Feelings at Bay

Chapter 8

After opening the door to his apartment, John was surprised to see an angry fourteen year old staring at him with crossed arms. His mind immediately retraced his steps, seeing if he had forgotten anything that would have offended this brat.

"What did I do this time?" He groaned at his sister.

The short, red haired girl with glasses remained silent. She was wearing a purple jersey tailored for her small frame. John slowly backed up, only to bump into the door behind him.

"I heard she dumped you."

"Oh, hush." He said, walking past her towards the kitchen.

"Everyone is talking about it. There's no way you're going to live this one down." She said, following him.

Reaching into the fridge, he grabbed a can of soda.

"There better be more."

"There is," he drank, "what does my business have to do with you?"

"Would you be happier if I didn't care? The most popular girl in school just broke up with you; do you not see what that means? Now, you're free!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You've seemed distracted lately. It's almost like there's someone else you've been thinking about. You wouldn't happen to have caught feelings for that new girl, did you?"

The look on Katie's face told him that she already knew. Everybody knew. It was getting harder and harder to catch a break from the public eye. By some miracle, he hadn't run into Emily on the way home. Tomorrow will be awkward as hell, that's for sure. There was no way that girl would give him the time of day; he knew he totally deserved it. Guilt suddenly overwhelmed his body.

"What's wrong?" Katie screamed as her brother fell to his knees.

"I'm such an idiot! Everyone warned me this would happen, and I have no idea how to fix this! Emily thinks I'm the worst person on the planet. Matthew is starting to grow more distant. Amy won't even say hello. The other girls are being judgmental. And Lord only knows what Mark is doing!"

"This really sounds like a you problem."

"Thanks for nothing, kid." He groaned.

"Well, what exactly do you want? Do you, you know, want to get back together with her? Are you convinced that the new chick is right for you? Seriously, pick a side already; if you don't, more and more misunderstandings will happen!"

"I- I don't know..."

"Well, how do you feel about Amy hanging out with that troublemaker?"

"I hate it. You know that already!"

"Why?"

"..."

"Why do you hate it?"

"He's no good for her! He's already gotten people into trouble before!"

"Why does that matter to you?"

"I just told you!"

"It's because you're worried about not being able to be with her, right? Is that why you've been resisting it more violently than the other guys?"

"I care about her; so what?"

"What about Emily? Who worries about her? John, what are you going to do to fix that? You can't avoid her forever. Oh, great. You actually were planning on hiding. Why am I not surprised?"

"No, I was going to apologize."

"For what? For thinking about another girl? For not telling her that you weren't interested when you both got together? Look, there's no way to make that sound good. My advice is to just be honest and get to the point. No extra drama. No hesitating. Just speak to her and get it done."

"You know that she won't even wave to me. How am I supposed to talk to her?"

"You still got her number, right? Call and tell her that you want to talk later. Or just text her, but definitely handle it in person. She'll appreciate you putting in the effort to fix things; I promise you that. Whether she'll forgive you on the other hand... that's not for me to say."

He looked at her for a minute. Usually, his sister would bother him about the most trivial things, not even caring to talk to him. This sudden change seemed slightly suspicious, but he knew it was genuine. Instead of saying thank you, he could only come up with:

"When did you get so smart?"

His sister shrugged in response.

"Well, I've got work to do."

"Yeah, me too."

And with that, she stepped out of the kitchen, leaving John to his own devices.

Walking upstairs into her room, she closed the door. She walked over to her drawer and picked up her phone. After dialing a number, she held it to her ear.

"Yo, Emily."

"Oh wow, I haven't heard from you in so long! What's going on?"

"Are you going to school tomorrow?"

"That's the plan; why is everything okay?"

"I'm actually calling to check in on you."

"If this is about your brother, I promise that I'm not mad anymore. I didn't get a chance to see him because I was busy. I swear, I wasn't trying to avoid him or anything."

"Oh, well that's a relief. I heard that you shut him down. That's kinda impressive."

After successfully changing the tone of the conversation to a more lighthearted one, Katie informed her about how John still wanted everyone to be friends. She giggled, but agreed to hear him out.

"He's lucky to have a wingman like you."

"Yeah, he owes me."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, John was drafting a script to rehearse with, unaware of the phone call happening behind the scenes.