My Sister's Boyfriend

Chapter nineteen

Dinner was amazing, I was full, too full till the point where I felt like I was going to bust. The day had settled down, it was dark outside, the snow had been falling. Grams and Gramps were about to head out.
    "Well this was just so amazing, we need to come over more often I miss seeing all of my babies," she says as she kisses my moms head. Pops hugs us one by one. We say our goodbyes and they leave. That's how it went every Thanksgiving, I wish they lived closer. My Dad was still in the kitchen, he was helping wash dishes. There was some times where I thought that he'd try to win my mom back over, I think he was still in love with her. They couldn't be together because they never worked, they'd always somehow find an argument, and it got so tiring. I don't blame them for splitting up, but sometimes it's hard not to have both parents. I go into the kitchen and I smile.
    "You don't have to do that Dad, it's not your house," I say. He chuckles and then flicks water on me from his hands.
    "I just figured that I'd help, it's hard to take care of everyone sometimes," he says. I nod and then sit up on the Island facing him.
    "Theoretically, what would you do if you were in love with someone you couldn't have, or someone who it was wrong to have, and they were starting to talk to you more and show more attention to you?" I ask pulling my knees up to my chest. My dad flips around to face me and he says,
    "Well...theoretically I would figure out what makes them so hard to have, sometimes you can't push away what your heart wants. If your heart is feeling that way, it's for a reason," he says. I look into his eyes and then smile,
    "What if the person you love was dating another person you loved and it could hurt that other person if you ended up being together? Theoretically...of course," My dad drops his smile and then his eyes shoot towards Kaley who was in the living room on her phone. He looks back at me and then sighs,
    "You can't make everyone happy all of the time Kara, you can't always be shoved to the side for someone else, especially if it's your heart," he says passionately. I nod and then I hear, "Theoretically," quietly. I chuckle and then my eyes quickly glance at my mom who walks into the kitchen.
    "Oh Samuel you don't have to do that,"My mom says quickly sort of like a reflex. He dries the last plate and then turns around quickly,
    "It's already done," he and my mom are closer now.
    "Well thank you, but next time let me do it, it's my job," she says. My Dad smiles softly,
    "I'm glad to hear that there is a next time," he says. My mom backs away a little bit.
    "Well it wasn't terrible having you here, the kids really missed you," she says. I smile at them and my dad says,
    "Well I better get going, I have a flight to catch." I hug him quickly and for a long time too,
    "Thank you for coming Dad," I say with a whisper. Kaley hugs him and smiles softly,
    "Thanks for the snowglobe, it's pretty," she says. He nods and then winks. My mom wraps her robe around her and leans against the doorframe.
    'You wanna come out for New Years? We have a New Years party every year," My mom says. He smiles and nods slightly,
    "I would love that, it's so much better than sittin alone drinkin beer all night." My mom laughs slightly and looks down,
    "Well, I'll see ya," she says. He nods and curls his lips in. We all say bye and he leaves out of the door. I smile at my mom and she rolls her eyes,
    "What?" she asks with an annoyed expression. Kaley and I look at each other and smile slyly.
    "Nothing..." I lie. There was clearly something going on between them still. My mom still never got that spark out of her eyes when she looked at him. I start to go up the stairs before Kaley stops me,
    "Hey hey, aren't you gonna watch the movie with us?" she asks. I look at the t.v and then back at her,
    "I'm gonna call it a night, I'm pretty tired," I say. She nods and then smiles,
    "Okay well good night," she says. I smile and watch her as she walks away. I go up to my room and throw my phone on my bed. I check my hair in my mirror and then sigh before I hear my phone start to ring, how convenient. My heart pumps really fast and I scramble across my bed to look for my phone, I couldn't find it. I quickly shake my bedding until my phone falls on the floor. I pick it up and fix my hair again before answering it. His face pops up on my phone and I smile awkwardly.
    "Hey!" he says with a smile. His hair was wet and messy and he was wearing a black nike shirt. He smiled through the camera and then I smiled back.
