~Justin's POV~
The sound of drums can be heard all the way to the second floor of our house. I pull the pillow over my head and groan as I shut my eyes tighter, trying to go back to sleep.
It's a fruitless cause, I know. Not only is the beat of the drums so loud it reverberates in my head but the stream of light coming from the open window is shining right onto my bed. No way am I getting any more sleep today.
With another groan, I sit up in bed and try to get my bearings. The clock on my phone shows nine thirty a.m.
On a Saturday morning.
Sighing, in resignation, I heave myself from the bed. Grabbing my towel I head for the bathroom, the noise of the drums increasing as I open my bedroom door. I'm surprised Noah hasn't come to wake me up by now if Isaac is here and already practicing.
Footsteps sound in the hallway and I stop outside the bathroom door, wondering if my brother had finally given up on waiting for me to wake up on my own. A middle-aged man in old jeans and a rundown shirt turns the corner and stops when he sees me. His curls--my curls--lay plastered to his head and his bloodshot eyes narrow every time the drum beats sound in the house.
"What the fuck is your piece of shit brother doing?" he demands.
I take an involuntary step back as he takes one forward. The smell of alcohol wafts toward me, no matter that we are at least ten feet away from each other. Swallowing past the dryness in my mouth and trying not the remember the feel of the bruise on my torso from the last time I had seen my father I shake my head.
He sneers at me, "Speak, damn you!"
A voice from behind him makes my heart stop and I can feel the blood draining from my face, my stomach churning, "Are you deaf, you little piece of shit? Your father asked you a question."
Taking a shaky breath of air I finally manage to get out in a small voice, "He-he's practicing with Isaac in the garage."
The source of the second voice makes herself known as she sidesteps my father. Her hair doesn't look much better than her husband's as it sticks up on end and seems to be clumped together in places. Black streaks of eye makeup run down her face from her red, hollow eyes, and her red lipstick is smeared across her thin lips. Her clothes are wrinkled and covered in stains and she smells worse than my father, if possible.
My hand reaches back and grabs ahold of the bathroom door handle as they approach me. I can see the malicious intent in their eyes as clearly as I can feel the soreness in my body from the last time I came face to face with my parents. My hand turns the knob and the door swings open behind me allowing me to step inside moments before they are within reaching distance.
Stepping into the bathroom I shut the door and lock it, leaning my forehead against the cool wood. A sharp bang makes me jump and step away from the only thing between me and the people who gave me life and made it hell.
When, after a few minutes, nothing else happens I let myself relax. My body is still shaking with leftover adrenaline and my heart is beating so hard in my chest I have to sit on the floor before I pass out. Taking deep breaths I try to control my reaction to the people who are supposed to take care of me.
Yeah, right.
They haven't been the caring, lovey-dovey type of parents.
Ever.
From very young my parents made it known that Noah and I were nothing more than a burden to them. One that they would gladly get rid of if possible. It became a kind of twisted game to them to see how badly they could injure us without going overboard. As a small child, I lived in constant fear that at any moment my father would burst into my room with some sort of torture device and inflict unimaginable pain.
This lasted for a few years until Noah was old enough to stand up to my parents. Once he did he took the brunt t of their assaults. I knew what he was doing, what he still does to this day. He allows himself to be beaten to keep me safe.
From the day he decided not to allow my mother to hit me he became my protector, my savior. More of a parent to me than the two people who had actually given me life. From that day, he has taken the role of dad and made sure I always had what I needed and that I was sheltered from most of the trauma our mother and father try to inflict on us.
Taking a deep breath I stand from the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror above the sink. My curls are in disarray, and my brown eyes look haunted, even to me. Haunted and sad.
Shaking my head to get rid of the unsettling feelings I turn towards the shower really wishing it wasn't Saturday.
***
An hour, and some ninja like hiding from the two people in the house, later, I step into the garage and see my brother under the hood of his car and Isaac sitting at the drum set. They haven't noticed me yet and I take a step back, staying in the shadows as I listen to their conversation.
"-be weird! I can't believe you're making us do this!" Isaac all but whined. I can't see him but I can imagine the look on his face as he complains to my brother.
Noah's scoff and reply are muffled as he continues to work on his car, "Two days ago you wouldn't have batted an eye that Justin needs to come with us to Virginia Beach."
"Two days ago I didn't know your brother was in love with me!"
Pulling back from the car Noah turns to his best friend and asks, ice in his voice, "Is that such a big deal? He's a fifteen-year-old boy, Isaac, not a pedophile."
I assume Isaac answers with a non-verbal response because I don't hear him say anything. My heart hammers in my chest as I let the venom in his voice wash over me. A part of me knew that Isaac would not take it well when he found out how I felt about him, still, a bigger part was really hoping for a different outcome. It's not like I expected him to confess his hidden feelings for me or anything, but a little understanding and less loathing would have been nice.
