All Because Of A Party (On Hold)

Busted

After my little prank on Julian, and him getting revenge, we decide against continuing the movie. I had a feeling that if we did, Julian would just about start screaming bloody murder. So, out of sheer boredom, we decided to play Truth Or Dare with only two people.

"Alright," I say to Julian, "your turn. Truth or dare?"

Julian thinks for a moment before saying, "truth."

"What do you want your future to be like?"

He looks at me with an unreadable expression. "My future? Haven't really thought much about that, I've kind of been living in the here and now. But um, I want to be a therapist. Uh, a loving wife, adorable kids, and really just a stable job to support my family." Now it's my turn to stare at him. I'm liking this side of Julian, the sensitive side that's not constantly flirting. "Your turn." He blurts out.

I answer without hesitating, "dare please." When a certain look crosses Julian's face, I gulp and immediately regret my choice.

"I dare you," he says, "to kiss me." I stare at him in bewilderment. I want to laugh, but I know that's my actual dare. Groaning, I contemplate if I should actually accept the dare. But I never turn down a dare, I'm not about to let this dare be my first.

Having made up my mind, I straddle Julian. This would be a lot easier if we were standing up, I wouldn't need to be in his lap if we were. I wrap my arms around his neck and start leaning in, our faces are an inch apart when the front door bursts open and my brother enters.

"Hello best friend and little sister! Did you miss me? I bet you-" He pauses for a brief moment noticing our position, and then starts freaking out. "Holy shit! Brooke get off him now! Julian, get my sister off you! What the hell are you two doing? I leave you alone and this is what happens? You promised, Jules!" I quickly scramble off Julian while he also takes part in pushing me off of him.

"Ry, calm down." I say, "it's not what it looks like." Good job, Brooke. Go with the cliché line. "We were playing Truth Or Dare and then-"

"And you decided to just hop on his lap?" Ry asks incredulously.

Julian finally decides to say something. "Bro chill! It was a dare. I dared Brooke to kiss me, I didn't think she'd actually do it."

I realize something, "what are you doing home anyways? You said you'd be back tomorrow."

"Kat had to go because something came up, so I decided to come home early." I assumed Kat is the name of the girl that he posted a picture with. Ry turns to Julian. "You dared my sister to kiss you? She never turns down a dare!"

"I didn't know that!" Julian says.

"Guys!" I yell, before things get out of hand even more. "Just chill out for a second! Ry, Julian didn't know about my love for dares. Julian, Ry is just being protective of me, he's my big brother, it's his job." Both of them seem to simmer down some, but not completely. Ry sits on the couch, as does Julian, and the TV gets turned on and the volume turned up, leaving no room for conversation. Well, this is going to be awkward.
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After about fifteen minutes of sitting in a suffocating silence, I can't take it anymore. I stand up abruptly.

Ry looks at me. "And where are you going?"

"I'm going out," I reply. "You two are suffocating me, I can't take it. Court is sitting at home today, and I'm sure she'd love to hang out. You two can sit here and sulk and be pissed off or you can work things out. Ry, you have to accept I'm not a kid anymore, I'm eighteen. Julian will be Julian, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give in to him. I barely know him. It was a stupid dare, you can't blame him. And Julian, you can't get mad at Ry for trying to protect me. So if you two want to keep being mad at each other, go ahead, buy I'm not sticking around for it." With that, I grab my jacket and car keys and walk out of the house. I text Courtney and she says she'd love to hang out, so I start my car and drive off to her place.

(Julian's P.O.V.)

After Brooke storms out of the house, we settle back into a tense silence. We're watching a rerun of How to Get Away With Murder, and I think Ry is paying more attention to the show than I'm comfortable with.

Eventually, he turns the volume down and looks my way, but doesn't look at me. "Was it really just a dare?" He asks me.

"Yes," even though I'm not sure myself, Ry needs the reassurance. However, it seems like he knows me better than I thought he does.

"You're lying." He says, his voice a faint whisper.

"I know." My voice is equally as soft.

Finally, his eyes meet mine and I can see he's forgiven me. "How do you feel about her?"

"I don't know, I hardly know her. But I can tell you right now that if anything does happen between us, it won't be a one night stand, she won't be some fling." I look Ryder in the eyes as I say this, hoping my sincerity is conveyed.

"If you hurt her..."

"I know. I'll do my best not to, but you also have to do your best not be overbearing."

Ry chuckles quietly. "What can I say? She's my baby sister. My sister, my responsibility. I'll always look at her as a kid, but I'll do my best not to try and keep her shielded."

I smile. "And don't worry, I won't seriously pull anything yet, it's too soon. But I'm still going to flirt with her, she makes it so easy."

Ry smiles too and shakes his head. "If you did otherwise, I'd start wondering if you've been possessed or some shit."

I laugh, and then I remember what I told Brooke. "Hey man, I've got a story to tell you."

This earns me an apprehensive look from Ryder. "Dude I swear, if this is another story on one of the times you had mind blowing sex..."

"Sorry to disappoint, but not this time."

"No disappointment here. What's the story?" Ryder leans back, and looks at me, waiting to hear the story.

"Well... while you were gone, Brooke took a nap a couple hours after you left. When she woke up, she seemed a little off. She went to get a glass of water, and while she was in the kitchen, I heard her start laughing randomly. I went to check on her, and I asked her if she's okay. One thing lead to another, and she told me she had a dream."

"A dream about what?" Ry asks when he realizes I've paused my storytelling.

"About the two of us."

"Dude, stop pausing so much and get on with it!"

"We kissed." I say in the most blunt manner I can muster. Ryder processes what I've said, and when he does. A million different looks and emotions cross his face. Once the initial shock is over, he bursts out laughing.

"Oh my god, my sister surprises me sometimes. We kissed? She dreamt that we kissed? Holy crap, sorry dude, but I'm straight."

I join him in his laughter, thinking back to when Brooke told me about her dream. In fact, I think about everything that's happened today. In the span of less than twenty four hours, I told Brooke about my ex girlfriend, and what I want my future to be like, things that I don't normally tell people that I don't know that well.

Glancing up, I see a picture that I hadn't noticed before, it couldn't have been taken more than a year ago. It looked like Ry and Brooke were having a water fight, Ry is holding Brooke in the picture and pouring water over her head. Brooke looks like she's laughing and Ryder has an huge grin on his face. Oddly enough, looking at the picture, I come to understand a little more why Ry is so protective of Brooke. From that one picture, you can see that the two of them are close, and from what I've seen between them, they'd do anything for each other. Ryder just wants the best for her. Maybe I'm not the best for her, but that doesn't mean I sure as hell can't try to be.
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WOAHHHHH. I updated in about a week! Someone give me a medal or trophy or something! Haha, just kidding. But I'm proud of myself for this, I managed to post two updates in one day, one update for this story and and another update for my other story. I hope you lovely readers liked the chapter, and you know what to do if you enjoyed it!!!