These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends [h.s.]

Chapter 13

I wake up to the chirping of the birds from the outside of my house. The sunlight shines on the side of my face as my nose harshly presses against my pillow. The warmth under my sheets takes effect and I quickly find myself closing my eyes to sleep once again. As I lay on my bed half asleep I hear a faint knocking on my bedroom door.

I groan telling whoever is disrupting my moment of peace to go away. However, another knock much more persistent than the first pounds on even louder this time.

Too tired to open my eyes, I get up and blindly threw on my robe and opened the door.

"What," I croakily groan.

"Why are your friends cleaning up the living room?"

I finally open my eyes and see my brother yawning while rubbing his eyes. I returned a confusing look and shrugged my shoulders at his question.

"Hmm," Ethan hums while walking back to his room, slamming his door shut.

I walk downstairs, almost tumbling due to my slippery fuzzy socks on the hardwood floor. As I'm making my way to the kitchen I see Bella mopping the floor as Cassie vacuums the carpet beneath my couch that was filled with popcorn and candy from last night's tragedy.

To my surprise, I also see a familiar face. It was Dean.

Dean was cleaning the kitchen table rid of red solo cups and used napkins. He then squeezes all the caps tightly on each bottle of liquor and places them at the edge of the island.

"What's going on?" I ask quietly.

"Morning! We just thought after last night you shouldn't have to deal with this in the morning so Cassie and I came by to help and saw Dean at your doorstep. We told him why we were here so he asked if he could join us. We're almost finishing up now," Bella says.

"Oh."

"Thank you so much guys, this means a lot more than you know. You're the best," I say greeting them with a warm smile.

"Actually, could I talk to you alone for a second?" Dean asks as he's wiping the table.

"Yeah, sure. We can go to my room," I say back.

Dean follows me up the steps as I lead him into my room. When I think about it, he's the first guy to ever be in here and probably the last. I was never allowed to bring a boy upstairs cause my parents used to freak out. Now that they're well...not here, Aunt Jo also still reinforced that rule after moving in a couple of months ago.

"Alex, there aren't words...What I'm trying to say here is..." Dean couldn't look me in the eyes as he was attempting to apologize.

"Listen, it's not your fault Dean. What happened happened, it's best we get over it," I say trying to make him feel better.

"No, it's not okay. Harry's behavior was unacceptable and I'm sorry you had to witness him in his normal toxic state. I'm just so embarrassed."

I could tell by his voice he meant every word he said. He seems really beaten down about this making me feel extremely guilty and sympathetic.

"As I said, it's not your fault. You can't control your brother's actions that's like trying to control the weather. If that were the case, Ethan would be my personal slave," I say trying to make Dean feel better.

He shakes his head while smiling then sits on my bed. "God, he just always does this! I'm the youngest I shouldn't have to be this mature all the time. It's like he does this purposely for attention or something. I don't know. Sorry, I'm sort of rambling right now I shouldn't lay this on you."