I was sitting there in textiles class sewing another log cabin quilt. Seem up, seem down, same old, be bored, repeat. Then, of all the times for him to show up, in he waltzes. I just looked at him for a moment, it was difficult not to let my mouth drop and eyes double in size. It had been over a year since I had seen my brother. He was just the same as ever. Tall, dark, handsome, he was buffer than I remembered but other than that nothing had changed. Well, he looked nervous. Hell yeah! He better be fucking worried, leaving the way he did just to come back unannounced and in my high school of all places.
"Donnie! It's been so long since you have been back to visit." Mrs. Franco was one of those teachers who probably should have retired fifteen yeas ago but kept going either just to prove she could or to ruin everyone else's hopes. She liked very few people and clung to them like a leech. Donell, was regrettably one of them.
"Yeah, I've been busy." Oh real good excuse, dumb ass.
"I bet you have, you were always such a good worker in school. What ARE you doing these days, dear?"
"Um . . . I ah, I need to talk to my sis. Can we continue this chat later?"
Franco did that creepy thing where her face twitched into anger then reverted back to a smile in less than a second. "Of course deary," she stalked off to tell someone they did something wrong the way she always did when she got angry.
He pulled a chair over to me and plopped down. He smiled. I really wanted to slap that damn sweetie smile off his ass-a-nova face. "Hey sissy."
"Don't you dare call me that," I hissed through tight teeth. He raised an eyebrow and fear rose up in his eyes. "'Sissy' is something you call a sibling you actually care about, not someone you ditch out on."
"Sissy I-" I cut him off with a glance. He sighed, looking depressed, he didn't like this me. The one where I hated him, it was new to him. Not me though, I'd been pissed since a month after he left. He never wrote, called, anything. And he had meant the world to me. When Dad would hardly look at me and Mom would be busy off her rear, Donnie had always been there. He was a good brother. Or at least he used to be.
"Trista, I only did what I thought would be best for everyone. I didn't know what was happening to me. I was scared, and stupid. When I figured it out I realized that I was far too dangerous to be around you and Mom. I only wanted to make sure nothing would happen to you."
I spun in my seat and looked him straight in the eyes, hoping my tears were minor. "Then go. You just said it's for the best."
"I think I might have been wrong."
We had been speaking quietly as not to let the others know how demented our family really was, but that was it. "You think?!" I bellowed it out. Everyone jumped and was staring. Donnell had reared back in his seat, eyes bulging. I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose and dragged him to the hall by the scruff of his shirt. He stumbled along, partially he was still stunned by my sudden outburst and partially because I was so much shorter.
“You think you might have been wrong,” I said regaining control of myself.
“Yeah,” was all he said. He was looking down at his feet like a child being accused of stealing another cookie.
“It took you nearly a year to get that through your thick skull.”
“Well, yeah. I was sure that if I stayed away from you, you would be safe. These crazy people wouldn’t be after you and Mom, but obviously that’s not the case.”
“Crazy people coming after me? What the hell? What are you talking about?”
He looked around him as if something might jump out from the wall and tackle us. “This isn’t a good place to answer that.”
My eyes were wide open and I was completely lost. “Again, and I’m going to say this real slow so you can understand: What. The. Hell?”
He sighed and all of his composure was gone. His true emotions burst out and all at once he looked desperate and terrified. “Trista, for the love of all things oven baked and gooey, let me get you out of here!”
I stood blinking at him for a minute. For the love of all things oven baked and gooey was kinda our catch phrase. It kept us out of naughty word trouble and we really did love our freshly baked cookies. His hands were gripping my arms and squishing them to my sides frantically. He was begging, and my brother didn’t beg. Ever. He gripped me tighter. I closed my eyes and winced. “Donnell-" I whined.
“No,” he protested. “I’m not being irrational or crazy or whatever. You need to come with me.”
“Donnie, no, you don’t get it, you’re hurting me.”
He looked down at his hands and instantly let go. “Sorry,” he yelped.
I pulled up my sleeves and there was a big red, sore spot where his hands had been. “Oh, that’s totally bruising.”
He moaned. “Shit. I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to.” He looked incredibly guilty; he had always been more emotional than most guys, which was why girls flocked around him.
I sighed, “I know, don’t sweat it. I’ll be fine.” My tone had softened and I had officially given in, but for good reason. Sorta. I could tell he meant every word of what he said and truly thought I was in danger. Dam sibling connections. “And yeah, I’ll go with you.”
In half a second he changed modes entirely, “Really? You’ll come?”
Mainly just for effect I gave him a suspicious look. “Only if you COMPLETELY mean it.”
“I do, Trista, I do. You have no idea how lucky I consider myself that you’re still even alive.”
“That bad, huh?”
He nodded gravely. And he believed it. He really thought I may have been dead. I finally started to worry. “I will come with you, but you’ll have to wait until school is over. It’s the last day before Winter Break and I just want to finish.”
He nodded enthusiastically. “I can accept that.”
“You can go home if you want, but I’ll have to give you the key if you do.”
“Home would be nice . . .”
I flipped the key from my pocket. He reached out to grab it, and I pulled it quickly away. “Please don’t lock me out,” I moaned.
He grinned in the way I had missed. “I promise. Think I should try to go find Mom or wait for her to come home?”
My heart sank and I tried not to let it show. “Wait at home and don’t leave. We can talk about Mom when I get there.”
He gave me a puzzled look. I just smiled to cover up the painful slap of bad memories. “See you soon.”
Once more he gave me an odd glance, but shrugged in the end. “You probably know best. I won’t leave.”
“Thanks, and could you say that again?”
“What?”
“That I know best.” I smirked at him. He grinned and ruffled my hair.
“Enjoy it while it lasts, sis.” He turned and started to walk off. It was then I realized just how much I had missed my big oaf of a brother, and it was enough to run up and glomp him before he could leave. He squeezed me back.
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