Tristan has been home for the rest of the day. She lays in her bed tightly wrapped with a blanket and an old teddy bear Justin got her for her seventh birthday. It's dark by now and she can hear her mom and Seth in the living room watching tv. Tristan slowly gets up and wraps her blanket around her, wiping the tears out of her eyes. As She opens her door, she sees Justin in the kitchen, digging in the pantry. Tristan sniffs, continuing on and plopping down on the chair next to the sofa.
Seth and her mom are watching an infomercial and Tristan stares blankly at the screen as her mind is elsewhere. She sniffles again. "Cut that shit out. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you wail about whatever bullshit you've got yourself into. Grow the fuck up."
She snaps her neck towards Seth, who is glaring at her, and her face heats up with embarrassment. Justin walks in and glances at his sister before looking at their mom, "So do we have any dinner plans or what?"
"Good idea, get me a beer." Seth says, turning his attention back to the tv.
"If you're hungry, babe, I'll give you a twenty and you can go get us a pizza." Their mom pipes up over Seth.
"We could have an actual delivery boy come and bring it." Justin walks further into the living room, blocking the tv.
"They cut my cell phone service off again, so..." Their mom looks away from Justin and back to the tv.
Justin scoffs. He looks at Tristan again, but turns back around when he sees Seth's feet on his notebook, "The fuck. Get your dirty ass feet off my notebook, man."
"What, you mean this notebook?" Seth mocks before rubbing his feet all over Justin's notebook. Justin slaps his feet away, making Seth stand up quickly and loom over Justin, "Don't you ever fucking touch me."
"Get the fuck out of my house." Justin demands, his body growing tense.
"It's not your house."
"You think it's yours?" Justin spits back. Tristan throws her blanket off and latches her hand around Justin's arm, trying to get him to back off.
"Justin, stop." She whisper, but he pushes her away as Seth continues.
"You pay rent?"
"Do you?"
Their mom pipes up and rolls her eyes, "Jesus, you're like two little boys. Put your dicks away."
"I want him out of here." Justin says. Their mom looks away and pretends she didn't hear him, "Either he goes or I go."
Their mom looks back over and nods towards Seth, "I'll get you a beer."
She stands up and leaves for the kitchen, and Seth leans in closer to Justin, "Don't fuck with me, kid."
Justin scoffs and pushes past Seth. Seth's eyes linger on Tristan before he returns to his seat on the couch. The girl stands in the living room for a moment until she sees Justin emerge from his room with a bag and his jacket. She walks towards him as he heads to the door, "Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm not fucking staying here tonight." He says and slams the door shut. Tristan sighs and rubs her face, heading back to the living room.
She reaches down to grab her blanket when Seth speaks up, "Are you gonna run away too like you're little pussy brother?"
She bites her tongue and rolls her eyes as she goes to her room and locks the door behind her. Tristan texts Justin repeatedly for the next two hours, but he won't respond. She asks Zach if he has heard from him, but he says he hasn't talked to Justin since today at school.
Tristan huffs, realizing that there is only one place that she can think that he is. She debates with herself and tries to talk herself out of going to Bryce's house alone, but she wants to be sure that Justin is okay. The girl slips on her shoes and quietly opens her door, trying not to wake up her mother or Seth. Tristan steps outside and takes a deep breath, beginning to walk to the place she hates the most.
Tristan immediately notices the silver Audi parked in front when she reaches the large house. She walks around the side of the house and goes towards the pool house, where she already sees football boys playing beer pong and foosball. She anxiously walks past the boys and into the pool house and her shoulders slump when she sees Jessica playing poker with Bryce and Zach. Zach looks up and his smile immediatly disappears and anxiety replaces it, "Tris? What are you doing here?"
Both Jess and Bryce turn around, only the latter acting even remotely interested that Tristan is here, "Tris! Hey, kid! You here for a good time?"
Bryce's smile makes her shift uncomfortably, and she looks around for her brother, "Is Justin here?"
"No," Jess scoffs, looking at the cards in her hand, "Why would he be?"
Tristan clicks her tongue and nods, heading back towards the door, "Oh, okay. Well he left home, and I thought that he might be here, but he's not... so I'll just head out-"
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Bryce yells, standing up to his feet and putting an arm around her shoulder once he reaches her. "You're already here, so you might as well have a few drinks."
"No, I really should be going, I don't want Mom or Seth to find out I left..." She stampers, trying to get out of his hold, but he squeezes her tighter.
"I insist." Bryce leans in, his eyes looking down at her. She immediately drops her head to the ground, not wanting his hard gaze to fall onto her. Bryce pushes Tristan forward and pours brown liquid into a cup, handing it back to her before leading her to the table where he was playing poker. He sits back down and grabs her arm to make her sit on his arm rest, his hand moves down to rest on her leg.
Tristan nervously takes a sip of her drink and cringes as the taste sets fire to her throat. She can feel Zach looking at her, but she is too embarrassed to look back. Bryce deals another hand and they start playing again. After a couple of games, Tristan feels his hand squeeze her leg and he looks up at her, "Hey, you sure you don't want to play a couple rounds?"
She shifts, trying to get his hand off her, but it doesn't budge, "No, I'm fine. I'm not that good at poker."
"Oh, we know. Don't we, Monty?" Bryce shouts over his shoulder at Monty who is playing video games with another guy. Monty laughs back in response, remembering the last time the girl played strip poker with him. Tristan closes her eyes when she feels Bryce's hand move to her inner thigh and start rubbing circles over her skin with his thumb. She bites her lip and tries once more to shift her body so he would leave her alone, but he doesn't.
"Hey, Tris, will you grab me another beer?" Zach's voice speaks. She uneasily looks at the boy and sees his testing eyes glancing down to what he can only imagine is going on underneath the table.
