Your fall break doesn't start of that exciting. The weekend that it starts you stay at home rewatching New Girl. Lauren and Dani come over on Sunday to watch with you. It actually isn't as awkward as you thought it would be.
Whatever was going on between them must have been resolved, because the three of you hang out like you used to. You end up staying the night at their house that night, and wake up before anyone else.
You stumble down to the kitchen and see Katherine making breakfast.
She gives you a warm smile. "Good morning."
"Good morning." You sit at the breakfast bar. "What are you cooking?"
"Pancakes and bacon." She plops some butter onto the skillet, turning the heat up a bit and watching it melt. She quickly glances at you over her shoulder. "So, I ran into Riley at the store yesterday."
"Oh yeah?" You try to ignore the wave of panic. You didn't want your older brother near any of these girls.
"Yeah. He actually asked me out on a date tonight."
You stop breathing. "Really?"
Kath starts pouring the pancake mix onto the skillet. "I said yes, but I was hoping you could tell me what he's like? I haven't really talked to him much. Does he ask out a lot of girls?"
You can't remember the last time Riley dated anyone. It must have been years ago. "Honestly, Riley doesn't really date people."
"Hmm. Interesting."
Katherine starts softly humming, flipping the pancakes and checking on the bacon. You know that without a doubt you can't let her go on that date. But you can't exactly tell Katherine not to go without a good reason. As far as you know, Riley's violent tendencies have only been expressed on you, but you can't risk the chance that it might happen to someone else.
You hurry up the stairs to Lisa, Lauren, and Dani's room. They're all up now, but still sitting in their beds on their phones. You close the door behind you, the sound getting their attention.
"Hey, Y/N/N." Dani says.
Lauren narrows her eyes at you. "What's wrong?"
You take a second to steady your breathing. "Katherine has a date with Riley tonight."
"Fun." Lisa says.
You shake your head. "No. Not fun. Not even close. Listen to me, please. Katherine can't go. Please don't let her go." You've started shaking.
Lauren gets out of her bed and walks over to grab your hands. "Hey, calm down. What's going on? Why can't she go?"
You look over the three sisters. You have to tell them the truth without actually telling them. "This doesn't leave this room." You don't continue until they all nod. "Riley isn't a nice person. He's actually really mean and I've never seen him with a girlfriend. I have no idea how he would treat Katherine but I also know that it won't be good. He'll hurt her."
"Hurt her?" Dani gets out of bed now, walking to stand beside Lauren. "Hurt her how?"
Telling half the truth may be harder than you thought. "He's just mean, okay? He yells and he throws things. Trust me when I say he would be the worst thing to ever happen to Katherine."
Lisa nods. "Okay. We trust you. I mean, he is your brother, so if you think he would hurt her we'll get her not to go."
"How?"
Lisa shrugs. "No idea, but we'll figure it out."
You nod, letting out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. It just... it can't get back to Riley that I told you this."
"Why not?" Lauren asks.
You know she's getting suspicious, they all are, but you kept Katherine safe and that's all that matters.
"Um. Katherine should be done with breakfast." You hurry out the door before they can say anything else.
*
The next day, the first actual day of fall break, Lauren invites you to go somewhere with her. She won't say where, just tells you to meet her by her car at seven. You show up in shorts, a low cut tank top, and unbuttoned flannel top.
Lauren is leaning against the car when you get there, and it's hard not to notice the way her eyes scan up your body, starting at your legs and stopping at your eyes.
She smiles as you reach her. "Hi."
"Hi. Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?"
"Nope." She says, popping the 'p.' "Just get in the car."
You both get into the car, and she lets you plug your phone into the aux while she backs out of the driveway. You settle on a Billie Eilish song and Lauren looks at you with a grin.
"What?" You ask.
She shakes her head. "I didn't think you would like Billie Eilish."
"And why not?"
"I don't know. She's kind of edgy, and you're definitely not."
You place a hand on your chest. "How rude. I'll have you know I'm very edgy."
"How so?"
You stare at her for a good thirty seconds before groaning and turning to look out your window. "Never mind."
She laughs and then you feel her hand land on your thigh. You care about Lauren and Dani so much, but you also feel different around each of them. Being around them feels like home, but sometimes when you're around Dani it feels like being around Jason. It's so comfortable and easy. Being with Lauren makes you nervous and jittery, but in the best way possible. All of your nerve endings are on high alert and your heart beats at twice its normal speed.
Of course, you have no idea what any of that means.
Lauren suddenly pulls off beside the park. She reaches into the backseat, pulling out a blanket and picnic basket. "I'm assuming you've pieced it together by now."
"We're going ice skating?"
Lauren giggles, and you can feel the butterflies swarming your stomach. "You're so observant. Come on."
Lauren leads you to a clear patch between several trees and bushes, and lays out the blanket. Once done, she sits down with the basket and you sit beside her. She starts laying food out on the blanket; finger sandwiches, strawberries dipped in chocolate, and chocolate covered pretzels.
"I hope you like it." Lauren says, suddenly looking nervous.
