The Castle of Gold [Bk 2]

ch.5 Still 8

“Where have you been?” Danny asked loudly- the moment I stepped into the living room. I kicked off my shoes and headed for my room.

I could smell the stubbornness in his eyes.  He was in one of his “moods” again.

“The mall” I answered slightly obviously as I held my shopping bag up. Danny looked at the image of a naked male torso on the cover of the bag and his eyes bulged.

“What the hell did you buy!?” he demanded as he grabbed the bag and turned it upside down.

“Hey! What are you doing, Danny?!” I yelled and reached for the dress before it fell to the ground.

Danny looked slightly embarrassed when he realized that I had only bought a dress, not some kind of lingerie for Harry. Oh, God. I shook my head clearing slightly hilarious and interesting images of Harry in a lacey thong.

Danny denied his embarrassment by continuing to question me.

“Let me see the dress” he spoke calmly. He reached over and took the dress from my hand before I could respond.

He held it up, making sure it wasn’t one of the usual suspects: see-through or too short or too small.

“It’s too short” he stated in his deep, monotone.

“No, it’s not. It’s just above my knees” I disagreed.

Danny glared at me. I had apparently offended his kingship in this house by disagreeing.

“Yes, it is. You’re going to return it and get something longer” he told me matter-of-factly.

I crossed my arms over my chest in stubborn disapproval.

“No, I’m not. No one is going to even see the dress. The robe will cover it” I argued. And it was true. Middleton High school robes were gold for girls and black for boys. And they were about as long as I was tall. (Which was above average, but Danny was a mammoth- well over 6 feet, so I felt short).

“Angela” he raised his voice and took an authoritative step closer to me.

“You are going to return the dress, do you understand me?” he almost demanded.

“No!” I refused and snatched the dress from his rock-like hands.

I turned toward the stairs and headed for my room.

“Yes, you are! You will always be my baby sister and you always have to obey me!” he bellowed back.

“NO I’M NOT! I’m graduating tomorrow for God’s sake!” I shouted back.

Danny glared at me with his wide, brooding dark eyes.

Then, just as I thought he was going to pick me up and drag me downstairs and back to the mall, he took a deep breath and shook his head at the ground.

“I’m sorry” he apologized. He was actually apologizing. First Becky, now Danny, where’s my camera when I need it?!

“It’s ok” I told him as I rubbed his shoulder reassuringly.

But I wasn’t sure if it was. I hated when Danny yelled at me, it made me want to cry and punch a wall at the same time. He was too hard on himself and even harder on me. I just wished we could be brother and sister, not father and daughter.

“It’s just that I really can’t believe you’re graduating. I could have sworn you had little golden pigtails yesterday” he tried to explain.

He sat down on the couch.

I took a seat next to him.

“Danny” I laughed slightly at the pig tails bit. Why did everyone remember me by my pig tails when I was little? I almost forget I even had them until Harry brought them up last year, while I was adjusting the butterfly clasp my dad gave me.

“Angie, I know you’re not a little girl anymore and that’s even more reason why I have to protect constantly” he reasoned.

I nodded in understanding, but still frustration. He could protect me without yelling about the millimeter difference in my dress length.

“It’s my first job. My longest job and I’m never going to stop, not as long as I’m alive. And even when I’m gone, I’ll haunt Harry, making sure he’s good to you” Danny joked.

He laughed and for the first time, I laughed with him.

“Danny, you’re not going anywhere” I told him, almost as if my words could give him the ability to live forever.

“To hell, I’m not!” Danny laughed harder. “At least not until I’ve sat down and given Harry a good long talk” he spoke in a deeper, more serious tone.

I smiled shyly, then looked down into my lap quickly at his mention of Harry.

“Angie, I know it may seem like I hate you and Harry being together…” he began slowly. I looked up at him, greatly interested in what he had to say about Harry while he was all calm and his fists weren’t bulging.

“I do hate it, but I know I can’t do anything about it. Harry cares about you and I know he can protect you as well as I can, but you’re still so young. You don’t know how guys think and how they act and I just don’t want you to get hurt” he tried to explain briefly.

I nodded.

But I do know how they think. Sort of. I’ve grown up with a hoard of them and I know how unpredictable and determined they can be, it’s like they’re playing some sort of undeclared game- an age long Vietnam combat mission where they’re beating each other and laughing about it.

I just have no clue how Harry thinks. He’s the definition of unpredictable and maybe that’s what I like about him; you don’t know if his hard, restrained stare is a warning that he’s going to kill you or make love to you.

I was hoping for something sort of in between, but that’s the other thing about guys; they can be so extreme about their actions and emotions- which, in the first place, they don’t even like to call “emotions.”

“Well you don’t have to worry about Harry right now” I told him.

I sighed with disappointment at myself and my stubborn, selfish ways. Of course Harry wanted to come tomorrow, but he couldn’t just drop his job to see me half-trip down some hall and some stairs.

Danny shook his head.

“Yes, I do” Danny shook his head. “I always noticed how much he looked out for you, even pissed you off by how much he cared” Danny laughed. “But I could never pick up anything more between you two” he explained slowly, slightly awkwardly.  

“It’s like because I never wanted to think of the day when you wouldn’t be afraid of cooties, that I never imagined you and him would get together” he admitted slightly embarrassedly.

“Danny, I’m 18, not 8” I reminded him softly. I guess he really was quite sensitive, but he just hid all his emotions into one form: anger.

And Danny was just being his usual, protective, over-bearing and domineering self when he yelled at me. I knew he never meant to upset me, but he just took his “job” so seriously. He really wanted to live up to dad’s expectations and that’s why he worked so hard to keep us afloat every day and to keep me safe.

I wrapped an arm around his bulky, broad shoulders. I felt like I was hugging a rock. A hard-headed, but caring rock.

“And you’re only 22” I spoke up. “You should have some fun and get your mind off me” I told him with a smile.

He shook his head at the ground and smiled.

“I’m 42 at heart” he laughed.

And I laughed, too. Maybe Danny just had an old, protective, but artistic soul.

“And I’m still 8?” I asked him jokingly. I looked up at him innocently, wanting to fit the role of the 8-year old he saw he as.

He wrapped his bulky arm around my shoulders and I rested my head against his.

“You’ll always be 8” he told me softly.