"Get your own beer, dude." Bryce answers, gripping Tristan's leg tighter as if to hold her in place.
Tristan takes a breath of courage and moves to stand up, Bryce's hand dropping from her thigh and down to his lap. She carefully trods over to the fridge to grab a beer. She can feel Bryce staring a hole through the back of her head, and she is terrified to turn back around. Jess just won the round and is boasting to Bryce and Zach, but Tristan's blood freezes when Bryce shouts, "Justy! Alex!"
The beer slips from Tristan's hand and shatters to the floor, and she is even more afraid to turn around and face her brother. Bryce tries to get the newcomers to sit down and play a few hands, but Justin isn't having it. "Jess and I had this thing planned."
Jess scoffs at his attempt to get her to leave, "No we don't."
"We were going to get late dinner. Let's go." Justin pleads for Jess, and Tristan peeks over her shoulder to watch the conversation.
"When did you tell me about dinner?" Jess snaps back, "Was that before or after you walked out on me today?"
Justin's head falls back and he looks to the side, where Tristan unfortunately stands with beer pooling around her feet. His face contorts to anger, "Tris? What the fuck are you doing here?"
The girl stands frozen in her place, her eyes wide with fear as she tries to explain, "You left... so I thought you would be here..."
"Justin, sounds like you'd better make it up to your girls," Bryce says, but Justin doesn't tear his somber eyes from his baby sister, "by losing a few hands. Come on, sit."
Justin finally moves and sits in the empty seat around the poker table. Zach clears his throat uncomfortably, "Alright, so the game is Texas Hold 'Em. Five dollar ante, five dollar minimum bet."
Justin looks at Jessica as Bryce hands him a few bills, "Don't worry, I got you staked. I mean, your girlfriend's been playing with my money all night anyway."
"Alex sit down." Jess says, annoyed that Alex is standing behind her. Tristan slowly walks to stand beside Zach and her fingers brush against his arm.
"Nah, I'm good. I hate poker." Alex responds, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"No you have to play. Everybody is playing, come on." Jess drunkenly stands up and stumbles to grab Alex's hand, dragging him to her seat and she finds a new one on Bryce's lap. Tension quickly fills the room, and Justin looks dumbfounded.
"Jess, what the fuck?"
"Your deal." Jess slams the cards on the table and looks over to Justin.
Justin slides the cards back over to her side, "I don't wanna fucking play cards right now."
Jess picks up the cards and throws them at Justin, "I said your deal!"
Justin looks taken aback, and Tristan jumps back from the table. Zach speaks sharply, "Jess."
Bryce curses as Justin abruptly stands up and walks towards the door, "Fuck it. Let's go. Tris come on."
Tristan's feet won't move. Justin turns around at the door and realizes that neither her or Jess are following him. He storms back to Jess and grabs her arm, "Jess, I said let's go! Come on."
"What the fuck, Justin!" Jess screams as he drags her out the door. Anger mixes with the alcohol in Tristan's bloodstream and she runs after them.
"Hey! Leave her the fuck alone!" Tristan screams, barging out the door, following her brother. Zach comes up behind her and holds her back from going any further, "Let me go you asshole!"
"Tris." Zach growls at her as Jessica pushes Justin off of her.
"Don't you touch me like that! Don't you ever touch me like that!"
Bryce pushes past Tristan and Zach and walks towards Justin, "Buddy, calm down."
"Stay the fuck away from her." Justin spits back.
"What is your problem Justin?" Jessica snaps.
Zach clenches onto Tristan's arm, "Guys, this does not need to happen."
"No, maybe it does." Alex pipes up.
Justin ignores them as he questions Jessica, "What are you doing here? What are you doing here with him?"
"We're just having fun." Jessica replies.
"Why the fuck are you here with Bryce?" Tristan watches in horror as the veins pop out of Justin's neck.
"Why do you care? Tell me!" Jessica screams at the girl's brother.
"Tell her, Justin." Alex eggs on.
"Let's go." Justin tries again, but Jessica doesn't budge.
"Tell me why you care."
"Jess, let's go."
"Tell me why you fucking care!"
"BECAUSE HE FUCKING RAPED YOU! AND HE'S BEEN MOLESTING MY FUCKING SISTER!" Justin screams at the top of his lungs. Tristan's breath gets stuck in her throat and she feels as if she is suffocating. Her lip trembles and she feels hot tears fall down her face.
"Justin, brother..." Bryce starts.
Justin shoves him off, "I'm not your fucking brother."
"Stop!" Zach drops Tristan's arm and runs in the middle of the two boys.
"Get out of my way," Justin pushes Zach away from him and runs towards Bryce, "I should fucking kill you, you son of a bitch!"
Justin hurls himself at Bryce but Zach grabs on to him and tries to pull him back. A football boy shoves Tristan back as a few others try to get in the middle and break up the one sided fight, "I should fucking kill you! Let me fucking go! Let me fucking go!"
Zach and Monty pull the two apart. Zach yells at Justin before dropping him out of his arms. Justin is in tears as he faces Jessica.
"I hate you." She cries before slapping Justin across the face and storming away.
Silence falls over the pool side and Tristan can feel the looks from the other people at the party. Bryce walks up to Justin and whispers, "What the fuck did you just do?"
Tristan watches as Bryce walks away, and Justin step towards her and reaches out to grab her arm, "Tris-"
"Don't you fucking touch me!" Tristan screams, shoving him away as hard as she can. She releases a loud sob, "Don't you ever fucking come near me again."
Tristan gives her brother one last look, watching as tears stream down his face, before running past him and away from the house that has caused her too much pain to bear.
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heck.
so much is happening
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