    "Happy Thanksgiving, how did your day go?" He asks. I cringe and then laugh a little bit.
    "Well, my Dad showed up today...I'm sure you can fish out how that made my mom feel," I say. He gasped and covered his mouth with a smile.
    "No way, and Layla was cool with that?" He asks. I chuckled and put up both of my hands.
    "You know how my mom get's when he sees her, all flustered and jittery," I laughed. He laughed too,
    "Gosh I love your mom, I haven't seen your dad in how long? 3 years?" He asks. I nod,
    "It's been awhile," I say quietly. There was a moment of silence, we just stared at each other over the phone,
    "I miss Thanksgivings at your house, I miss turkey, and mashed potatoes, all I get is donated dinners, they're good, but nothing compares. College is great and all but, sometimes I think about maybe it would have been better if I stayed home," he says. I nod,
    "I think that you're going to do great things in college, you're one of the smartest people I know, maybe the smartest. You can't let Kaley's feelings get in the way of what you want," I say passionately.
    "You always did understand me Kara," He says with a smile.
"You're easy to get Danny," I say. Another second of silence. But it wasn't awkward, there was no awkwardness whatsoever.
"How's Kaley doing, is she sad, mad, happy, turning into a psycho killer?" he asks. I laugh,
"Yes, yes, and yes," I laugh. "No she's doing okay, she's focusing on her studies too, she's going back to college soon too, after tomorrow," I say. Our call went on for maybe another half hour. We talked about college and visited our childhood memories, it was nice, I liked talking to him, I felt sane and completely comfortable.
The next day he'd called me again. I quickly answered.
    "Well hi again, I wasn't expecting a call from you," I say excitedly.
    "Well maybe start expecting them, I need your opinion, I'm going to a christmas party at college and I want to know what looks better, this shirt or this one?" The first shirt was a dark blue and it had a collar, like a polo shirt. The second shirt was black and it showed off his muscles.
    "I like the black one," I say. He pulls it in front of him and tilts his head,
    "Hm kaley always hated this one," he says. I smile and then he goes off camera to put it on. He steps in front of the camera and puts his arms out. He looked amazing per usual. I nodded,
    "Good choice, and remember no drinking," I say with a smile.
    "Oh don't worry I'm not you," he smirks. And I gasp with defense,
    "Rude! That was one time," I say. He laughs and then stops,
    "Do you think I should stay home, I feel weird, I haven't partied since well, before Kaley and I got together," he says. "I could stay here and talk to you," he says. I laugh and shake my head,
    "No, as much as I love talking to you, I would be such a bore, and you deserve to have fun, you work so hard, go before I drive all the way over there and make you go myself," I say. He smiles and groans,
    "Gah, okay fine, but only because I'm already dressed," he says. I laugh and then hang up. The door opens and my head shoots over to the door.
    "Who was that you were talking to?" My mom asks.
    "Just a friend," I say with a smile.
A week went on and I started to get excited for nights, he had called me every night for the past week after Thanksgiving. He told me that he was just going to call me at Thanksgiving but now he really enjoyed talking to me. And then it suddenly became an over night thing. I was in my Algebra ll class and I was thinking about how maybe he was interested in me. Another part of me knew that I could be wrong though because this was how Danny has always been. He was always flirty and bubbly, our relationship was always like this, but maybe not as much like it is today. I was chewing on my pencil and zoned out when the teacher called on me,
    "Kara? KARA!?" she yells to get my attention. My head zipps to her and I quickly sit up.
    "I haven't heard from you in awhile, can you explain this problem for me?" She asks. I look around the room, everyone staring at me waiting for a response,
    "I don't know Ms. Kanter," I say cluelessly. The class chuckles and I look around embarrassed.
    "I suggest you save your day dreaming for when you sleep, see me after class," she says while tapping her pencil on her finger. I sigh and sink into my chair even more. Class finally ended and everyone left the class. I got up out of my chair and grabbed my bag and swung it over my back.
