**Piper**
"Well, that's a mood killer," Jay asked when a fourth honk sounded. Then, Piper opened her car door and gestured for me to come over.
"Oh shit! It's Piper, I'll be right back," I ran over to her car with fear thumping on the ground as I stepped.
"What are you doing here, with him?" Piper asked as she looked over at Jay with fury in her eyes.
"I know it looks really bad, but I can explain," I blustered knowing that I actually couldn't.
She pulled my phone out of her car, "Banks told me to bring it to your house. You remember him, the guy you were all over last night." I reached out for my phone, and she pulled it back.
"What am I supposed to say? He kissed me!" My words were rash and desperate as I tried to rationalize the irrational.
"Banks has been nothing but sweet to you! He likes you so much and you're doing this to him! I fought for the two of you! Celia is still pissed at me because of it! He asked me to come over here and cover for you and this... this is what I found," she gazed at me with disgust.
"I know it was wrong. It just happened, Piper. He's been my best friend for eleven years and I was just talking to him about something really personal. Banks will understand that, he has to," I twiddled my fingers anxiously.
She pushed my phone into my chest, "Maybe he will, but I won't. I saw the two of you before he supposedly grabbed and kissed you. You looked mighty cozy in my opinion."
With a finger pointed towards Jay she exclaimed, "That guy did the same thing to you that you're doing to Banks and he doesn't need any of that right now!"
"You know that I like Banks, Pipes." I was wrong and I knew that.
"If you don't tell Banks about this soon I will and it'll be much worse than any sugar-coated crap you can think of to fix this." She was the literal definition of if looks could kill right then.
I deadpanned, "Thanks for bringing this to me." I tried to change the course of the conversation.
She got back into her car, "Tell Banks that," and slammed the door in my face.
When Piper drove off, Jay ran up behind me. "What was that about?" I put my phone in my front pocket.
"I need to go home," I started to walk away when he grabbed my hand.
"Why? I thought we could talk some more." I faced him and said, "What the hell were you thinking? Just stay away from me."
"What did that girl say?" He asked as I was internally beating myself up. Definitely not what he should have asked. If anything, he should have stayed quiet and respected my wishes.
I twisted my hair around my fingers as I tried to keep myself from going crazy over the whole situation, "she's guilt-tripping me."
"What do you have to feel guilty about?" That made me stop in my tracks.
Slowly, I turned my head towards him and I had a feeling in my soul that I had never felt towards him in my entire life.
Malice.
Despite everything he had put me through in the months prior. Despite all the events I dare not mention. That was the first moment I ever looked at him and thought I despise you.
"This... you! All you've done recently is mess things up for me and you're so selfish you don't even see it. Banks is going to find out about this and he might not ever want to speak to me again because of you! You don't get to keep doing this to me and then acting as if you care! You're not my friend! You don't love me!" I huffed.
He kicked the light layer of snow on the ground. "You're acting like you didn't kiss me back."
"I didn't have enough time to react! You just grabbed me and kissed me!"
Jay truly seemed disoriented, like my response was a comprehensive shock to him. "Daya, you told me you wanted me to tell you how I feel and what I want! I did what I thought you wanted!"
I shook my head, "But I didn't. Jay, we were never going to work out. The first thing you did when Banks came around was filled my head with all this shit about his reputation and how he couldn't actually want to be with me."
Pure emotion was flowing out of me with every word. "And that hurt me... because I thought it was true. No one could ever actually like me, not even you. The day you told me that you had a girlfriend I thought, oh wow, it's finally happening. All my hope was gone. And you did that to me."
He reached out for my hand and said, "Day."
But I had more to say so I didn't let him get the words out. "So, I put on a brave face and I told you that I wanted you to be happy. Even if it wasn't me. And I knew Liv's reputation. I could have thrown that in your face. Tell you that she's way more experienced than you and what would she want with a virgin. But you were getting everything you wanted. I thought you deserved happiness more than me and now I know that I deserve it too. Banks makes me overjoyed! And now all that may be over because of you!"
I pushed him in the chest and tried to leave at that. I tried to walk away but he just had to make it worse. "We've been in love without the other person knowing for so long! We can finally give us a shot now! He can't stop that! You don't want an ultimatum because you would pick me, and you don't want to hurt him," he said as if he had already won.