Taking a deep breath to help build up my courage, I round the corner I'm hiding behind and clear my throat.
Noah turns from his car towards me and smiles, "Ah, there you are. I was wondering when you were going to wake up."
I force a smile, "It would have been more merciful to come and wake me up than to scare the living daylights out of me with the drums."
My brother laughs, "But not as fun." He takes a rag from his back pocket and cleans his greasy hands, "Come on, let's get started."
My brow furrows as I notice that the only instruments set up are the drums and Isaac's guitar. Walking over to where Noah is I ask, "Where is everyone else?"
Shaking his head Noah says, "No one else is coming to these practices. They're just for you and Isaac to work together to get you up to speed with the songs on the setlist you don't know how to play."
Isaac, who has been sitting at the drums and hasn't said a word, stands at those words and moves towards his guitar, "Let's get this over with." He says, his voice gruff.
I shoot my brother a look and see him putting his tools away. As he moves towards the house I realize what he's intending and call out "Noah!"
He turns to me, his eyebrow raising in question, "What?"
"Where are you going?"
"I have things I need to do. I'll be back in a little while. You two need to work on the set together, you don't need me." He turns to go back into the house but not before I see the small, devious, smile on his face.
What the hell? Did Noah do this on purpose? Why? He knows how Isaac feels, why would he make me spend a whole day alone with him?
Because he wants to prove something, my inner voice states, making me cringe. Of course, Noah would take it upon himself to come up with a plan to get Isaac and me back on normal terms. Too bad I don't think this will work.
This might actually be the worst idea my brother has ever had.
Sighing, I turn back to the man who is staring at anything but me. As I make my way to the drum set, Isaac moves out of the way, very out of the way. I hold back my exasperated sigh at his obvious evasion and take a seat at the drums. Isaac begins to play the guitar and I struggle to keep up with his tempo and the new music I'm not used to. Normally, I would be setting the tempo with the drums but as I don't know the music I have to follow Isaac for now.
Staring at the man, whose back is to me, I can't help but sigh. It would be much more beneficial if he looked at me and actually helped me but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Gritting my teeth I try to concentrate on the music and not the man before me.
****
"You need to come in at the right time after that break, if you start too soon it will throw everyone off."
Isaac's irritated voice is grating on my nerves. Every single remark out of his mouth is a criticism of my playing. We've been at this for three hours and I'm barely starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of what I'm playing. It's a very difficult song and I have never played it before so it's taking me some time to get the rhythm. Still, Isaac's berating is really not helping.
I know he's usually not like this, he's taught me to play other songs before with amazing results.
But that was before.
Before he found out how I feel about him. Before he let his prejudice rule over all the years we've been friends. Although, I can't really say Isaac and I have been friends. Isaac has been friends with Noah and I have sort of just tagged along with them, like a sad puppy who needs attention.
Taking a deep breath I try to banish those thoughts and focus on the drumset before me. I also try to not let Isaac get a rise out of me, something tells me that's exactly what he wants. An excuse to leave without it being his fault. Well, I'm not going to make it easy for him.
I've lived with my feelings for Isaac for a long time without him knowing and I've managed to ignore all the behavior that causes me pain.
He'll just have to do the same.
"I'm trying, I swear," I say as I release my breath.
"You know this is really important for some of us, we can't afford to fuck this up." He doesn't look at me as he says this, rather he fidgets with his guitar, his long fingers plucking and pressing on strings.
Setting my drumsticks down on top of the floor tom, I stand up and head around the instrument so I'm in front of Isaac. He won't look me in the eyes so it gives me time to take in his blond locks falling over his blue eyes and his plush lips set in a scowl. His hands keep moving over the guitar, small sounds coming from the instrument.
Taking a step closer I put myself directly in Isaac's point of vision. He would have to shut his eyes to not see me. Tentatively I reach out and place a hand over his, stopping the strumming of the guitar. Isaac tenses and looks up at me, a glare in his eyes.
"What are you doing?" He asks, pulling his hand away from mine and taking a step back.
I give him a sad smile, "This isn't going to work, Isaac. I love my brother and I don't want to hurt him but if you don't put a little effort I can't pretend that everything is ok."
Isaac's glare gets more intense, "What do you want from me? You think its easy to pretend I didn't hear you're in love with me?"
"I've pretended for years that I'm not in love with you. Surely, you pretending you didn't hear that is a lot easier."
He visibly winces and looks away. After a moment of tense silence, he looks back at me, "As I said before, I don't want to lose Noah's friendship, so I'll pretend none of this ever happened."
I give him a skeptical look.
"I'll pretend for convincingly that this never happened."
Staring at his face I see that he means what he's saying and I nod, content that he's actually going to try to be civil with me from now on. I step away from him and head back to the drum set.
"Great," I say sitting down on my stool, "then let's get the timing for this song down so we can move on to group practices with the rest of the band."
