Chapter 7

GABRIELLE'S POV

FLASHBACK: THREE DAYS AGO

"Gabby are you done in there?"

"No Dad. I'll be out in a minute."

I rolled my eyes and gave myself a once-over in the mirror. I hated being rushed.

I'm the type of bitch that accomplishes things at her own pace and make her own waves.

"I gotta sexy piece of ass," I giggled to myself and did a little twirl before I headed downstairs for breakfast.

I'm not a morning person.

My bitchometer was off the charts between the hours of 5 and 11 am. But since my Grandpa was gonna be in town for a couple of days, he made me promise him I'd be on my best behaviour.

I stepped into the hallway and was greeted with the most amazing smell.

"PANCAKES," I squeaked. "My faves."

I bolted downstairs towards the smell.

My mouth was already salivating.

I was stopped in my tracks when my eyes landed on the back of a tall and muscular frame with messy blonde hair.

What is this motherfucker doing here? I pondered to myself.

I watched as Dad patted his shoulder with pride.

He was laughing at whatever this douche was telling him.

My entire day was now ruined!

I walked right up to my dad and gave him a kiss on the cheek after saying good morning.

"Hey Princess, look who came home to visit." My Dad's eyes shone with adoration.

I wanted to puke.

Without turning my head, as if there was no third person here, I continued to ask my dad, "Is mom in her room? I'll see her."

"She wasn't feeling up to it today, so she slept in. Come here, the last time you guys saw each other was last Christmas."

My eyes shot over to that smug-faced piece of shit.

"Yeah Gabz, I miss my little sister. Let's just hug it out," he made a pouty face as he held out his arms in an inviting way.

My hands were clenched into fists at my sides.

I felt the steam coming from my ears.

I saw red!

He was just about to say something else when my right hook smashed into the side of his jaw.

"How dare you call me that!" My voice was laced with rancour.

The door to mom's bedroom room opened. She has a cute penguin-like stride when she's pregnant.

My Mom may be petite, but nobody messed with her kids and got away with it.

She staggered toward us, "What's going on? I thought I heard a shout."

Gerard turned his back to her, attempting to hide the injury on his face. Dad gave me a warning look.

Her eyes stopped at the far end of the room.

"Gerard! You're home," her eyes beamed with excitement. She quickly made her way over to him.

He still had his palm over his jaw.

"Hi, Mom," he got up from his seat.

His 6ft height towered over mom's 5ft 5' frame.

She wrapped her tiny hands around his torso, and he draped his free hand over her shoulder.

"It's good to see you, sweetheart," mom sobbed.

"It's good to see you too, Mom."

Mom pulled away from his hug and used the inside of her robe to wipe her tear-stained cheeks.

Her gaze fell on Gerard.

Her face twisted in shock. "Oh my God! What happened to your face?"

"Mom it's nothing, I'm fine. Really!"

They both sat on the sofa.

"No it's not nothing and you don't look fine," She examined his jaw. "Who did this to you?"

She looked back and forth at the three of us. My brother and I looked at each other, but didn't say anything.

She sighed and told Dad to bring the medicine kit to bandage us up first.

"Both of you follow me NOW!"

We didn't wish to upset our Mom any further, so we did as she asked.

"Mom - I'm so - " She placed a finger on my lips, shushing me.

"I don't want to hear it, you two have been at it for a while now," she ran a hand through her long blonde hair. "At first I thought you two grew apart because Gerard left for College, but now I see that there's something deeper going on."

Gerard stared at his feet with his hands in his pockets.

Mom walked up to the coat closet that was beside the staircase. She opened it and said. "Get in."

Gerard and I looked at each other, flabbergasted.

"Mom, you do know we're not kids anymore?" Gerard questioned.

"Oh really? Because all I see is two immature kids who don't know how to sort out their differences," Mom stated without stopping for breath.

"NOW. GET. IN. THE. CLOSET. BOTH OF YOU!"

Seeing that neither of us was going to win against a hormonal pregnant lady, we stepped into the closet.

"This is ridiculous," Gerard mumbled.

"It may be," Mom replied as she grabbed a few wire hangers and an old umbrella from the closet.

"What the hell are you doing?" Gerard gave Mom a confusing look.

"Just removing anything that can be used to poke an eye out." She spoke the last part with her eyes on me. "Now you two have twenty minutes to sort out whatever it is you guys are fighting about."

"And what if we don't sort things out," I asked.

"Then so help me God, I will lay both of you over my lap and beat your asses into next summer," she responded, pointing the old umbrella at us. She sighed and then she closed the door.

I stood at one side of the closet. My face to the wall and my back to Gerard.

Gerard was leaning on the wall to the opposite end, whistling some annoying tune, while his hands were folded at his chest.

I was trying to think, but Gerard's whistling got louder and more annoying by the second.

"Would you please stop doing that?" I spun around to confront him. He had a smug smile on his face.

"Look, since we're already here. We should talk. Come on sis, it'll be like old times."

"You think this -" I gestured with my hands. "Is like old times?"

He straightened his shoulders. "Kinda."

"You thing this is a joke? This is nothing like old times Gerry. It's not like the time I broke your toy truck, and we fought for days until mom locked us in here until we made up." I let out an exaggerated sigh. I looked up and saw that Gerard had a huge grin on his face. "What the fuck are you grinning about?"

He took a deep breath and I could have sworn I noticed a small tear in his eye.

"You called me Gerry." His voice cracked and for the first time, I believed that he was sorry for what he did.

"Yeah - I guess I did," I mumbled.

"I miss you, Sis. I miss when you would call me Gerry and the way you use to look at me like - like I was your hero." I didn't miss the guilt in his speech. "I can't take back what I did, but tell me how to make it better."

