Teachers Pet

18: Nothing's Wrong

        "Brothers? You're brothers and you never thought to say anything?" My voice rose an octave that I don't think I've ever heard it do before. It didn't sound like me. I just couldn't understand what Jake was telling me. How could they be brothers? Why didn't Nolan say anything?

       "Half brothers, if you want to get technical with it." He tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but it very much was. This wasn't something I would just sweep under the rug and forget about. "We have the same dad." The more he tried to explain, the worse I felt about it.

       "Brothers?" I couldn't say anything else besides that damned word. Jake waited for me to let this sink in. He watched me with those eyes that I couldn't look at the same. The shade of his eyes and the shade of Nolan's... so similar, yet different. Both still a beautiful green. Their hair, that was different. Jake's was a bronze color while Nolan's was just a light brown. If I found more differences between them, maybe it would make this seem less true. I wanted it so badly to not be true.

       "Blair?" He was cautious to say anything more. I was afraid of saying the wrong thing.

       "You didn't say anything." He nodded guiltily as he approached me, taking my face in his hands.

       "I know."

       "You should have said something."

       "I know."

       "Jake, I kissed your brother. Your brother!" Saying it out loud did not help make the idea easier to digest. It felt like a lie, a sick joke... Where was the punch line? Jake laughed unexpectedly, making me wonder what he found so funny right now.

       "Why do you think I hated seeing you two getting close? And watching you on stage?" He shook his head as he stroked my cheeks. Things made a lot more sense now. So much more sense...

       "Is this considered brother jumping?" Jake shrugged as he leaned down to rest his forehead on mine.

       "It is if you don't break up with him." I took his hands in mine, taking them away from my face and holding them between us. He didn't appear as the angry man I saw earlier. He was calmer now.

       "How am I supposed to break up with someone I never agreed to date?" He looked down at our hands, lost in thought. I needed to know what to do. Do I just confront Nolan? Let him realize for himself that what he did wasn't the right way of doing things? Pretend it never happened? I still don't even know how things got this far. Or maybe I do. Did I cause all of this?

       "I will let you figure that one out." I expected him to kiss me, to let me know we weren't arguing anymore. Instead, he kissed my forehead and moved away. When he opened the door to leave, he froze there for a moment before looking over his shoulder to me. "Don't let this ruin what we have." Without waiting for a response, he left. I put my hand to my chest, wondering if I already ruined things. I had to make things right. Nolan... I needed to speak to Nolan. But first, I had to see Dean.

       I'd made my way to the nurses' office slower than needed. I wasn't in a rush. Seeing Dean right now would feel... strange. I shouldn't care, but I did. Nolan was right. This had been my fault. I didn't give Nolan a straight forward answer and distracted him. I owed Dean this much, to make sure he was fine. When I reached the nurses' office, I took a deep breath before opening the door. The room was small, and only Dean was here. He sat in a chair next to a desk. He had an ice pack to his bottom lip, making a face.

       "You look like crap," I told him. I felt a small smile on my face. When the door closed behind me, I felt like it really was just me and him here. Like the whole school wasn't here and this room was the only thing that existed. It hurt to be here, but I had to be.