I tilted my head in dismay but kept walking. "Daya, I'm not giving up on this! Who would you choose? The guy you just met or the one who has loved you for so many years, he can't even count them with all his fingers!"
Jay pulled his bookbag around and pulled the letter his mother wrote him out in an effort to remind me of what transpired when he told me he wanted to leave. "Before that girl showed up you said that if I was gone a part of you would disappear."
He followed me up to my front door and even at my own house I couldn't escape him. "Don't use my words against me! I can barely look at you right now but that doesn't mean you should go off and do something as stupid as that! That woman doesn't give ten shits about you because if she did she would be here!"
In one hasty move, I grabbed the letter and tore it straight down the middle before dropping the two halves on the ground. His face sunk as he stares at the pieces in between us speechless. Deliberately, he bent down and picked up the broken letter. He gazed up at me with a blank expression and then walked away. No other words were spoken. There was nothing else to be said or done besides for us parting ways.
I let out a deep breath and shakily held onto the door before I entered my home. Then, it dawned on me that I snuck out again, and forgot to try to sneak in the window.
When I walked inside Dennis was sitting on the living room couch. "You missed lunch," he remarked. "Mom was worried about you, again. You weren't answering your phone, again. You blew up at us before you ran off."
"I can't do this with you right now." After the Jay debacle, I went through moments before, my mind was frazzled and I couldn't do anything.
"It feels like you love making her upset," he challenged me.
"That's not fair, Denny. I felt trapped in these four walls, yet I had been home for less than an hour," I testified.
"Don't try to get poetic on me now, Daya! You've got to stop doing this. When things get hard you can't run away. You have to stay," he pleaded with me.
"But you don't. It's not like you've never snuck out or walked away," I had a serious bone to pick with him and rage I still needed to let out.
With his legs open and his hands connected in the middle, he said, "But not now, Daya. We need you right now."
"I needed you back then! When Jay left me! When dad wasn't around, hell, before he left! I was alone for months and I needed a brother, but you were nowhere to be found. You were out fucking whoever it is that you cheated on Michy with! But I have to be here for you now! All of a sudden you want to be family!" My eyes were filled with tears but my heart was overflowing with every single emotion I had felt for my older brother.
He stood up and sauntered over to me. "Little Miss, you're never going to stop being my sister. I screwed up earlier but I'm here now. For you and mom. I'm stepping up."
Dennis tried to hold my shoulders but I shrugged him off. "All of those nights when you would leave. I saw you," I pushed him back with one finger. "And I never told mom about it. But when all my shit hits the fan and I need to leave, you call me out."
"When I did it, it was wrong. Same with you. All I've done is to keep you safe. You and mom are the only family I have now," he said as if it was anywhere near the same thing.
"You want to keep me safe? Is that why you put me off-limits?" I crossed my arms and gave him the death glare.
"So, yesterday you did get into Banks' truck." I tensed up immediately at his words.
My heartbeat quickened, "What do you mean?" We both already knew, but I felt bold.
"I saw his truck parked in front of the yard yesterday morning. He took you to school?" I couldn't read his tone.
"Yeah, is that a big deal?" I defied him. If Banks wasn't going to tell me, I knew who I could get it out of.
"How long has that been going on?" He was pissed, but so was I.
"Not long, why are you asking? Is there something you want to tell me about being off-limits?" I solicited defensively.
"You know that I was friends with him, kind of, by association really. There's something wrong with that dud and I wanted him nowhere near you," his eyes were bulging out of his head.
"We can't have the same friends? Am I only allowed to have one or none?" His line of defense was beginning to annoy me.
"I know him. I know what he is doing or trying to do. So, what are you doing with him?" He spoke with an authoritative voice.
I froze up thinking about what he was about to say. "Okay, for one we're not doing anything. And secondly, it's none of your business or concern. You can't keep me away from anyone," I tested.
"You're my little sister and if I see you going down the wrong path, I have the responsibility to tell you." He declared as if he was above me.
"Oh, I should start calling you responsible Dennis now? What wrong path am I going down, huh? The same one you did," I gritted my teeth.
"Everyone knows his reputation." He couldn't have been serious.
I scoffed, "And I don't give a flying shit! You have no room to judge him! You cheated on your girlfriend for months at least he was faithful. What are you getting at?"