"I miss you too Gerry but you didn't just hurt her, you broke her."

"I know, but believe me I was too drunk to remember anyt - " I cut him off.

"Don't tell me you're gonna blame it on the alcohol? How the hell do you take a girl's virginity and then forget about it the next day? That's bizarre, even for you."

Gerrard rubbed a hand over his forehead. "What did she tell you?"

"Everything," I deadpanned.

His face went pale. "Oh." He looked away from me.

"Oh Jesus Christ, Gerry - no-no - Fuck No! She didn't give me details of the sex. I don't think I would ever want to hear about your tiny dick ploughing into my best friend's pussy? No, thank you, sir," I made a gagging sound.

"Ok," He sighed in relief. "I was pretty wasted that night. Two years later and I still don't remember everything that happened."

"You still don't recall having sex with her?"

"Yes, I do. It took me months to remember though. It's just that I don't recall how I got that wasted. I could have sworn I had only one beer that night."

"Yeah, you were out of it. I remembered after Haze and I got home from the movies you and all your boys were drunk out of your minds. I had to call a cab for Larry and Dane, but Ethan stayed over because he couldn't remember his address to give to the driver. I led Ethan to the guest room and Haze led you to yours."

"Oh, I kinda remember that."

"Haze and I cleaned up the mess you guys made in the kitchen and living room. I was tired, so I went to bed and Haze said she was going to stay up and watch some TV. When I got to my room Ethan was there, and he was sitting on the bed."

"Wait, why was he in your room? Did you guys - I'm gonna kill that fucker." A small blush crept on my cheeks. I had the biggest crush on Ethan back then.

"We didn't have sex -" Gerry let out the breath he was holding. "At least not that night." He punched the wall hard. I laughed as I remembered Ethan was terrified of my brother when we used to fool around back then.

"That son of a bitch - you wait till I see him when I go back to school," Gerry ran a hand over his face and then flinched. I guess he forgot that bruise I put there earlier. I knew I should have punched him harder.

"Anyway, Ethan and I got to talking, and we started making out - heavily."

"Woah, Woah! Can you please skip that part, I don't want to hear that shit."

"Okay. So, Haze walked in on us, and she gave us some more privacy. She went back to the living area. The next thing I know, I was waking up in Ethan's arms. I thought Haze just slept on the couch, but when I got to the living room she was nowhere to be seen. I then thought maybe she slept in the guest room, but again she wasn't there. I called her phone, and I heard it ringing in your bedroom, so I opened the door and saw you guys cuddled together in the sheets. Buck NAKED. Both your clothes were scattered all over. I didn't need a genius to tell me what happened. I managed to wake her up without disturbing you. It was Sunday, and she had to go home to get ready for church."

"Oh wow. I remembered waking up and remembering the kiss we shared, but that was it. You guys were gone when I got up. That's when Mom and Dad called and informed me that Grandma Ellen passed away. I was consumed in grief, so Ethan and I went over to Dane's and then I really got wasted."

"Yeah, I remember getting the call from Grandpa on my way back from dropping off Haze. I had to pull over at the side of the road. I texted Haze, and she told me she was going to come over later after church."

"I remembered she called me a couple of times but I didn't answer. I so regret not answering her. Why was I such a dick?" Gerry sighed.

"I'm glad we can both agree on that," I poked his shoulder playfully. "When she came over that night, you were still not home. We both called you, but all we got was your voicemail. She held me in her arms until I fell asleep, but I guess she was too worried about you to go to sleep herself. I must have been sleeping for two, maybe three hours when I heard her sobbing in the room. I remembered asking her what's wrong, but she wouldn't say. It was my turn to hold her while she cried. She said she wanted to go home, so I called her Aunt to send a car for her. Before she left, she told me she never wanted to see you again."

"And let me guess, that's the moment you decided to karate kick my door down?"

"I sure fucking did, and that's when I saw you snuggled between syphilis and gonorrhoea."

"Shit Sis, their names were Angel and Candy." Gerry laughed and shook his head.

"Whatever, those two still looked like walking STDs," I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, I didn't even know she was going to be there."

"You'd have known if you answered her calls, plus she's my best friend and you took her virginity, of course, she was going to come over."

"I had no recollection at the time that we had sex. All I remembered was that we kissed."

"It doesn't matter. It's Haze we're talking about. A girl who has been in love with you since she was ten."

"I tried to talk to her at Christmas, but she acted like I was invisible."

This boy is something else.

"Let me break it down for you because for someone on the Dean's list, you're slow as a snail. You took a girl's virginity, then you forgot about it the next day. She then caught you that same day in a threesome. You then left for college a week later, you didn't call or text her. Four months passed and you come home for Christmas and then decided that she should talk to you. I don't think so, buddy."

Gerard was paler than a ghost. "I see."

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen.

"What should I do?" He ran his hands over his hair and pulled hard.

"I can't tell you how to fix this Gerry, you have to do this on your own. After that day she went back in her shell, she started having panic attacks again, and she didn't visit for three months. Did you know that she was supposed to start her junior year with me that year - But because of what she went through with you, she told her aunt that she'll continue with homeschooling?"

"Shit! I'm sorry, Sis, will you forgive me?

"I will, but only if you get Haze to forgive you first."

"Ok deal."

"Deal."

We spoke about a few stuff from the good old days. Like the time we egged Mr Monroe's car.

"Yo Gerry, that's classic. I heard it took months for him to get rid of the smell."

We were laughing and joking that we didn't notice Mom standing at the door smiling triumphantly at us.

"I see you two have made up," She said winking at us.

"Yeah," we both replied in unison.