Proving Webster Wrong

Chapter Sixteen -- Drew

I pressed my head back against the bed. "What do you want?" I groaned.

She held out the house phone. "Your ex-girlfriend won't stop calling." She lifted it to her ear, listened for a moment, and then held it back out.

"Just tell her I don't want to talk."

"I have and she's not getting the picture. Please, just do something about her. I'm sick of this." She walked over, curled my fingers around the phone, and lifted it to my ear. Then she hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Drew! Look, I'm really sorry about everything that happened. Can't we just start over? I promise that I'll do better this time." She was crying, now sobbing like a maniac. I couldn't tell if it was really or fake. Her words, though, were the same ones she always liked to say when things got bad. It was like she didn't even remember the conversation last Saturday.

"Crystal, you say that all the time."

"But I promise I can really change this time. Please, Drew, I love you."

Those words played over in my head. All the times she had ever said them. Even the first time. And all the times I said them back because that was what I was suppose to do, and because I really thought I loved her. Four years worth of I love you's.

"I can't do this anymore."

"Please, Drewy, please. Don't do this to me. Do the past four years not mean anything to you?" She was hysterical. I could just picture her blue eyes swollen with tears, face scrunched up, blond hair in a mess.

"They meant a lot to me," I said because I couldn't lie.

"Then let's forget about Saturday, just pretend it didn't happen," she sniffled. 

I sat up on my bed and ran a hand through my hair. With the phone tucked between my shoulder and neck I took of my watch. I wrapped my right hand back around the phone as the fingers of my left hand twisted the watch band. "I can't do that."

I was standing up for myself and how I deserved to be treated. I had to remember that. If I backed down now I would just be the spineless guy she made me believe I was.

"Is it your parents? You don't have to end things just because they told you to. You'll be eighteen in a couple of months! They can't control you." She was trying so hard. She wasn't crying anymore but her voice was getting dangerously close to yelling.

My door cracked open a little bit. "You're right, I shouldn't let anyone control me, including you. Things are over, Crystal. You need to accept that and move on." I kept my voice steady but firm. The last thing I needed to do was sink down to acting like her.

"I hate you Andrew Parker! You were the worst boyfriend ever!" she had reached the yelling point. I held the phone away from my ear.

"Good bye, Crystal," I said. I pressed my thumb into the end button. "Alright, Lauren, you can come in now," I called to the door.

She pushed the door open just enough for her head to fit through. "How did you know?"

"Big brothers aren't as stupid as little sisters like to think," I said. I patted the spot next to me on the bed. "Come here."

Lauren had never looked so timid but eventually she sat down beside me. "I'm sorry for listening in. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

I twisted my watch around the fingers of my left hand some more while the right hand still held on to the phone. "I'm okay," I told her with my eyes going from one hand to the other.

She reached over and took the phone from me. "Little sisters aren't as stupid as big brothers like to think." She leaned over so she was looking me right in the eyes. "You're not okay."

I stretched my neck to each side until it popped and then looked up at the ceiling. "Maybe not now, but I will be."

She leaned against my shoulder. "I know you will be."

I put an arm around her and lay my head against the side of her's. "Promise me that if a guy ever treats you like Crystal did me you'll dump him on the spot."

Lauren sat up and laughed. "I'd do more than just dump him, not that it matters. There will be no dating for me during high school."

I rubbed a hand in her hair which she swatted away. "Good girl."

She laughed and rubbed the top of my hair. "Don't ever say 'good girl' again."

"I'm your big brother. I can say what ever I want."

She stood up and walked to the door. At the last second she turned around. "Contrary to what Crystal wants you think, you're not a bad guy. And you're not half bad as a big brother, either." With a final laugh she closed the door.

The watch band twisted around in my fingers some more. I picked up my cell phone, which was completely free of Crystal's calls and messages since I blocked her number. I scrolled through the contacts until I found Chloe.

"Hello?" she answered.

"You were right. This challenge is just what I need. I'll meet you at the church to practice at one tomorrow."

"Okay," one simple word but I could hear the smile in her voice.

"And I'm sorry about earlier," I said.

She laughed, it was quiet but still sounded like a bad case of hiccups. "Nothing to apologize for." She hung up before I could say anything back.

The guy that Crystal dated was the one that was afraid. I wasn't going to be that guy anymore. It was time to be the guy that Lauren saw as her big brother, the one that could do anything.

I wasn't sure if she really still saw me as that big brother, but when we were kids that's who I had been for her. I was going to be that again. I needed to be that again.

I lay back on the bed and scooped Pal up. "It's time for change," I said to him as I rested him on my chest.

My door opened again and Lauren stuck her head in. "Just thought you'd like to know that Crystal called again. I gave her a nice chewing out and then told Dad to block the number." She smiled and started to shut the door.

"Hey, Lauren?"

She stuck her head back in. "Yes?"

"You're an awesome little sister."

"I know." She didn't laugh or give any clue that she was kidding, just kept a straight face like Chloe. She closed the door.

Pal woke up and jumped off the bed. His little feet flew across the carpet to the his rope toy that never seemed to leave my room. He brought it over to the bed, jumped on my bed, and held it in my face with a growl. His little eyebrows twitched as he waited.

"I don't understand you," I said as I took the other end of the rope. After a minute of tugging and growling and barking her dropped the toy, jumped of the bed, and scratched at the door.

"Fine, you indecisive thing." Pal pranced down the hallway like a cat. He was a mutt, so maybe somehow cat ended up in there too. It was the only likely explanation.

"Drew, can you come here?" Dad called from the living room.

I left my door open just in case the confused dog decided he needed another nap and then made my way up the hall.