Lend Me Your Heart

Twelve

“Like I said before. He only wants one thing from you. I know it,”

“Chill out,” Zach said, sounding extremely irritated. “Jesus. You think I don’t take care of her? You think all I want is once thing? If you do, you’re wrong.”

Great. What Mike was doing was extremely immature, but if he makes Zach angry, I don’t know what’ll happen.

“She’s my sister,” my brother growled, keeping his voice low enough that my dad didn’t wake up. “Now cut the crap.”

“Yeah, and she’s my girlfriend, so leave us alone. I think I know what I’m doing.”

Suddenly, my brother stood up off the couch so fast I wondered why he didn’t topple over with dizziness. He grabbed the collar of Zach’s shirt in his fist and moved his face closer to his.

“Fight with me again. I dare you,” he snarled, crinkling his nose in anger.

“Look, I don’t want to fight. I’m just sick of everyone thinking I’m not going to take care of Layne. I would never, ever do anything to hurt her.”

Number twenty-three, I thought.

“Outside,” Mike said to Zach. “Now.”

They both walked angrily towards the door, but when I tried to follow, my brother wiggled his finger in front of my face.

“You’re not involved,” he warned me.

“Excuse me?” I asked incredulously, “I’m the whole reason this stupid fight even happened. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Stay out of it, Layne,” Zach snapped, glaring at me.

His tone was harsh and angry. I know my brother had gotten him angry, but I didn’t want him taking it out on me again. My lip quivered and I looked down, avoiding his irritated stare while waiting for them to walk out the door. But, when I didn’t hear them leave, my eyes nervously fluttered back up to meet Zach’s. His expression was softer now… different. He turned to my brother and shook his head.

“We can do this later, Mike,” he mumbled before turning his back towards him and taking my hand.

I looked behind me to peek at Mike’s expression and, surprisingly, he didn’t seem angry at all. He actually seemed kind of impressed by the way his eyebrows were raised. I turned my head back around and walked upstairs with Zach, into my room. Once we made our way over to the couch, Zach cupped my face in his hands and looked at me, his blue eyes hypnotizing me.

“I’m sorry I yelled,” he said. “I’m so sorry. You don’t do anything to me and-and…I just want to be perfect for you. I mean, you’re perfect for me. I want to-”

“You are perfect for me,” I interrupted. “I just don’t want to make you angry. I just want everybody to get along.”

“I know, sweetheart. Me too,” he whispered, kissing my lips.

I’d gone weak as soon as he called me ‘sweetheart’. One more kiss and I’d pass out.

“Number five,” he said, as we pulled apart. “I’ll put up with your brother.”

***

The day before Christmas Eve, Zach and I went ice-skating on the lake near our house. There were a few other kids skating on it, so we assumed it was safe. Zach used Michael’s skates because they were the same shoe size, and I used my own. We walked there in our snow boots and changed once we got to the shore. Luckily, Zach already knew how to ice skate. He was pretty good at it, too. I incorporated a few dance tricks while I was sliding around, making people gasp and point fingers. I tried to teach Zach a few things, but it didn’t work out very well.