"Do you have any proof that I did?" He griped.
"What? Everyone knows you cheated on her! You can't take that back now just to prove a point to me," I confronted his past too.
"Banks was never unfaithful to anyone because he never put his faith into anyone," he deflected.
"I don't want to hear this again. I know the story. He's already told me about whatever it is that he did! I know him for who he is today, not about what he did in the past," I defended Banks.
"I bet he hasn't told you about Taryn. I know this game that he's playing. I've seen him in action. He's going to pull you in with this whole honesty play. He just wants a place to belong and play his guitar. The sensitive guy with a troubled past that's going to change just because of you for one night only. Let's go somewhere private so I can give you a private show. This guy has it all planned out. He's a pro at it by now and he's not... going to play my little sister! I put you off-limits because he said he had a thing for virgins and you looked ripe for the taking! I guess he didn't know that you were mine, and I don't let anyone go after my family!"
I was taken back by what Banks allegedly said and I wanted to scatter, to fall apart right there. How could he say that about me? Yeah, he didn't know me and he was going through something but I couldn't believe it. That morning he apologized for a stupid comment he made about me, but I never thought it would be that. Still, I wanted to have confidence in the best of him. "Did you ever think that it's not an act and that's who he is?"
"Look at me! Listen to what I'm saying! He's not good for you and I want you to stay away from him," he reminded me as I stood there dazed.
"How do you know him so well anyway?" I said defeated.
"I was friends with Mark at the time until Banks got in the middle of that," Dennis stumbled his way back to the couch and took deep breaths.
No matter what anyone said about Banks, even what Banks said about me, would have made me give up on him. I had seen too much good come out of him." You think you can judge him but out of all the things I've heard about Banks I've never once been told that he was a cheater. Michy, your ex-girlfriend, she still asks me about you because you broke her heart. Yet, you think you can judge me for wanting to be with him! You're a hypocrite! You lie and cheat on someone who loves you and cares for you! You mess up every relationship you've ever fucking had!"
"Damnit, I never cheated on her!" He stood up and hollered in my face, making me take a step back.
"What? Are you serious?" My mind was overflowing with thoughts of what he could possibly say, but never did I think of that.
"I don't want to talk about it, Daya," he said as he fell to his knees in the middle of the living room.
I wasn't going to let him off that easy. "What do you mean you never cheated on her? You have to explain. Why would you fake cheating on her?"
The facade finally came down as he hung his head low, his hair covering his face from my viewpoint. "I didn't know how to break things off."
I sat on the floor in front of him and saw fresh tears on his face. "You just say it. There's no way you did that. There were text messages and I saw you sneak out to be with someone else. I would see you, you're the worst at hiding things. The real reason you broke up with her couldn't have been worse than cheating."
"I still lied to her though. I had feelings for her that were real but I couldn't keep lying to her, I couldn't." He wiped his eyes and shook his hands off as if al the pain was just released from his fingers, but it wasn't.
"What's the real reason, Denny? Please tell me," I probed hoping it wasn't too far.
"No, don't make me. I don't want to talk about it." Even though he was sturdier than me, he looked like he would crumble with just the slightest touch.
"As you said, I am your sister. I want you to trust me with this." For a long time, I tried to reach out to Dennis but he was always busy with new friends, a new girlfriend, a new life without dad. Eventually, I gave up. But I wanted to reach out then.
"Do whatever you want with Banks." He changed the subject. "I'm just asking you to be careful. You're smarter than this."
I reached over and held his clenched fist. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but I'll be fine. I trust him, even if you don't. What type of person do you think I am Dennis? You know me better than that."
He nodded, "Okay, you should go check on mom. I'll try to find something for dinner." He uncomfortably stood up as I nodded, got off the floor and headed upstairs with what he revealed to me still on my mind. I could hear him tearfully punch the wall as I scampered away in astonishment.
*Wow! So much is going on and I'm loving it! Also, this chapter is a bit longer than I wanted it to be but I'm happy with it. In other news, the day I'm posting this is my 18th birthday!
How do y'all feel about what Jay had to say and Daya ripping the letter?
Where you guys surprised about Dennis' revelation. What do you think the real reason is for Dennis' actions?
Please remember to follow, comment, and share!*