Isaac and I have a much smoother time practicing for the next half hour. My timing with the song, although not perfect, is coming along quite nicely. We might only need one or two more individual practice sessions before we can move on to group practices with the band.
We've just finished the song all the way through with only one or two minor hiccups when the garage door leading to the house opens. Noah walks into the garage and smiles at us as the last note sounds in the confined space.
My eyes rake over his features and I feel my stomach plummet. I can see the pain in his eyes and as I look closer at his face I can see the slight puffiness under his left eye and the slight discoloration.
Damn it! This has to stop!
I'm so caught up in the injuries on Noah's face that I don't notice the package in his hands until he thrusts it in my face.
"This came for you in the mail." He gives me a wicked smile and I furrow my brow confused.
Taking the package, I see that it's more like a small present. It's a flat red box like the ones you see at Christmas, there's a bow in the upper left-hand corner and a small envelope nestled underneath. I take the envelope and pull the small card that inside out and read the short message:
My love and devotion for you know no bounds.
I hope this small token of my appreciation shows how much I love you.
-Love, your secret admirer
Confused, I pull the top off the box and see tissue paper inside. Pulling the paper apart I find a small ocean of red rose petals with a black leather bracelet nestle atop. The leather is woven in an intricate pattern and a small golden piece shines from the center. Placing the box on the snare drum, I pull out the bracelet and hold it up for Noah to see.
"What the Hell is this?" I ask, glaring at my brother, I'm sure this is a joke he's playing on me.
Noah frowns, "It looks like a leather bracelet," he takes the piece from me and examines it for a moment, "I think it's real leather."
I take the bracelet back from Noah when he holds it out to me, and examine it myself, "Is this some kind of joke?"
"Why do you think its a joke? Who's it from?"
Smirking, I toss the note to Noah, noticing Isaac standing beside him, a blank look on his face. My brother reads the note and his eyebrows climb into his hairline, "A secret admirer? Do you know who it is?"
I shake my head, "No," I look back at the bracelet and frown, "I thoughts the gifts were from you as a joke."
"Gifts?" Isaac's voice makes me look up at him, its the first time he's spoken since Noah came into the garage."
"Yeah, I've been receiving anonymous gifts for the past couple of weeks."
"And you didn't tell me?" Noah accuses.
Glaring at him, I shake my head, "I thought you were messing with me and I wanted to see how far you would go."
Noah glare right back, "What have you received?"
"A first edition copy of The Three Musketeers, it's my favorite book, a limited edition Wolverine comic books, and an iPod touch filled with sappy love songs."
Noah and Isaac stare at me for a long time. Finally, Noah says, "Those things aren't cheap, Justin. Whoever sent them to you must be filthy rich or really like you. You're sure you don't know who they're from?"
I shake my head, "Like I said I thought they were a joke from you two."
Noah shakes his head, smirking at me, "Looks like someone really has the hots for you little brother."
My cheeks grow warm at his teasing and I look away. The sound of a guitar being disconnected from the speakers draws my attention and I look up in time to see Isaac placing his guitar in its case, a scowl on his face.
"I think we're done here for today. I'm going home." He looks over at Noah, "I'll talk to you later, man."
He doesn't spare me a backward's glance. Before I can even move he's out the door and in his car. I watch him drive away confused by his sudden departure.
Noah sighs beside me and I turn to look at him. He gives me a sad smile, "I thought making you two work together alone would be good for him. I guess I was wrong."
"You're an idiot," I state but give him a small smile, "but you weren't wrong. We came to an agreement less than an hour ago to be civil with each other. I don't understand what happened."
Shrugging, Noah says, "I'll talk to him later to see what's wrong with him." His eyes flick over to the bracelet in my hand, "What are you going to do about the gifts?"
"What can I do? I have no idea who could be sending them."
"Do you want to know who is sending them?"
I look down at the bracelet in my hand. Do I want to know who's sending me gifts? Who is potentially in love with me?
"I don't know," I say, looking back up at my brother.
Noah gives me another sad smile, "Maybe it would be good for you to know, help get your mind off things."
I chuckle, humorlessly, "You mean get my mind off Isaac? I doubt it."
"Little brother," Noah, begins but I shake my head and he only sighs.
"I'll be fine, Noah, just let it go. Please."
He nods, "Fine. But you know I'm here for you if you ever need to talk."
"I know. Thank you, big brother."
With a final nod, he heads back into the house and I thank my lucky stars that he's my brother. He always knows when I want to be left alone or when I need him to stick around.
Sighing, I look out the garage door one more time to where Isaac had exited, my mind back on the scowl on his face as he left. I thought we had reached an agreement but seeing his attitude before leaving has me more confused than ever. I don't know what's happening anymore and the ups and downs in his mood are giving me whiplash. I don't know how much more I can take before I throw in the towel. Hopefully just enough to get the band through their gig at Faze.