You grab her hand. "Lo, I love it. This is so perfect."
You start with the sandwiches, eating and talking about random school stuff. Once they're gone, Lauren picks up a strawberry and holds it in front of your mouth. You take it from her hand with your teeth, careful not to bite her fingers.
"Mmm. That's amazing." You say.
Lauren giggles and uses her thumb to wipe chocolate off your chin. "Dude, you're a messy eater."
"That is so rude!"
"It's just the truth."
You feed Lauren a strawberry, and the juice runs down her chin. You wipe it away, shaking your head.
"You're a messy eater too, Cimorelli."
She shrugs, going for one of the pretzels. "Maybe I just wanted you to touch me."
You lean back on your hands, looking up at the stars. "Have you and your sisters ever thought of starting a band?"
Lauren cocks her head to the side. "Yes, actually. Christina and Katherine used to talk about it, mostly as a joke, but we are all pretty musically inclined."
"I've noticed. You could do covers or something." You lay down on the blanket, arms crossed behind your head. "Oh! You could do covers of a bunch of different songs mashed together. Like One Direction and Jonas Brothers medleys or something."
Lauren lays down beside you, on her side so she can look at your face. "You might be onto something, Y/N/N."
She drapes her arm over your stomach, and yours move to hold her against you. It feels so natural.
"I'm serious, Lo. You should talk to the others about it."
"I might."
The two of you lay there in silence for a while, until Lauren suddenly sits up, looking down at you. She looks nervous again.
"I want to try something. Promise you won't run away or scream? Just tell me to stop if you don't like it."
"O-okay." You say with a nod.
She bends down, her lips pushing against yours, all soft and gentle. You tilt your head up just slightly so you can kiss back.
She pulls away, smiling brightly as she pushes some hair out of your face. "How was that?"
"That-that was amazing, Lo." You sit up, leaning back on your elbows, and press a quick kiss to her lips.
She kisses you back, then moves to kiss your cheek. "I really like you, Y/N/N. Like, a lot."
"I like you a lot too. I kind of have since the day I saved you from Roscoe."
"Saved is an exaggeration." She cups your cheek with one hand, the other resting against your thigh. "God, I've been wanting to kiss you for weeks. My sisters and I are going on this road trip toward the end of fall break. Well, mini road trip. We're driving up to this cabin that our parents own that's like eight hours away. Do you want to come? Jason too."
"That sounds amazing, honestly." You say. Not to mention the break from Riley.
Lauren's hand falls from your cheek so they're both resting in your lap. "What did you mean when you said Riley is mean?"
"He's just a pretty bad person, Lo."
Her eyes are wide with worry. "Y/N, bad how? Does he.. does he hit you? I mean, there was the bruise on your hip a few weeks ago and the one on your cheek."
Oh no. Oh no. You have to stop this idea. She's completely right, but she can't know that. You have no idea what would happen if anyone found out about Riley.
"He doesn't hit me, Lauren. I swear. He's just kind of hot headed and Katherine is so sweet. I knew that he would be bad for her. He might be my brother, but I know exactly what kind of person he is."
"Please, promise that if he ever hurts you or Jace you'll tell me?"
You don't want to lie, but you nod anyway. Once you're eighteen you can leave. Your parents left you and Jace both a good amount of money to inherit when you hit eighteen, and you can use that to get an apartment, to support you until you can get a job.
But until then, Lauren can't know. It would change everything, and your life might end up even worse. You can deal with Riley, but you have no idea what else you could deal with.
When Lauren takes you home, you go straight to Jason's room to tell him about the road trip. He's practically bouncing with excitement.
"That's going to be so much fun!" Once he has settled down some, he narrows his eyes at you. "So you were on a late night picnic with Lauren when you found out about this?"
"Yes."
"Soooo, you and Lauren..." He raises his eyebrows, a smirk on his face.
"Okay. So, we kissed. And she said she's wanted to kiss me for weeks."
"Oh my god, Y/N!" He practically squeals, making you laugh. "Dude, you're gettin it! What are you going to do about Dani? I mean, she took you on a date, remember? Clearly she has some feelings too."
You just sigh. "I don't know, Jace. I don't know how this happened. No one has ever been into me. Now two people are, at the same time, and they're sisters!"
Jason laughs. "It's like you're in a lame teen movie."
"I know." You sit on the chair in front his desk. "I spilled to you, now tell me about Amy."
Jason plops onto his bed. "She's just so great, Y/N/N. I've never met anyone like her. I tell her all this pointless stuff about me and she actually remembers it. Like she remembers my favorite color, my favorite pancakes, how I like my coffee. She's just so.. considerate."
You smile, genuinely happy for your brother, because he started to close himself off after your parents died. No one really got through his walls except for you, despite how laid back he liked to act, but Amy has walked through like they didn't even exist. You know how sweet Amy is, so you know she won't hurt Jace, but you still worry.
You just wish Riley could be as kind-hearted, then maybe he could have gone out with Katherine. He's nothing like, Jason though, and you're thankful everyday that none of that anger reached your twin brother.