    "You wanted to see me?" I ask. She doesn't look up from her computer when she says,
    "Yes, come sit in the chair please," she says. I knew this was gonna be bad. She finally looks up and then looks at me as I sit down.
    "Ms. Webster, I would like to formally discuss your grades, not just in my class, but in all of them. This is your senior year, it's still important, I need you to focus. You have a D in this class, that's not acceptable, and I know you and I know your family, you're a smart girl," she says.
    "Oh you know my family meaning you know Kaley, listen if you're gonna give me a speech on how I should be more like my sister you're wasting my time because I already know," I say while getting up from my chair. Ms. Kanter grabs my arm softly as she stands up preventing me from leaving.
    "That is not what I am saying at all, yes your sister is outright genius but I know you aren't her and that is okay! All I am saying Kara is that you can do better, you can do this! You have 2 more quarters before you graduate, which means you have even more time, I believe in you, I'll see you tomorrow," she says with a smile. I look at her for a second and then nod,
    "Thank you Mrs.Kanter I'll do better," I say. She nods and then smiles,
    "I know you will," she says. I walk out of the class and then sigh I felt like the dumbest person on earth, I wish I was smart, the smart person in the class who everyone knew that she was smart. I could mask not being pretty, but I couldn't mask not being smart. You couldn't put makeup on your brain.
I got home and I pulled out my homework, I spet an hour just trying to figure it out, my brain hurt. I wish I had a tutor. What about Danny, he was one of the smartest people I knew, I can't ask Kaley she would just judge me the whole time. I thought to myself while looking on my phone. I go to his text messages and message him.
Hey you got a minute? He responds quickly with
Yeah!
Can I call you? I ask him.
I get a phone call from him and I pick it up.
    "Hey Danny," I say.
    "Hey is everything okay? And you don't have to ask to call me, you can just do it," He says. I smile softly.
    "So I know your brain already hurts from your school there but Danny I'm so dumb, I'm failing school, and I need help," I say helplessly. His smile switches off as soon as he see's that I'm sad.
    "Well I've helped you before and we got through it, and kara don't ever call yourself dumb o you understand me?" he asks. I nod and then sigh.
    "Who in the world thought of math?" I ask. He laughs and says,
    "A psycho most likely, what do you need help on?" he asks. I show my phone to the problem I need and he says,
    "Oh that, gross, I always hated those. You have to divide the equilibrium from the prime source," I could listen to him speak math for hours, sometimes I forgot how smart he really was. We spent the whole afternoon catching me up on my work, I read him my essay that he helped me write and it was the best thing I have ever created. By the end of the call it was already 7 o'clock.
    "Wow Danny I could never thank you enough for this, please don't tell me you had plans or something," I say nervously. He laughed and smiled into the camera,
    "This is more important, and plus I didn't have any plans. I was actually looking forward to this call," he says. I smile harder than I wanted to in that moment.
    "I miss you Danny, you're my best friend," I say while laying my head in my arms.
    "I miss you too, You will always be my best friend, but guess what?" he says. I shoot my head up and tilt it to the side,
    "What?" I chuckle.
    "You're still a-" He makes an L shape with his hand and then so do I.
    "You're never letting that go are you?" I ask.
    "Nope, I just wish I was across from you in my window, I loved our sign language talks," he says.
    "I did too, are you coming home for Christmas?" I ask with a hopeful smile.
    "Ah man, I don't know, I'm hoping too but it's hard with finals coming up," he says. I nod understandingly.
    "Well don't keep me waiting too long," I say.
    "I won't, listen as much as I don't want to get off the phone, I gotta get up early tomorrow so I gotta go," he says. I nod and then smile,
    "Okay, thank you again for everything," I say.
