Night Changes (Soon To Be EDITED)

My Best Friend's Brother

In a never before seen and never to be seen again moment, Zane Dryer had been rendered speechless. His hands fell limp at his sides, his blue eyes distant, lips parted. He was reeling in shock, not able to grasp a coherent thought as he watched me slowly starting to back away from him. If I were to take off now, I may be able to get out without having to get into further detail on the matter.

If the person standing before me had been anyone but Zane, I would have run the minute the words slipped. The minute part of me that still cared for the boy in front of me is what kept me from splitting then and there. Once my words sunk in and registered in Zane's mind, I knew I was going to get an ear full. He had spent the last two years on the debate team, he knew how to put up and win an argument. Anything I said in a defense to what I had done, he would have a logical response to.

"What?" he eventually managed to get out.

I kept my eyes trained on the entrance of the school, calculating how long it would take to get to it before Zane could catch me. When I came up with nothing but bad outcomes, I dropped my head and leaned into the wall next to the trophy case.

"I don't want to talk about this here, Zane." I said, peeking through my fingers to see his expression. He still looked to be in too much shock to say much more.

After what seemed like a decade of him staring blankly at the end of the empty hallway, his eyes drifted in my direction and rested on me for a few minutes before he spoke.

"Your jokes are as shitty as they were five years ago." he snapped through his grinding teeth.

"Jokes? You think I'm kidding?"

"Mark wouldn't be that stupid." my heart lurched into my throat as Zane jumped to his older brother's defense. Maybe it would be best to leave it alone and let him believe I was lying. I disliked Mark, but I wouldn't go as far as saying I hated him. For that, I had no desire to make his younger brother view him in a different light or hate him for a mistake he made.

"I want to see him." Zane's voice was strained. He looked and sounded as if he'd been in a shouting match with someone for the last hour.

"Liam?"

"The baby." he nodded. "I want to see him."

As I shifted on my feet, my head against the wall, I could feel tears starting to sting my eyes. If Zane was demanding to see the baby, it meant that any trust he had in me telling the truth had dissipated. I honestly wanted no more than to go home and spend time with Liam, tell him every reason I still loved his father and uncle and the reasons I refused talk to them.

"Why are you crying? Are you okay?" the disbelieving tone in Zane's voice was gone by the time he outstretched his hand in a comforting gesture.

"I'm just tired." I rubbed my eyes. "Didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Liam kept me up."

My words weren't a lie in the least. The infant had been crying what seemed to be nonstop for the last two nights. Any time I finally put him down to sleep, something as quiet as a cricket stirred him awake and he would start crying again. Mom had gotten a milk substitute with all the nutrients the baby needed from the doctor's office Saturday morning. Being my responsibility, she only taught me how to prepare the substitute once and left me to care for Liam on my own. I had sat him on my lap for hours researching how to get him to sleep soundly and what may have been keeping him up. He finally got to sleep a few hours before school this morning.

"I can give you a ride home." he suggested.

I ran a hand through my hair, "I'll just wait for Kenn-"