We're Not Related Anymore...

Caught Out

Jacob: Three Years Ago

I don't think I've ever been this happy in my life. I hear my bedroom door groan open and then shut. I don't have to turn around to know that it's Maddie sneaking in here. But I turn around anyway, pleased when I find her dressed in one of my old soccer shirts. It practically drowns her and I pull my sheets down so that she can climb in bed with me. 

"Where did you get this?" I ask as I start moving the fabric of my shirt up her leg. 

"Laundry room," she whispers, snuggling into my chest. I continue to stroke up and down her bare thigh. "Jacob," she says, her voice heavy with the beginnings of sleep. 

"Yes," I say, stalling my movements as I listen to her breathing. It's getting slower and deeper and I know it's only a matter of time before she falls asleep. 

"I think you're my favorite person." I close my eyes as her words sink in. Her favorite person. I don't think anyone will ever tell me anything else that would make me prouder. 

"You think?" I question, grinning when she smacks me weakly in the chest. "You're my favorite person too." But she's already fast asleep.

-

I don't know which one of us realizes someone's fast approaching my bedroom first. Maddie always wakes up before I do but something forces me upright in my bed. I shake her shoulder. She's lying next to me, engrossed in one of her books. 

"Someone's coming," I say, hearing the footsteps get louder and closer. She makes for the door but I grab her around the waist. "Closet." It's too late for her to get out without being seen. Maybe it's my imagination but those footsteps sound seconds away from the door. 

I pick her up and open my closet door with my free hand before depositing her in the empty space by my shoes. 

"Don't close the door," she hisses but I'm already closing it when my bedroom door opens. My heart is pounding in my chest when I turn to find Josh standing in my doorway. 

"What's wrong with you?" he asks. I must look like a deer caught in headlights.

"Nothing," I say hoping my voice doesn't give away the fact that I've just hidden his sister in my closet. "What's wrong with you? You look like shit."

It's not a lie. Josh hasn't shaved in what seems like a very long time. He scrubs his hand over his stubble and comes over to flop on my bed. "Tell me why I ever decided to date Betty? What was I thinking?" He groans. It bothers me that he hasn't taken his shoes off before lying down on my bed. He and his sister are alike in that way. 

"If you're here for sympathy, you came to the wrong place," I tell him, ignoring the glare he's just sent me. God, why'd he have to make himself comfortable? His vision is directly in line with my closet. I move a bit so that I cover the gap that might just reveal Maddie's presence. 

"You know, you can't say shit about her. You don't know her like I do," Josh says and it takes everything I have to not roll my eyes. I don't want to know Betty like he does. Nor do I want to have this conversation. 

"I thought you were mad at her- you know what? I don't care. I have shit to do. Go take your problems elsewhere," I say, abandoning my post to try and drag him off my sheets. 

Josh just shoves me away and reaches over my bed to grab the book I have on my side table. If he notices Maddie's book lying near it, he doesn't show it. 

"What's wrong with you?" He asks, thumbing through the pages of my book. "I feel like you never have time for anyone these days." This time I roll my eyes and grab for my book but as I do, I remember something a second too late. I used one of Maddie's pictures as the bookmark.