    "Of course, tell me how it goes," he says. We both hang up and I lay back on my bed and smile, he knew how to cure all of my dispair and loneliness, I wish he knew how in love I was with him, it was starting to hurt. The next day came and I went in school confident, I understood most of my math lesson and I turned in a lot of my old past due homework. It was the end of a productive school day, and I was about to go meet up with Kaley to take me home but then I saw one of my old softball friends walking in the hallway with her bat. My heart stopped, seeing a bat made my eyes start to swell up. I followed her slowly all the way to the outdoor batting cages. They had put up one of those big white tent things, o us baseball and softball players could get more time to practice. I texted Kaley to wait up for me and she said to hurry up of course. I peeked through the door and saw girls playing. My heart thumped watching them play, I didn't realize how much I missed it until I saw them. I closed the door and thoughts wandered in my head, wondering if I should join again, wondering if they'd even take me back. As soon as I got home all I wanted to do was call him again, ask him if he thinks I should try it out again. I put my phone on the counter for one second before I heard a bunch of buzzes. Kaley picked up my phone and her eyebrows furrowed,
    "Why is Danny calling you?" she asks curiously. I snatch my phone from her hand and try to come up with something,
    "He's helping me with a project," I say slowly. She nods suspiciously and then I hurry my way upstairs. I enter my room and sit on my bed quickly. Then I answer.
    "Hey!" I say out of breath.
    "Hey!" he says with a smile. I smile and scoot onto my stomach.
    "Why do you look so out of breath?" Danny asks with a laugh. I chuckle and bury my face in the pillow.
    "I may or may not have just bloated up the stairs to answer your call," I say. He smiles and then says,
    "So how did yesterday go? Catch upon your work?" he asks. I nod and then say, "Yes I was just about to talk about that, My grades went up 40 percent more. I'm at b's and c's in most of my classes now," I say with a confident sigh. He shouts excitedly and says to his roommate,
    "Yeah I knew she could do it," then he turns back to me, "I knew you could do it!" I smile a cheezy smile and put my hands on my chin.
    "Yeah but it was mostly you, I couldn't have done that without your help," I say. He shakes his head,
    "I didn;t do the work though, you did," he says. "What else is new?" he asks. I look up to the ceiling and then to my wall which had a trophy from my softball tournament.
    "I was...actually thinking o-of trying softball again, now that my grades are getting back up and now that I'm a senior I think I might have a better chance at it again," I say waiting for his reaction. He slightly smiles and then he full lets out a big smile.
    "I knew you would come back to it, Kare you're are the best Softball player I have ever met, if you don't get back into it I might've dragged you there myself, I think that that's great!" he says. I giggle and I kick my feet. This boy knew how to cure every bit of sadness in my heart.
    "Thank you," I exhale. He nods.
    "Always, now go practice not like you need it," Danny says. I overhear his roommate walk in the door and I hear him faintly say,
    "Bro you talkin' to that girl still?" I laugh quietly and then I look and see that the call was starting to glitch and buffer, then it randomly hang up. I blinked with confusion but then I sat my phone down next to me. I lay back and look up at my ceiling, this all felt too good to be true. Part of me felt like I was dreaming, like none of this was real, I could wake up and it's still Thanksgiving before all of these calls happened. Danny and I used to talk all the time, laugh all the time, but it didn't feel the same as this did. He seemed lighter, fluffier? He seemed really happy. Everytime we'd call each other, he always seemed like he'd been looking forward to them. I knew not to give my hopes up. Maybe he really was just trying to be friendly, like he always is. Maybe he's still in love with Kaley, and he's just coming to me because I have always been his best friend. I wish i didn't have to feel this way, I wish that I could someday be a first choice. I got up out of bed and walked out of my room and entered Kaley's room. She looks at me slowly with her judgy, what do you want? Look, and says,
    "Is there something I can help you with?" she asks. I sigh and put on a smile,
    "Put on some gloves and a hat we're going to the baseball field," I say with a grin. She chuckles like I'm joking.
    "And why would I do that?" she asks checking her nails.
    "Because I'm trying out for softball again," I say confidently. She groans and puts a pillow over her face and I just laugh knowing that I am going after the sport that I love again. Thanks to Danny, he gave me my confidence that I had been looking for back.