As I stand inside our next-door neighbor’s house, holding buckets, balls, and string, and look at the immaculate house I’m standing in, I contemplate what I was thinking when I agreed to come over here and set up a prank with Aiden and Jackson. This thing has gone too far. The pool filter cost over a thousand dollars to fix, something Aiden just tossed money at like it meant nothing, and that night he was already planning his revenge. Lyss has made him lose all his sense, albeit he didn’t have much there to lose in the first place, but still. In times like these, I really wish we had more vigorous football training to keep Aiden busy. Idle hands and all that crap.
We didn’t even question why Aiden had a spare key to the house when we waltzed right in. He’ll tell us it’s because he’s a good neighbor and Lyss wanted him to look over the house while she’s gone. the true story is that he probably copied it so he could sneak in here and pull some crap like this.
He stomped upstairs, making the walls shake around us. The dude is like a bull in a china shop. As I feel the weight of his feet above me, I realize he’s in Reign’s room. What if he finds my hoodie? Fight or flight takes over as I glance over to Jackson. who’s filling plastic buckets with water ‘I’ll be back in just be a minute,’ I mutter, running up the stairs, past the fake dead body on the landing to her room.
The minute I open the door, her familiar fruity smell attacks my senses. Aiden is by her bed, throwing fake spiders under the covers.
‘Do you need something?’ He asked, moving to the bedside table and sticking bug outlines on the inside of the lampshade. I’m surprised he’s not snooping. But then again, he hasn’t shown any passing interest in Reign. ‘Or are you just making sure I don’t ruin any of your lover’s stuff?’ He laughs to himself.
I discarded his comment, scanning the room for my sweatshirt which is nowhere in sight. A pang of pain hits my spine. Why did I bother checking? it’s been over a week and she hasn’t spoken to me since we watched The Bachelor together. I came back from the gym fully ready to talk to her about being exclusive only to come home and find the pool full of foam and her wrapped in Adam’s arms. The worst part was finding out they’d gone out on a dinner date and have Adam walking on clouds around me. I left for all of three hours and she’d already apparently moved onto my best friend. I wanted to talk to her about it, but she’s barely been in her room since. When she was in there, her curtains had been shut.
‘I just wanted to check on what you wanted us to do with the buckets?’ I reply to Aiden, realizing I’d been in my own thoughts for too long and he was just staring at me with one eyebrow up.
‘Were you not listening to our briefing before we came here?’ Yes. We had a briefing about setting up the pranks. Aiden gave us our parts and initiated the play. Once a quarterback, always a quarterback. ‘You put the buckets on top of the doors.’ He says as simply and slowly as possible. ‘So when they come home, they get drenched with water.’
‘Maybe we should fill the buckets with whipped cream instead.’
His eyes squint, ‘You’re a kinky dude.’
‘I just don’t want to get arrested if this all goes wrong. We don’t live in Home Alone. We could seriously hurt someone.’
He waved me off dismissively, still planting fake spiders across Reign’s room. ‘Do whatever you want. Just get it done in the next ten minutes.’
Padding down the stairs, I tell Jackson the plan and do my best to find some whipped cream in their house. They don’t have much, so we improvise, with some marshmallows too. At least this way we’re potentially avoiding a lawsuit.
Four buckets full of cream, marshmallows, and chips later, we’re already positioned the buckets over doors. Aiden’s feet stomp down the hall, scanning the room, looking at everything we’ve set up. There are plastic balls all over the floor, rolling under everything they can. We’ve wrapped their TV in wrapping paper and switched out the sugar with salt. ‘Upstairs is set up. Did you guys finish up down here?’ He asks, inspecting the work he can see.
‘Yep, we’re just stringing up that web,’ I say while wrapping the remaining web around the column in the living room, making it impossible for them to get in the house without having to walk through it.
‘Excellent. This should end it all.’ Aiden says, rubbing his hands together like an evil genius.
‘What would end it all is us not retaliating,’ Jackson mutters.
‘Or Aiden sleeping with Lyss,’ I mumble back, both of us looking at each other.
Aiden tips his baseball cap and glares at me from under the bill. ‘I guess finally fucking her might end all of this.’ His crudeness makes me wince. Sometimes, I think he needs someone to pull his head out of his ass. ‘Now let’s get out of here.’
He stalks to the entry, careful to avoid the balls strategically placed by the entrance and snakes around one of the doors with the bucket on top. As we shut the front door and check the girls are nowhere to be seen, I clear my throat. ‘Aiden, can I ask how you got the keys to their house?’
His smile broadens as he saunters over to our house. ‘She may have given them to me in a moment of passion.’
‘Passion or rage? Given or stolen?’ Jackson clarifies.
‘Aren’t those one in the same?’ Aiden emphasized as his hand curls around the knob of our door. He freezes, peering into the window next to him. ‘Mhmm. Looks like Adam’s got a new lady friend over.’ He grins back to us and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.
‘Reign?’ Jackson asks, the same thought going through my head. My fists tighten and jaw tenses.
Aiden shrugs. ‘Doesn’t look like it.’ I don’t know what’s worse. That Adam took Reign on a date the night after I slept with her, or he’s now treating her like garbage while he hangs out with another girl. ‘Maybe he pumped and dumped her.’ He cackles, looking over at me with beady eyes.
As we walk into the room, a familiar sing-song voice hits my ears. What’s she doing here? Adam’s eyes dart to me and he smiles, pointing as the little brunette in front of him spins around. All blood drains from my face, I feel myself growing colder. Chloe stands next to my best friend, bleary-eyed and pale, giving me a small apologetic smile. ‘Here he is,’ Adam says hesitantly.
