At End's Gate

SIBLING TALK

"What's up?" Paige asked moving her hand through her silky brown hair.

"You need one of our sibling talks," James replied.

"Why?" she laughed looking confused.

"Don't act dumb P. It's no longer cute," Blake teased." Clearly you have relationship drama."

"Why do you think that I have relationship drama?" They just stared at her." Okay fine. Honestly in my mind I thought when we found Erin everything would be easy."

Blake chuckled." How could you expect that?"

"Come to think of it that thought was crazy."

"P how do you feel?" James asked

"Honestly I don't know."

"How do you feel?" James asked again.

"Okay fine. I feel conflicted. Two guys I really care about are in love with me and I don't want to hurt either one of them. I don't know how to act around them. If I walk with Erin and he starts speaking romantically I see Conner die a little inside. If I'm close to Conner, Erin gets jealous. I don't want to hurt anyone." Paige took a breath to let out her frustration." Erin just told me that I was his pillar of sanity. Conner just said he will let me go for me to be happy with Erin."

"Paige is the problem that Conner would be feeling pain in the sidelines," James cleared his throat," or that you don't want him to let go?"

Paige fell silent for a while." What are you trying to say?"

"He's trying to say that you're telling us that story from Erin and Conner's point of view. You're not telling us how you feel for each of them," Blake said putting his hands into the pockets of his black jeans.

Paige looked up for a second and then back to her brothers." Okay I'll tell you how I feel." She looked at them eyeing them." Being my brothers I don't have to tell you that what I'm going to say should be kept secret."

"Yeah, yeah go on with it," Blake said keen to hear what his sister was about to say.

"With Erin I feel the memories and the history we have together. He's my first love. I love him unconditionally. He's been there for me for a long time. He's the first guy who managed to break the walls around my heart. Most of the guys who liked me were jerks. He taught me how to love, how to love recklessly and allow love to influence my actions. He taught me how to live in the moment. To me our love story felt like a fairytale. It had people who rooted for us, and those who were against our relationship. Mom and dad didn't like our relationship. That only made me like him more. With him everything felt reckless and fun." She then stopped.

"How about Conner?" James asked his ocean blue eyes focused on her.

"With Conner it's a completely different story. He came at a time when my heart didn't have walls. It just had Erin's mark. I was in a position whereby I wanted to develop walls around my heart due to loss and our grief but he came and moved past the barriers that where beginning to form and found his own position in my heart. He built his own mark and what scares me is that he built that mark without even trying. He just became a part of me. I know it sounds weird. He came from nowhere. At first I thought it was just the dark circumstances drawing me to him but with time I realised that it's something beyond my control. I try to ignore it but the more I ignore it the more that mark he has placed grows." She then fell silent.

"The real problem you have P, " Blake paused scratching his nose," is that you love them both."

"You love them both that you're failing to comprehend who you're in love with. The person between the two you can't live without," James joined.

Paige nodded." Yeah I guess. Wow when did you guys turn into therapists?" They laughed lowly." What do I do then?"

"Sorry Sis. That you have to work out on your own. We can't influence your decision. This has to be all you," Blake said fixing his black hair.

"Yeah. You have to figure out on your own," James confirmed.

Paige laughed." We're in the middle of a crisis but I'm discussing relationships. "

"Paige the heart is a cruel thing. It doesn't act depending on season and circumstance. It decides what it wants to do. That's what makes love worth while. The fact that even in danger or in the darkest of disasters it doesn't fade," James said after scratching his chin.

Paige smiled." Thanks guys. Let's go eat."