“Babe.” Jack mumbles. “Babe your phone.”

I groan and Jack rolls off of me, to the other side of the bed. He nestles under the covers and begins to snore softly. I giggle and run to the kitchen where my phone is.

4 missed calls

Fuck.

They are all from Chris. Quickly, I dial his number and wait for him to pick up.

“Emma.” He sobs. “I need you.”

“Where are you?” I ask, not wasting any time. There will plenty of time for him to explain later.

“Home. Please come get me. I’ll meet you on the curb.”

I hang up and run back to Jack’s room. I shake him awake and he growls.

“Whaaaat?” He asks.

“Let’s go. Chris is in trouble.” I try to choose the most urgent words possible.

Jack jumps up and throws on clean clothes. I grab a pair of his basketball shorts and a hoodie, running out of the house with no shoes. We climb into my car and speed off to my house.

“What happened?” Jack asks me.

“I have no idea. He just called sobbing saying he needed me and to pick him up on the curb.” I answer quickly, my heart racing.

Jack grabs my free hand and squeezes it lightly. I inhale deeply and exhale slowly. Before I know it, I’m pulled up to the house and there is Chris sitting on his suitcase and a backpack on his back. My mom came running out of the house with my dad right behind her.

“GET OUT OF HERE YOU LITTLE FAG!” He yells with a bottle of vodka in his hand. “AND TAKE YOUR SLUT SISTER WITH YOU!”

I freeze at his words and get out of the car. Jack gets out and helps Chris put his stuff in my car and sits with him in the back seat. I approach my mom slowly.

“Mom, relax. What happened?” I ask, trying to get her side of the story.

“Your little brooother, or should I say SISTER, just tried to tell me he likes boys! Can you fucking believe him?” She growls drunkenly. “And you. Nice clothes. They don’t fit you must be your boooyfriends. Always spreading your damn legs. That’s the only reason I ever put you on the pill. You wanna be a slut, then go for it. I just don’t want some fuucked up infant too.” She spits at me.

“Mom, dad. Please go back inside. I don’t want the neighbors to see you.” I mumble angrily.

“I don’t give a FUCK about the neighbors.” My dad yells. All of a sudden, he strikes me across the cheek.

Angry tears flow down my face and I hear the car door open. Jack comes running towards us and throws his arm around me, leading me back to the car.

“TAKE THEM I NEVER FRIGGIN WANTED THEM.” My mom yells at Jack.

Jack hurries me into the backseat before turning to my parents. “They’ll be safe.” He grunts in their direction.

Jack jumps in the driver seat and drives us to his house. I hold Chris’ hand the whole time. He remains silent, but I can tell he’s shaking a little. We ride in silence for a few minutes before we pull up to Jack’s house. Jack carries Chris’ bag to the house and I walk Chris inside.

“Do you want me to just leave you for a sec? I can set him up in the spare room.” Jack suggests.

I glance at Chris who nods shortly. “Yeah. Thanks babe.” I kiss him lightly on the cheek.

“Help yourselves to any food or anything.” He nods understandingly and walks to a spare room.

Chris takes a seat at the kitchen table and I begin to rummage through the cabinet.

“Hot chocolate good?” I call in his direction.

“Yeah.” He murmurs.

I heat up some water and set two mugs out, with two packs of Swiss Mix. While I wait for the water to heat up, I grab a plate of sugar cookies that sit on the counter and walk them to my brother. Gingerly, he picks one up and begins to nibble on it. I make the hot chocolate and walk it back to him, sitting across from him.

“Are you okay?” I sip slowly so I don’t burn my tongue. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Chris nods slowly and looks up at me. “Do you remember when you told me that I could like my friend Jason?” I nod. “Well I told him how I felt. It turns out that Jason likes me back. So I think I’m gay. I feel something for him that I’ve never felt for any girl. So dad picks me up from his house this morning, drunk. On the way home, he questions me and asks why I’m always hanging out with him. I tell him we are just really good friends and he starts calling me a fag and whatnot. I ignored him, but after an hour of him nagging I just snapped. I was like, ‘What if I am a fag? What if I do like guys?’ and he got all pissed. He asked if I did and I just told him yes. He backhanded me and that’s when I called you. Mom sat there the whole time and didn’t say a damn word.” Chris explains with tears streaming down his face.

“Fuck, Chris. Come here.” I open my arms out.

My brother is a little taller than me, and much more muscular, but regardless he crawls into my lap. I hold him tightly and run my hand up and down his back lightly. He doesn’t make a sound, but I can still feel him choke on his sobs. My heart breaks for him as I realize how much pain this has cost him.

“Chris, don’t worry. Nothing is wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with the way you feel. Don’t listen to dad. You are here now with Jack and I and we don’t judge you at all. You are still the same little brother I had yesterday, last year, and the day you were born.” I kiss the side of his head softly and he chokes down another sob.

“I just don’t get how you can be so understanding but dad can’t. What is so wrong with liking a guy?” He whimpers.

