There I Go Again

Chapter 26

 "No, Bruno. No! No you don't!" she yelled at him. "You're just saying that. You're just saying that like you said it before. You're too busy, you have to work, you can't be the boyfriend, the...everything I need. I needed you. I needed you like I need the green eggs, and my mom's baked potatoes, and the beach, and hoodies...and...flowers for no reason, and music...and...." she started to cry even more than she was before. "But you can't do that. You said so. And Andrew can. He is all of that..." she told him in an excited saddened voice.

"If he can do all of that Kassandra, why isn't he here right now? Because I am."

"Bruno...you're here right now because my mom invited you over for dinner. That's it." she scolded him.

"When will he be there for you, Kittie? When he finishes writing his thesis in Mandarin Chinese? The fucker doesn't even know Chinese, but he's going to write his thesis in it...because he's just smart like that."

"That was mean, Bruno. You don't know anything about his background. He is going to change the world with what he is studying."

"Kassandra..I'm going to change the world too. I'll just have fun doing it." he smiled at her.

"Shut up!" she yelled at him.

They heard a knock on the door as she finished yelling. The knob turned with Jamie and Olivia walking in.

"What?!" Kassie and Bruno yelled at their sisters together.

"Penny wanted us to see what y'all were yelling about." Jamie told them.

"Ohh...nothing." Kassie said looking at her sister confused about how to handle the situation. Olivia took her sister by the hand opening the door walking into the backyard.

"Sit down.." Olivia told her sister pointing to the wooden outdoor chair. "You're not going inside until you tell me what happened last night. And why are you crying?" Olivia asked her.

"Livvy..." Kassie started to cry again. "I don't know what happened last night...I don't know..." she said wiping her eyes smearing her make-up. "We drank too much...we danced...and then he took me to his studio apartment. I just....oh my god...and then we danced more...and then we drank more...and then....."

"Kassandra...we all do stupid things when we drink. If I had to keep count of all the stupid things I've done I would have a Guinness World Record for stupid things. "

"But...Andrew is going to propose. His sister Renee told me..."

"Kittie..I've been telling you for months that Andrew cares more about school than he does about you. You're only living with him because it's cheaper. And you know it. The best thing you can do right now is not be a relationship. No strings, no flowers, no nothing. You need to be single." Livvy told her sister reaching over to hug her sister. "Now, shake on it. You're going to break up with him?" she asked her little sister.

"Yeah...let's shake on it. " Kassie smiled spiting on her hand then shaking her sister's hand followed by kissing her thumb.

**

"Peter Gene Hernandez...what the hell are you doing?" Jamie pulled Bruno by the arm sitting him down on the bed where he had just sat with Kassie.

"Nothing." he answered dryly. "Nothing at all."

"Bruno...you hurt her once. And that was when you were a baby. You aren't a relationship guy. You figured that out after you two broke up. Why would you do that too her? I told you not to hurt her...."

"I want to be her everything..." Bruno confessed.

"What makes her any different than any of those other club girls that you hook up with? Because, as much as I love the girl, that's what she is now. And that's your type...." Jamie recalled.

"She's so much more. She smiles at my jokes, she puts too much eyeliner on her eyes, she wears heals around me..she is the most confident girl I've ever met in my life...." Bruno told his sister.

"And you slept with her last night." she finished his statement.

"Well, yeah. But that doesn't mean I don't want to be all those things I just said..." he explained.

"Bruno...you can't hurt her again. You can't. But, if you really think she's it, then I'll support you.

"She is. She is."

"Then you go for it. But we have to shake on it." Jamie told his brother.

"Let's do this..." Bruno said spitting on his hand touching his sister's and then kissing his thumb.

"That's still gross. I don't know why I taught y'all that." Jamie laughed opening the door to the bedroom leading his brother into the living room where Kassie was sitting in between her brother and sister playing Guitar Hero.