Chapter 7: Voices Don't Carry

Junior and Justine try to break the bread with the introverted Zeke, but can they make him exit his shell?

At around noon the next day, Zeke busied himself laying stomach-down on the king-sized bed, largely tuning out any drama going on around him. Ever since the family farm had been destroyed, he'd become withdrawn for some unexplained reason. Did he feel some sentimental attachment to the farm itself, or was it due to something that happened outside of his family life? Whatever the case, it appeared that Zeke wasn't entirely depressed; barring the times he got up to eat or use the restroom, he spent his days closed off in one of the guest suites slumped indolently on the bed, either listening to music or watching anything from let's plays to porn on the internet. The lock on that door didn't work, but everyone else knew better than to bother him as they saw fit. But little did he know that the two sets of twins were all standing outside his room, going over their plan to get through to him.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Kendra scratched her head.

"Yeah, Zeke's refused to open up to anyone since we left Montgomery," Kendall butt in.

"Well you said he wasn't always like this, correct?" Junior asked, eliciting nods from both of them. "Okay then, so it shouldn't be too hard to make him talk, at least compared to an actual introvert."

"Huh. Well, good luck," Kendra spoke as she walked off.

"You'll need it," Kendall added, following her sister.

"Welp, here goes nothin'." Justine shrugged, knocking on the door.

"Yes'm?" Zeke's voice barely rang out above the loud country-punk blasting from his laptop.

The twins entered the room with Justine stepping ahead of her brother, putting on a slightly sultry smile as soon as she and Zeke made eye-contact. She figured that he'd be more willing to speak to her, given his reaction to her presence when they first met. Upon spotting her, Zeke's irritable expression softened a bit, his heart rate picking up as his crush approached him.

"So, uh, Zeke was it?" Justine asked sweetly.

"Mm-hmm," Zeke replied.

"What's up?" Justine continued.

"Eh, not much," Zeke spoke in a blank, unwavering tone. "I, uh, take it you live here with your brother?"

"Not really. I technically live in Pasadena, but I come here pretty often so I can spend time with my family," Justine replied, sitting sideways on the bed. "But I'd prefer it if I ask the questions here."

"Okay, shoot." Zeke paused his playlist and sat up.

"Well for one thing, you seem pretty upset about something. You've spent most of your time shut off from everyone else ever since you got here, and when you do come out, you hardly say anything," Junior began. "So if we may ask, what's been eating you?"

"Th-The hell is this, an interrogation?" Zeke replied, sounding a bit more uncomfortable. "Like hell I'm gonna spill all my secrets! Please get out of here before I..."

His voice trailed off as he eyed Justine stretching her arms above her head, letting out an exaggerated groan and displaying the fact that there was no shirt worn under her jean-jacket, as well as the visible underwear-lines peeking through her gray biker-shorts. Intentionally turning a bit more toward him, she also undid some of the metallic buttons near the top, revealing a skimpy lace bralette that matched her eyes, which blinked rapidly in an act of seduction.

"Whew, it sure is hot in here." Justine fanned herself a bit, maintaining her flirtatious smirk. "Hope you don't mind if I make myself just a bit more comfortable."

"Oh n-no, no it's not a problem at all," an entranced Zeke responded, unable to take his eyes off her, which she didn't appear to mind. Suddenly, confessing to these two didn't sound like such a bad idea. Curse those late-teen hormones of his.

"Now. About that question." Junior folded his arms, keeping his face firm but relaxed.

"Right. Well I suppose if I answer that question, I might as well open up about more than just that..." Zeke cleared his throat.

Listening intently to what he had to say, the Simmons twins were quite surprised at what they heard. Safe to say Zeke was by far the most unique member of the Sterling family, even more so than those twins he lived with. Apparently he wasn't Rosemary's brother at all, but rather her cousin from South Carolina. His mom apparently passed on just weeks after his birth when she accidentally fell into a pig's trough, and his father asphyxiated himself in the midst of his grieving. Because of this, he was taken in by Paul and Lorraine, whom effectively were his parents, considering he had no memory of those who conceived him.

Like the rest of his family, Zeke loved working on the farm and had absolutely no qualms about getting his hands dirty, but he rarely if ever got a chance to do so. With his three adoptive sisters hogging all the chores, it gave him time to branch out and be his own person, taking up hobbies that weren't taxing on the muscles and spending more time on social media than the others. He focused more on his schoolwork, got good grades in advanced and AP classes, and maintained a social life that was chock full of girls and parties, though he made sure to specify that he didn't drink. He partook in extracurricular activities, namely sports, and he was the only one in his family to take up summer jobs outside of the farm.

"...and because of all my hard work elsewhere, I had the marks to get into Harvard. Hell, I even had enough money saved up to pay for four years," Zeke explained. "But then that damn blizzard came out of nowhere, and my parents had to spend all their remaining cash, including mine and the twins' savings, just to get us out of there."

"Wow, that's awful," Junior said morosely.

"I was so ready to head out and go to what's easily the best college in America, but then all this crap went down at the last second," Zeke finished with a sigh.

"So that's why you've been looking so miserable since you got up here," Justine chimed in.

"Yep," Zeke continued. "Then again, perhaps it's for the best. Mom and Dad seemed pretty upset when Kendra and Kendall went to Stanford over in the valley, and they were even more pissed off when Rosemary went up to Queens for college, given how much they hate the urban lifestyle and how corruptive it supposedly is. Maybe I could just go to a local community college and spare myself a good hour of getting chewed out."

"Nonsense, dude. Doing things a bit differently from how your parents did them isn't 'betraying the family'. Just so long as you don't lose sight of where you came from, you can take whatever path you want," Junior reasoned. "When it comes to respecting your origins, remembering them is more than enough."

"I guess so... still doesn't change my situation, though." Zeke frowned, scratching the area under his headband.

"Not exactly," Justine suggested. "I mean, my family's already paying to rebuild your farm, so why don't I pay your tuition?"

"You're not serious. You really want me to enter a prestigious university with the help of some billionaires? You really wanna help me spite my-?" Zeke was cut off as Justine put her finger to his lips.

"I insist. Whether your parents like it or not, you deserve a proper education," she said softly.

"Plus, you already got good enough grades to get to Harvard. That's all the verification you need, so who cares if your rich friend helped you pay for it?" Junior added.

"F-Friends?" Zeke asked, awestruck.

"Pretty sure that's what he said." Justine briefly ignored her sexuality and planted a quick but juicy kiss on his temple, freezing him in his tracks. "See you around, Ezekiel."

"Your sisters told us that's what your name is," Junior clarified.

"Huh. Well thanks, you guys. I really appreciate it." Zeke mustered up a smile for once, watching Justine walk away.

"Don't mention it," Justine cooed, following her brother through the cracked door. "Oh, and by the way, I like girls."

Zeke's face instantly dropped at that revelation, but that didn't stop him from remaining happy at how things were finally looking up for him. Meanwhile, the twins remained outside his door for another moment and looked at each other, satisfied.

"Can't believe that worked," Junior commented, oblivious to his sister's disgusted grimace. "Another job well done."

"Speak for yourself," Justine grumbled. "I swear, if I ever have to kiss another guy I'm not related to again…"

"Hey, don't look at me. That was all your choice."