My Sister's Boyfriend

Chapter eight

I was 14 years old. I looked forward to Danny coming over every day. He would always show up every day after school. He and Kaley would drive home from the high school together.

It was Friday night. Every Friday they would have a movie night. He would buy a whole bunch of snacks and they would snuggle on the couch and watch a movie.

It was an April Friday night, rainy outside and you could hear it pouring on the roof. I could hear faint talking and music in the background. I knew they were watching a movie. I always would walk down the stairs and watch the movie with them.

I walked out of my room and I headed down the stairs. I saw that his arm was over her shoulders and she was leaning against him. They were smiling and watching the film. Well one of them was.

Kaley was watching him the whole time, she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. I couldn't blame her, because I couldn't either. I sat on the last step and I watched the movie from there.

I mostly watched them though. I loved to visualize myself in Kaley's place. I know it was weird but it put me at ease, I knew that I couldn't be with him in real life so I just figured to imagine it in my head, it worked most of the time.

I couldn't believe how hard I fell for him, my mom always told me,
"You're too young to know what love feels like," but I would never believe her, she always dismissed what I felt. I knew that I was in love though. I knew because every single time I thought about him my heart palpitated. And I couldn't get him out of my head. It was scary.

I guess you could say that I have grown out of my crush a little bit since then, but my heart still did that thump every time he looked at me.

Danny and I sat down at a cute little table in the corner of the coffee shop. I smelled the freshly ground coffee beans and I could smell the vanilla and pumpkin blending throughout the air.

I looked at Danny and smiled.
"What to get?" I ask, looking at the menu. Danny's eyebrows raised to his hairline,
"You get the same thing every time," he says with a chuckle. I put the menu down and scoff,
"I do not!" I say with a defensive tone. He laughs
"Oh yes you do and I can prove it," he says.
I sit back, cross my arms with confidence, and watch him as the waitress comes by.

"Hey, what can I get you today?" She asks. I look at Danny with my eyebrows up. If he can memorize my order he can order it for me too. He looks at me and then sighs with a smile.
"She's gonna get an iced carmelatte, with extra caramel, and a little bit of cinnamon because she loves cinnamon, and I will take a black coffee," he says with a slight smile.

I look at him with wide eyes. I can't say I'm surprised, I tend to forget I grew up with this boy. He looks at me and smiles and then I look at her with an awkward look.
"You guys are cute," she smiles as she walks away.

I blink with a shocked expression. Did we look like a couple? Danny looked at me for a second and then looked down at his hands. I broke the awkward silence by saying.
"I'm impressed, you remembered my coffee order," I say as I lay my head on my hands. He smiled slightly and said,
"Both you and Kaley are coffee addicts, I don't think I could forget them in a million years.

I smiled at that thought. He would never forget the small things. The coffee was good as always. I watched him sip his black coffee and I squeamed with a disgusted look. He furrowed his eyebrows and put his mug down.
"Why are you making that face?" he asks gripping his hands around the mug.

I grabbed the mug and took a sip. I wanted to spit it out; it was so bitter and flavorless.
"How can you bear to drink that, ugh," I say, wiping my mouth. He puts his hands up.
"You can have your 99 percent sugar coffee, I'll have my black coffee, it's how I like it," he says calmly.

I shake my head in disbelief.
"You have superpowers," I say, taking a sip from my drink. He smiles and sips his coffee again. This was nice, we haven't hung out just like this in a while. It reminded me of our old coffee runs when he was a senior in high school.

Kaley didn't usually come with us because she had to work every time we went. He would meet me in his car after school and he would take me to this very coffee shop.

It was one day in December. I was having a very bad day at school. My grades were terrible and I was extremely stressed. Danny noticed as soon as I got to his car and he put his hands on my shoulders to stop me.
"What's wrong, bad day?" he asked as he opened the door for me.

I looked up at him and sighed. He got into the car on his side and then faced me. "I'm not starting this car until you tell me what's wrong Kare bear," he said. I looked at him and my lips make a frown.
"I'm failing school, I don't understand any of my classes, and geometry is kicking my butt," I said while slumping down in the seat.

He turned on the car and looked at me again.
"What are your grades?" I look down with embarrassment, I didn't want him to know that I was the dumb sister, Kaley never even got a B-.
"I have all D's except for Science," I said while fidgeting with my hands.

One thing about me was, I knew that I was dumb, but I still liked to try. I knew that if I at least tried to get good grades and do well in school, my mom would feel good about me somehow. At the same time, maybe not, she would say something like, "A B! Good job  but next time be like Kaley and achieve an a." Always compared me to her, why was I ever surprised?

I didn't care if I got a b, I felt good about it actually, even if it wasn't enough for my mom, it was enough for me, I was okay with average grades.

Danny sighed and looked at me briefly, "Here's what we're gonna do Kare bear, we're gonna go to the cafe, I'm gonna order you whatever you want, and then we are gonna study the heck out of you, I'll tutor you on whatever you need, and we'll stay there for however long you want," he said while glancing at me but still watching the road.

I shook my head,
"What about softball, I have to be there," I said while pinching my forehead with frustration. Danny touched my shoulder and smiled at me,
"Right now your schooling is the most important thing, your coach will understand, Coach Ficks right?" he asked.

I nod and he chuckles a bit, "Don't you worry, I'm cool with her, she used to condition the baseball team for our coach when he was absent, let's just say I made a great impression, don't worry Kare bear, you'll be fine," he said with a wink.

Sometimes I wondered how he got away with everything. Everyone loved him, just like everyone loved Kaley, they were the epitome of the perfect couple.
"Okay, that actually sounds nice, thank you, thank you so much," I said with a soft smile.

Danny pats my shoulder a couple of times.
"Always," he said. I loved these moments, he was always there when I needed him, and I felt like he was the only one who truly understood me.

He was the one person who I could turn to when I was upset, I knew he would never judge me, I knew he would never make fun of me, and even when he was dating the most perfect human being to exist, he still saw me.

Danny and I spent three hours in that cafe. Four Carmelatte's, and lots and lots of studying. We bickered back and forth about my work, but we eventually got most of it done. I left there feeling more confident about myself, and it was all because of him. He was such an amazing friend.

We went home and emailed my coach, she of course let me off the hook, again, it was all because of him. As soon as Kaley got off from work she took him away from me, but it was okay though because I got to spend the whole afternoon with him. I seriously thought about failing on purpose just to be with him more, but I knew that was a bad idea.