My Brother's Girl

28| The Teddy Bear

Wyatt
THORNE

As I started driving towards Lia's apartment, I had a nagging feeling. She didn't say whether the conversation with Logan went good or bad. She didn't say if he wanted to beat me up for sleeping with his girl. Lia told me she was going to tell him everything. I mean-- okay, not the super intimate details, but she wanted to come clean. Hell, I wanted to come clean, too. 

Not once have I ever looked at-- or have been interested in-- one of Logan's girls. Not. Once. I never would have done this. But...Lia. I felt connected to her since the day I met her. When she moved into the house next door, she and I became best friends immediately. We rode bikes together, camped in our backyards, made bedroom forts, and we would sleep over each other's houses. We did everything together. We told each other everything. We knew all each other's secrets. We were always there for each other. Whether if it was to make each other smile, or feel better. Or when one of us was scared. 

I remembered one Halloween in particular...

Lia & Wyatt 
October 31, 2007

9 Years Old

The creaking of my bedroom door woke me up. Then I heard her loud whisper.

"Wyatt! Wake up." Lia softly pushed at my shoulder. 

I sat up in bed and rubbed at my eyes. "Lia? What is it?"

She was wearing her pink nightgown and was holding the teddy bear I won for her in a game at a carnival. "There's a monster downstairs!" 

I frowned at her. "Lia, there's no such thing as monsters." 

I knew what this was about. It was Halloween and Logan let us watch some old scary movies after we went trick-or-treating. Our parents had already went to sleep. I told Lia it wasn't a good Idea; I knew they would scare her. 

"I saw it, Wyatt! I can't go back down there. I'm scared."

I got up from the bed and shut my bedroom door. I walked back over to her and pointed to my bed. "Go ahead. Get in.' 

She climbed onto my bed and clutched her bear to her chest. "What now?" 

I pulled up my beanbag chair by the bed and took a seat. "I'm going to stand guard while you sleep." 

"But you don't believe in monsters." 

"But you do."

She pulled the covers up to her chin and looked at me with wide eyes. "What if you fall asleep and it gets me?" 

"I won't fall asleep and I promise I won't let anything get you, Lia." 

She closed her eyes. "Thank you, Wyatt." 

The ringing of my cellphone brought my thoughts back to the present. I grabbed it from the center console and my stonach dropped when I saw the caller-ID. 

I took a deep breath and answered the call. "Hey, Logan." 

"Wyatt. I take it you spoke to Amelia?" 

I couldn't tell by his tone if he was pissed or upset. "She said she spoke to you. She asked me to come over and talk." 

The other end of the line was quiet for a moment. "She told me everything." 

My chest tightened. "Logan, I'm sorry-"

"Don't. Don't apologize. Becasue I know you aren't sorry that you slept with my fiancee."