Living with my brothers

Tension

After Cris and Jamison left, Jackson and my brothers went to the living room and turned on some stupid action movie while I washed the dishes.
"Hey, just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I should be the one to wash the dishes!" I told my brothers.
They just laughed and headed to the living room. I sighed and began washing dishes. After a while, Porter came to the kitchen for a drink. "Hey, Porter?" I ask him. "Yeah," he says. "Why was Jackson looking at you that way, earlier this evening?" He gulps.
"I, Ro, I, Jackson has issues and secrets, just like everyone else, and he what he told me....it isn't my secret to tell. I just don't feel comfortable talking about this. If he doesn't want to tell you, he doesn't have to, so don't try and force him, please. Promise me you won't," Porter asks me, almost desperately. "Um, okay, but why would he tell you stuff, I'm his best friend." I say, puzzled.
"I don't think it's like that. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, nothing more, nothing less. I don't think he would have told me otherwise. Just, be careful with him, Ro." He says.
I nod. I get it. I'm still a little hurt that he didn't want me to know what's going on with him. But I get it. Some things you just don't want to talk about. God only knows of the things I keep from everyone else. I wouldn't tell him, either, if he didn't already know. I'm not a Christian, but I believe in God. I pray to God, but which God I'm praying to? I don't know. I guess I just feel like talking to somebody higher up makes me feel less alone and scared.
Later on, after the movie was over and Jackson had gone home, I went upstairs to talk to Andy. I knock on his door, saying "An? Can I talk to you?" He sighs and opens his door, lying right back down on his bed.
"What do you want?" He asks, almost tiredly. "How do you know Cris?" I ask. We sit there a long time, Andy staring at the ceiling, eyes blank and emotionless. He'd been that way ever since our parents died. I guess he knew them better than we did. "Ro, I went through a lot when mom and dad had just died. I fell into depression, and instead of getting help, I just got focused on being numb. I started doing drugs, I started buying off Cris, back when he still sold. I just wanted to feel something, and when I was high, I felt something, I wasn't numb. Long story short, I got addicted, doing it five times a day, then ten, and Cris knew. He saved my life. I came crawling to him, going through withdrawals, and he wouldn't give me any. As I was on the ground in a ball, I felt like I was dying. And Cris, he knelt down beside me, and he told me that he's been there, and it's not fun. He said, I don't want to you to end up like me. He picked me up off the sidewalk, and dropped me off at a rehab place. I never saw him again, until now. But he said, if you start doing again, I will find you and dump your ass back in this place. I, I don't know. Cris saw me at my lowest, and he understood how messed up I was, that I wasn't the perfect Bush kid everyone thought I was. So I didn't want to see him, because no matter how grateful I am to him, I'm still ashamed of myself for going down that path."
I sit there stunned for a moment, and he turned away from me. "I, I don't know what to say. Why didn't you tell us?"
"For the same reason you didn't tell us about the party, or why Porter kept himself a secret. We don't want to be seen as weak, so we hide our feelings and secrets down where no one will find them, it's just what we do. I'm sorry, Ro. That I'm not perfect, that I don't always do the right thing. Most of all, I'm sorry that you never got to experience a childhood. I mean, from 12 on, you basically raised yourself. And it's my fault." Andy tells me.
"No. It's not your fault, we were all going through some stuff when they died. You were the one who didn't get to be a normal teenager. You couldn't party, or be rebellious. You couldn't be grounded, or date girl after girl. You couldn't be on a sports team, because of us. I think that you're doing as good a job as mom and dad would have done, so don't blame yourself for my mistakes. I've had a great childhood, so don't believe me if you want, but I know, and deep down you do too, that it's not your fault." I finish. I give him a kiss on the cheek, and walk out of his room and into my own. I go to sleep thinking about boys with leather jackets and drugs.

A/N
Short chapter, I know.
But the drama!!
What's gonna happen next!?!
Till next time, my lovelies!✌️😘