“Absolutely nothing.” I reinforce. “Dad’s reaction was out of proportion. Just relax. You are safe now and none of us are going to hurt you. If you want to talk to Jack about it, go ahead. I’m sure he won’t mind. Just go grab a shower and relax.”

Chris crawls out of my lap and I guide him to the guest room. Jack has already set him up with a solid black comforter and left his suitcase next to an empty dresser. Chris rummages through his suitcase and pulls out boxers, blue plaid pajama pants, and a grey hoodie.

“Do you want me to unpack while you shower?” I ask him.

He nods with a small smile on his face. I show him the bathroom and give him a towel.

“Luckily, everything are Axe products.” I roll my eyes and laugh. “If you need me, just bang on the wall or call for me.”

“Thanks.” Chris smiles.

“No problem.” I ruffle his hair and go to close the door on my way out. Chris catches the door and pulls me into a hug.

“I meant thanks for all of this. You are the best sister a guy can ask for.” He mumbles into my hair.

My eyes well up and I shut them tightly, so he doesn’t feel bad. “No problem.” I whisper.

Chris pulls away and shuts the door quietly. I walk to Jack’s room where I hear a guitar being strummed quietly.

We got a hard day coming, if we can’t work out
All the pissy little problems that we’re fightin’ about.

He sings softly.

“Hey.” I call from the doorway. “Come hang with me while I unpack Chris’ stuff?” I ask.

He nods and follows me to the spare room where Chris will be staying. Jack sits on the bed and watches as I unpack his suitcase. I try to keep everything the same way it would be at home; boxers and socks in the top drawer, t-shirts in the next, shorts, then pajamas. The rest of shirts I’ll hang.

“So is he okay?” Jack asks.

“I guess so. He’s still pretty shaken up about it. I just feel so bad for him. The one time he tries to be himself, he’s shut down.” I shake my head slowly while folding the remaining of his boxers into the top drawer.

Jack gets off of the bed and sits on the floor behind me. He wraps his legs around my cross legged ones and rests his head on the back of mine. “Everything will work itself out.”

I sigh and drop the shirt that I was folding. Slowly, I lean back into Jack’s embrace and let a few tears slip. “I just feel like this is partly my fault. I encouraged him to do this.”

“Stop.” Jack soothes me. “Don’t even think like that. You only encouraged him to be himself.”

I nod and sniffle. “Are you sure your mom won’t mind?”

“I’ll call her now.” He kisses me before leaving the room with his phone in hand.

I continue to fold Chris’ shirts as quickly as I can, hoping to finish before he gets out of the shower. By the time Jack comes back into the room, I am on the last drawer.

“She said it’s fine. She told me where she left extra cash so we can just order food or go to Walmart and pick food up.” He smiles at me.

I nod and finish up the last drawer. I make my way to the closet and quickly hang up his shirts. Jack hands me the shirts and I put them on the hangers. We hang the last shirt together just as Chris comes walking in.

“Hey man.” Jack smiles at him.

Chris smiles back. “Thank you so much for all of this dude. Seriously, it means a lot to me.”

Jack pulls him in for a hug. “Anytime.” He pulls apart. “So we set all of your clothes up. I called my mom and she’s fine with it. We can order pizza or go to Walmart and get some food. You clearly have a TV in here.” He gestures to the flat screen mounted directly in front of the bed. “Watch whatever. If you want to watch a DVD let me know and you can look through my selection. I can take both of you to school tomorrow since we all go to the same school.”

“Awesome. All of it is awesome. I seriously cannot ask for anything more. I think I’m gonna chill in here for a little. You guys decide on dinner because honestly I can go both ways.” He shrugs.

Jack and I walk out of the room. “Let me know if you need me. Love you.” I tell him before closing his door.

Jack and I walk back to his room and collapse onto the bed. He pulls me into his arms and curls us under the blankets. He places tiny kisses all over my face. I giggle and swat him away gently.

“You are such a beautiful person.” He mumbles with a small smile.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I mean I thought you were a beautiful girlfriend. You’re a beautiful sister too. And then I realized, you are a beautiful person overall. You’ve gone through so much shit and here you are, standing like you’ve never been touched. Yeah, you hit a rough patch for a while but look at you now.” He strokes my cheek with is finger tip and smiles at me.

I grin at him and kiss him. “You show me all the things I miss. Those types of things just completely slip my mind. But I really appreciate it Jack. I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”

I curl into Jack’s embrace and close my eyes, hoping that someday I will see myself the way he sees me.

Notes

Hi guys c: I just wanted to let you know that if you see an additional space in between lines, it doesn't mean anything. It was just an accident. Like if it's
Hi


Hey

instead of

Hi.

Hey.

It's an accident. If that makes sense? Yes? No? Okay. Well anyway.
I added a picture of Chris in the characters. He's supposed to look 15. I'm not sure if I think he does, but that's as close as I could get to the character in my mind.
Thanks for your support c: <3 Trying to get as many chapters as I can in before I go to camp this weekend.
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