That morning, when I returned home, I was walking on eggshells. Tyler had always been the protective type and this instinct only intensified when our parents died. He was just a kid himself, barely 19, but he found himself a second job and worked twelve-hour days just to put food on the table keep putting me through school. I owed Tyler everything.
“Did you have fun last night?” Tyler asked when he wandered into the kitchen, probably lured in by the smell of my cooking. “I didn’t realize how many people would be there. I completely lost track of you. I hope you didn’t get yourself into any trouble.”
“I think you forget that I’m twenty-one now, Ty. You don’t have to keep babysitting me like I’m twelve.”
“Of course, I do,” he answered. “You’ll always be my baby sister even if you’re 21 or 51.” He grabbed a plate off the counter and brought it over to the table. “I’m going to assume that this is for me.” He popped off the bun to his burger and was about to add some ketchup when there was a knock on the door. “Were you expecting someone?”
Even though I knew it was most likely Cole, I shook my head. I could feel my feet turning to ice because really, I had no idea how Ty would react. I wanted him to be happy for us, but I had the sickening feeling that he would take it the wrong way and blow his top.
“Huh.” Tyler abandoned his lunch and answered the door. “Cole?”
“Mind if I come in?”
“Sure.” Tyler ushered him inside. “Why didn’t you call me and tell me that you were coming over. I at least would have stocked the fridge with a couple of beers.”
“Sorry, I’m not here to hang out,” said Cole with a sobering expression that immediately made Tyler smarten up.
“What’s up?” he asked. “Did something happen at the party last night? Is that why you sounded so weird when I called you?”
Cole glanced in my direction but only for a moment. Tyler didn’t even notice. “Look, man, I don’t even know how to tell you this but Molly and I kicked it off last night.”
My brother was deathly quiet causing my worries to fester. It was never a good thing when Tyler was quiet. By the way, his eyes were narrowing and how his hands were clenched into fists, he was seething.
“I wasn’t trying to go behind your back or nothing. It sort of just happened and I can’t change that or the fact that I want to be with her but before I made that commitment, I knew I had to come to you first because I want your blessing.”
“My blessing?” Tyler scoffed. “Are you kidding me? No fucking way.” He snarled. “What kind of bullshit is this? You’re back for one night and you go off and fuck my sister.” He was fuming, face turning a bright red. “Kicking it off, yeah, I’m sure you guys had a grand old time catching up. Fuck.” He pulled at his hair before storming out.
I was gutted.
Cole threw me a disappointed look before going after his friend.
I was left alone. I sunk to the ground, hugging my knees to my chest as tears burned my eyes. I had spent a single night with Cole and now, it was over. Cole was too loyal to ever date me behind Tyler’s back. Without Tyler’s approval, we were through. And just like that, my dreams were plucked away from me once more.
Chapter 6 (Cole)
Damnit, I was worried this would happen, I thought as I headed down to the lake. If Tyler was anywhere, it was there. He had never been creative with where he liked to hide.
The path was overgrown. When was the last time we came down this way? I wondered as I fought with brambles and a slippery blanket of leaves underfoot.
I heard the plink, plink, plink of a rock being skipped over the water. Just as I had guessed, Tyler was here, working out his frustrations. He hadn’t changed a bit. And that’s why I needed to get through to him. The last thing I wanted was to lose my best friend. But at the same time, I didn’t want to lose Molly, either. Without his blessing, I was likely to lose both.
The final stretch was the hardest, but I pushed past the stubborn branches and made it into the clearing. I could tell that Tyler heard me. His body was rigid, and he had stopped skipping rocks, but he did not turn around.
“Leave,” he said through clenched teeth. “I don’t even know why you followed me here. I thought you’d be all over my sister… kicking it off.”
It was clear that Tyler was pissed – no, pissed was too mild of a word. At that moment, I think he hated me.
But even though I risked getting my lights knocked out, I dared to sit beside him, hoping he would calm down enough for me to talk to him.
“So, last night, when you disappeared, you were fucking my little sister…” He dug his heels into the ground. “That’s not fucking cool. What the fuck were you thinking? Were you looking to stab me in the back?”
“You know I would never do that, Ty. You’ve been my friend for as long as I can remember –”
“But that didn’t stop you from fucking my sister,” he interrupted.
“I had no idea it was her,” I said. “You have to admit that Molly is a completely different person from when I last saw her. I mean, for fuck’s sake, she was wearing braces back then and half the time, her hair was up in pigtails. The girl I was with last night wasn’t your little sister… she was someone else entirely. I don’t even know how to describe it, but she felt like a dream – with her it was like I had finally found my place in the world.”
I paused, trying to read whether I was getting through to him or not. He was listening but his expression was still ice cold.
“The minute I laid eyes on her last night, something clicked. Suddenly, the world seemed richer with brighter colors and more vibrant sounds. Just the sight of her did something to me and I just couldn’t ignore a feeling that strong.” I looked out at the lake. “I know I’ve been gone for a long time and I probably shouldn’t have jumped the gun with Molly, but we can’t change what we already did. All I can tell you is that I’ve never felt this way before. You might call me crazy but I’m in love with your sister.”
Speaking those words aloud just made the feeling stronger. My doubts about it being a drunken mistake vanished in that instance. Our coming together last night was far from expected but it was exactly what was meant to happen. Molly was the girl I had been searching for. Funny how she was under my nose the entire time.
“And look, this might not mean anything after the fact, but had I known that I was falling in love with Molly, I definitely would have come to you first before making a move. My intention last night was not to sleep with your sister. I was just caught up in the moment with this beautiful girl. It was only after you called me that I found out that she was your sister.” I saw my opening. Tyler no longer had that look of hatred stamped onto his face. “Ty, you know I would never go behind your back. We’ve been best buds since kindergarten. I would never do anything to jeopardize that but, I’m in love with your little sister.”
Again, I felt a sort of buzz at saying those words because they felt right. I smiled, allowing myself the possibility of believing that everything would work out and that I’d get the opportunity to tell her those three words myself. But not without Tyler’s approval first.