‘The plot thickens,’ Aiden mutters next to me. Adam knows about her but none of the other guys do and I’d prefer to keep it that way.
‘Guys, this is my sister, Chloe.’ My eyes are trained on her. There’s a backpack leaning on the chair below and I wonder how on earth she got here. She’s only been in rehab for a week and I agreed to a potential 6-month stint. Shouldn’t they have called me if she went missing? Taking the phone out of my jeans, I checked, and I did indeed have several missed calls from the facility. I had my phone on silent for my lectures and then forgot to turn it back on because I was too distracted by Aiden’s prank. ‘If you will excuse us, we’ve got a few things to discuss,’ I say to the guys as I grab Chloe’s arm, dragging her up the stairs, away from wandering eyes.
I shut and locked my door before turning back to her. ‘What the hell are you doing here Chlo?’ I’m trying my best not to sound angry. I need to be the responsible, helpful bigger brother. If I sound like I’m trying to be Dad, this won’t work. She’ll just scream back. My arms cross as I wait for her to answer.
She sniffles slightly. ‘Dev, I missed you.’ She says, as though I didn’t just see her last week and drop her off at rehab. She’s stalling, the fidgety hands and darting eyes tell me as much. Have they even had time to start working on a withdrawal program for her? Thank God she came here and didn’t just decide to runaway completely.
‘Why aren’t you in rehab Chlo?’ I whisper, hoping the guys aren’t trying to listen in. All I get in return is a shrug of her shoulders. I sighed, trying to think of how to get the answer I want out of her. ‘You know, I’ve gone into debt to pay for it?’ Guilt tripping used to work wonders when we were kids.
Her eyes drew down, looking at the tips of her black boots as she shuffles them on dark wooden floors. ‘I know and I’m going back.’ The relief that washes over me is like a tidal wave. ‘I just.’ She paused, pursing her lips as she dragged her eyes up to look at me. ‘I guess. I kind of felt like we left everything on a bad note.’
Tilting my head, I study my sister for a moment. She hasn’t looked this vulnerable since we were eleven. For the first time in a long time, I can see the hurt and pain brewing behind her eyes. ‘We didn’t leave on a bad note, Chuck.’ She snorts at the mention of her old nickname. ‘You could have called me if you wanted to talk about something.’
Without warning, she strode past me, collapsing on the bed, and covered her face with her hands. Small, desolate sobs came out. ‘I’m sorry Dev,’ It’s all I can make out through the muffled cries.
I sat down on the bed next to her, rubbing her back as she sobbed. ‘I don’t need an apology Chlo. I just need you to get better.’ She nodded her head and looked up, turning to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. She continued to cry. It’s more emotion than I think I’ve ever seen from her. She needs to let it all out.
‘Being alone in that room, all these thoughts and feelings came over me.’ She managed to say after another few minutes of quiet crying. I ran my hands through her hair, listening to her silently. ‘There was no one there to take those thoughts and feelings away. I had nothing to numb myself. All that was in the room with me was the black hole that Cassie left when she died.’ It took her a long time to get all the words out, but I took in every word and my heart breaks for her. ‘And then, I ruined our family. I’m the reason Dad left. I’m the reason you’re leaving college early and losing out on your degree. I’ve not only fucked up my life. I’ve fucked up everyone else’s around me.’
For a moment, I couldn’t let her go. I just held her tighter, hoping my love for her radiated through everything. I clasped her shoulders, pushing her away so she’d have to look at me. ‘Don’t you dare feel guilty about Dad leaving us. He wasn’t a real man. He left us right when we needed him. Could you have dealt with your grief better? Yeah, probably. But that doesn’t mean you’re the villain of this story. You’re just trying to make in the world as best you can. Like we all are.’ She smiles sadly, hardly registering what I’m saying. Instead, she chose to focus on her chipped black nails, a subtle reminder of who she tries to be.
Aiden’s booming cheery voice interrupts our moment. He’s probably congratulating himself on winning a game on the Xbox or something. ‘Things have been tough for us. We know that. But all we want to do now is help you through this. It’s going to be tough, and you’re going to have to face things you don’t want to. But you will get better. That’s all Mom and I want for you. It’s what Cassie would want for you too.’
She still stays silent, preferring to give me a slightly upturned lip and a reassuring head nod, knowing she needs to go back. She leaned her head on my shoulder and I rest my arm across her back, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. ‘I’m sorry for all this, D. I just needed you.’
A throaty chuckle escapes me. ‘Yeah, well next time you need me, just call. I’ll always pick it up for you. How did you even get out of the place?’ I asked with a curious lilt in my voice, trying to break the tension.
She curls into herself as she groaned softly. ‘I may have stolen a nurse’s uniform.’ That’s all I need to hear. I don’t want to know how she managed to get it.
‘Right. Well, don’t do it again. I need to call the facility and let them know I’ve found you. You’re still minor and they might have already sent out an amber alert.’ I left her sitting on the bed while I called the facility arranging to drop her off in the morning. It’s not far and makes me thankful that she’s here as my problem now instead of my mom’s. I can look after her.
‘I’m sorry, Dev.’ She mumbled as she toyed with the cuffs of the black hoodie, I let her borrow after explaining the plans. ‘I won’t leave again. I promise. I want to make this work too.’ Her voice is laced with conviction. I believe her.
‘Good. Now let’s get some food. I’m starving.’ I grinned, hoping to see her relax a little. She squealed, jumping up and hooking her arm around me.
As we walked out of the room, she said meekly, ‘I love you D.’ She said meekly.
‘Love you too, Chuck.’
