TROUBLED || thirteen reasons why

029.

Clay's green Prius comes to a stop in front of a very nice house. Tristan steps out of the passenger seat and watches as Clay helps Justin out from the back. Just looking at her brother, Tristan feels hot with anger. She can't tell where the anger is coming from, but it lingers inside of her and makes her want to hit and scream at Justin.

"Tris, can you help with the door?" Clay calls after the girl who is lost in her thoughts. Tristan blinks quickly to subside her feelings and follows Clay and Justin up the steps and to the front door.

Once inside, Tristan's eyes move around the beautiful home. A pang of jealousy sparks as she begins to compare her run down house to Clay's. She follows the two up another set of stairs and into a room that she immediately knows belongs to Clay.

Clay sets Justin on his bed, and the sick boy exhaustedly rests his head on the pillow, followed by a long coughing spell. After a minute of both Tristan and Clay watching Justin's body calm down, the boy looks at her, "Tris, I'm sorry, but I have to get back to school. I've already missed-"

"It's okay," Tristan says, her eyes not leaving her brother, "I'll stay with him. Go, we'll be fine."

Clay gives her a grim smile before backing out of the room and heading towards his front door. Tristan listens as his car drives away, and her head falls back onto the back of the couch and she lets out a heavy sigh. What is she doing here?

"Is he gone?" Justin's raspy voice asks as he lays perfectly still with his eyes shut on Clay's bed. Tristan doesn't say anything, but instead gets off the couch and starts to look around the room they are in. She steps over to Clay's desk and runs her hands along the papers he has strewn about. Tristan hears rustling from behind her and she can only assume Justin has gotten up.

"Tris?" He calls out. Tristan's head falls and she sighs. She can feel the heat of anger rise throughout her body once more. Tristan tries her best to suppress her emotions, and she decides to pretend as if she can't hear Justin and she begins to look through Clay's things again.

"Tristan, look at me."

The girl ignores him and moves past him swiftly to go to Clay's bookshelf by the door. She glimpses at the titles of the small amount of books stacked neatly on a shelf, trying to disregard Justin who has walked up behind her and stares desperately at the back of the sister he has been longing to see, "Tris, I'm sorry."

The agony in his voice is almost enough for Tristan to put down the small robot she found on the shelf and run into Justin's arms, but she can't. He left her. He made her life hell because of it. So she fights the water forming in her eyes and traces her fingers of the cool metal of the toy in her hand.

"Tristan... please,"

The girl feels the warm liquid escape her eyes and fall down her face. She can't take it any longer. She turns around sharply and glares into the soft eyes of Justin. He looks terrified of her and she feels as if she is a bomb ready to explode at any moment. She releases a shaky breath, "I don't have anything to say to you."

Justin flinches at her words and his lips twitch as they fall. The tears that he tried so hard to hide from Tristan stream relentlessly from his eyes. He quickly wipes them away and tries his best to seem put together for his baby sister, "I've missed you,"

Tristan looks away at his comment, not wanting to admit how much she has missed him in return. She tries to turn away from him, but Justin grabs her hand in one last attempt of desperation, "Tristan, tell me what's wrong,"

Adrenaline mixed with her anger causes Tristan to shove Justin back as hard as she could, "YOU ARE WHAT'S WRONG!"

Justin looks as if Tristan has punched him in the face, "What?"

Tears sting in her eyes as she looks at the disheveled mess that is what she used to call her brother. She musters up as much venom as she can, "You left. You left me, Justin. I needed you and you weren't there! You left and no one would stick up for me! They twisted what happened and said that I wanted it. That I wanted him to do those things to me! And you weren't there to make it right! Then Seth... the money you stole. He–he... Mom had to go to the hospital and he wouldn't stop! I tried to protect her, but he–you. Everything came crashing down and it's all because of you."

Justin grabs onto Tristan's arm in an attempt to calm her down, but she hits and shoves and slaps to where he has to let go. Justin stands back from his sobbing sister and does everything he can to not cry himself, "Tristan, please, I'm so sorry. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make this right."

Tristan falls to the floor in a disheveled heap, clearly not listening to a word Justin said. Justin's heart breaks into millions of pieces as he sees what he has caused. He bends down and hesitantly reaches out and touches her face, his fingers timidly running through her hair.

She doesn't fight back.

The boy slowly gets his exhausted sister off the floor and lays her on Clay's bed. Justin sits beside her and holds her as protectively as he can, "I am never going to leave you again. I promise."

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ahhhh they finally reunited!! what do y'all think? Is Tristan being to harsh on Justin or do you think that her being angry/upset is reasonable?? idk I just know that there are a whole lot of emotions going off inside her and seeing Justin after months of him missing, must hurt like a bitch.