Three's a crowd

13

They say the truth will set you free, that somehow by admitting the truth no matter how hard will somehow make everything that follows easier or better.

As I watched my mother break down into tears and my father struggling to keep himself together I felt that the whole saying was probably further from the truth.

I turned into Riley hiding my face in his chest as Averleigh ushered my mom into another room, and Spencer and Luke took my father out onto the beach. Levi was just standing there with a cold look in his eyes, as if he was planning a murder, but at least Riley's siblings had decided to make themselves scarce.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as my brothers voice cracked when he spoke.

"Britt I'm sorry, I didn't know." He chocked.

I turned to look at him, taking a deep breath to calm myself. His eyes were glassy and vulnerable, nothing like the calm sarcastic demeanor he usually portrayed.

"It's not your fault." I said, barely a whisper before he pulled me into a hug.

"You should have told me Britt. I'm your brother. I know I give you hell, but don't ever think I wouldn't do everything I could to protect you!" He said as I tried to stop myself from crying again.

"I know, I love you Levi." I said squeezing him tighter.
"Love you too Britt."

The talk after with each of my parents didn't go quite as calmly as the one with Levi. Mom cried the whole time and eventually hugged me and said we would talk more at home. Dad, he was probably the worst.

The look on his face was as if someone had died in front of him. I had never seen him so broken and hurt before. He held me the whole time as he apologized over and over again for not being there to protect me. Then when I struggled to breathe he let go and made me promise not to keep anything like that from him again.

Overall I would say that I felt relieved that they finally knew about what happened. Of course I didn't go into detail, some things shouldn't be explained that way, especially to your parents.

I don't think telling them really changed anything though, other than them knowing about it. I mean nothing had actually changed in the grand scheme of my life so there was really no harm done by Riley's outburst.

As everyone went to bed early I found myself sinking into the unoccupied hot tub and looking over at the beach. The backdrop of reds and blues and pinks in the sky soothing my soul while the hot water soothed my body.

I laid my head back and closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of the jets on my lower back, the warm sun on my face as it continued to set.

For now it was peaceful, serene, like a picture you see on a postcard. The kind that makes you envy the sender until you eventually get to experience the same place, or perhaps visit somewhere different and equally as exciting.

I sat for a while just listening to the bubbling of the hot tub, the soft humming of the ocean lapping the shore down the beach ahead of me. This was how my vacation was supposed to go.

I should have been doing this with Riley, not arguing with our families over my perceived sex life that didn't even exist yet. But the week was over, and the lower the sun sank down over the ocean the more it seemed real that tomorrow we would be returning to our regular lives.

I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to sleep alone, or share him or myself with our friends. Too much time had been wasted this week with me getting sick and it left me feeling cheated of the perfect vacation together that we wanted.

The sliding of the screen door broke me from my thoughts as Anna came creeping out onto the deck.

"Hey, can we talk?" She asked nervously.
"Yeah what's up?" I asked.