd never understood Starling's sudden desire to escape from everything associated with him, and he wasn't about to explain it. Not that she'd get it even then. Robin Anderson was like every other momager in Hollywood: plastic and distracted by all that glittered.

He had to be here. He didn't' have a choice, but he could make it easier on his sister. Snatching up his phone, the screen covered in missed messages from just five minutes of not glancing at it, he typed out a text message and sent it before he could reconsider. They would just have to understand that he wasn't going to completely derail everyone else's life. Not this time.

The device buzzed in his hand, and he glanced down, expecting to a response to his message; instead, it was a name that made his skin flush and his gut clench.

"Why are you calling me right now? I've told you- this has to end." The caller's voice was like velvet, stirring up visions of sweaty silk and moonlight. He relaxed his grip on the phone, afraid he'd snap it.

"I remember that conversation. It was all one sided. I miss you."

"I miss you too, but we're no good for each other."

"You're just like the rest of them, you know. Running when things are starting to get good." The line went dead.

Griffin dropped the phone, his heart pounding as he went to the contact, deleted it, and blocked the number. This was the real reason he'd taken this job. It was a chance to get away, to clear his head, and make a plan for his future. He glanced at the stairs. He just hoped his selfish actions wouldn't ruin them both.