I (18F) am the youngest of four siblings. I have three older brothers Michael (28M), John (27M), and Chris (25M). Our mother passed away when I was 8, and since then, my father (53M) and my brothers have been quite protective of me. I had father-daughter date nights with my dad and movie nights with my brothers, among other things. I think that was their way of making sure I didn’t feel lonely.
Last year, my father got married to Melissa (45F). She, with her daughter Ashley (18F) moved in with us. I always got the sense that Ashley didn’t like me. She would talk to my dad and my brothers but she never talked to me. Whenever I tried to talk to her, she would answer curtly and then walk away. I never understood why, or if I did something to her, but after a few weeks of trying to get along with her without success, I gave up. We were civil to each other and that was enough. My brothers were also on the fence about her. She keeps insisting to be invited to our movie nights, but she would always demand to see a movie she liked even if none of us liked it, and she kept trying to cuddle with my brothers which they find uncomfortable and weird because they don’t really know her. Chris actually told her to knock it off because he didn’t like that she was so touchy with him.
Recently I had my 18th birthday, It was fun and low-key and I got wonderful gifts.
The next day Ashley came to me and told me that it was unfair that my brothers’ gifts to me were better than their gifts to her for her birthday last June. For context my brothers EACH gave her a 200$ give card to different stores so she can buy what she liked, because they didn’t really know her. They gave her gifts to be civil. My brothers got me a personalized perfume, a signed copy of an entire book series that I’ve been obsessed about lately, and a personalized planner with messages and quotes on each page. I will admit that they put more thoughts into my gifts but I think it’s fair since they don’t really know her.
But then Ashley started crying saying that I always got everything and she got nothing and she then demanded I stop hanging out with them and said that if I didn’t hang out with my brothers so much, then they would pay more attention to her. She also wanted me to tell them to treat her like they treated me because she was also their sister now. I told her that I won’t force my brothers to do something they didn’t like. She insisted that I call my brothers right that moment, to tell them that I would hang out less with them and that they should get Ashley better gifts. I refused. Apparently she told her friends and cousins, because I’ve been getting messages from them telling me I’m a spoiled, selfish kid, so I’m second guessing myself.
