It would have been so easy to blame it on the cold, or the storm, and agree to never talk about it ever again. Easier than trying to find the words to say what it had really meant.
What it still meant, and the hopes that it had fanned into flame.
A terrified, flickering flame.
"I..."
--
"- hate you!" Katie screamed angrily, her ponytail bobbing around as she did. "Why did you have to go ahead and ruin everything!? You just had to keep your damn mouth shut!"
Will cringed, and wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground. It wasn't like she didn't have a good reason to be pissed at him for letting it slip. Not that it was all his fault, either.
"I thought you were going with Suzie." He mumbled, the half-excuse sounding hollow even to his ears.
Katie crossed her arms, "You're still a jerk."
He thought quickly, trying to come up with a way to fix things. After he'd accidentally dropped that his sister was planning on a hotel getaway to their conservative parents at his weekly visit they had realised what he hadn't, and taken away permission to use the car.
That had been yesterday.
Today, Katie had turned up at his apartment to scream and yell about not being able to shack up with her boyfriend. He did feel guilty about it, and even more guilty about feeling relieved.
Katie had always had the worst taste in guys.
If there was a jerk, leading a group of assholes around like he was some kind of gangbanger, then Katie was absolutely certain to swoon if she got any kind of attention.
Which she would.
Not just because assholes like that can smell the naive trust exuding from her, but because Katie got attention wherever she went. She was the town's claim to fame, a tennis player who had very nearly qualified for nationals, which was as close as anybody had ever got to being famous.
It meant that she was both extremely fit, and that she attracted looks wherever she went. Her decision to stay at home had been a practical one, it was easier not to attract too much attention, and she wasn't allowed to drive herself, by her contract.
Well, apart from sneaking off to see her boyfriend, apparently.
"I'll drive you."
Katie raised an eyebrow, "Um, what?"
"You're an adult. What you do on your time shouldn't be dictated by your manager or mum and dad." He shrugged, "So I'll drive you up and drop you off."
She glared at him, "Like Dad would let me go, now. He'll probably threaten to kick me out of home if I go through with it. I don't want to have to move out!"
"That and they'd both probably cut you out. Assholes." He agreed with her, "Which is why we won't tell them."
"They're not that stupid. The timing would be obvious." Katie glared at him.
He shrugged, "I'm taking you camping. To make up for your boyfriend dumping you when you said you couldn't go. Dad'll get to indulge in some self-righteous rant, and Mum will be so proud that we still get along."
"That..." She seethed, and then sighed, "I guess that might actually work. Still doesn't make up for it. I didn't even want to tell them I was dating anyone, yet. They always..."
"Ruin it?" He laughed, "Why do you think I haven't brought a girlfriend home since I moved out?"
"Because you haven't had a girlfriend in two years?" Katie said hurtfully, and absolutely honestly.
It was sort of true, on some level. He'd had a few relationships over the years. He'd been hiding them long before he left home, but his relationships had never lasted.
Sometimes it felt like everything he touched just fell apart. The girls he dated always hated him when all was said and done. Sometimes he understood why, and he tried to make himself better, but most of the time he thought he'd been the perfect gentleman for them.
His last relationship had lasted all of two weeks, and well... Her bra was still hanging from the bathroom door handle behind his sister.
He couldn't help it, the way she'd said it. He pointed, "So, what, I'm a crossdresser?"
"One night stands don't count. My loveable manslut." Katie said, raising her nose in the air, but seeming less sure of herself.
"Well, we have a plan." He moved the conversation along, "I'll turn up with a few bags of my own, you can just bring whatever. I'll call Dad, let him know my plans. So... Expect the usual from him."
"No one's ever good enough for him." It was Katie's turn to mumble.
He reached over and grabbed his sister in a hug, "Hey. Things can get better, you know? You're the star of the family. Besides, you're about to get laid."
"Gross!" She shoved off him with a laugh, "You can't say that when you're hugging someone!"
He laughed at her, "So, staying for dinner, twerp?"
Katie finally stopped her intimidating stance that was about as frightening as a kitten, and dropped onto the couch, "If you're cooking. Missed your paella."
"Well, not taking requests." He retorted and headed for the kitchen area, "Only got the ingredients for pasta, so it's that or I'll drive you home."
"Whatever. I guess I still love you." She shrugged, "Oh! I'm going to call my boyfriend. Mind tuning out?"
He picked up his headphones.
He really didn't want to listen to his sister talking about a sex weekend with her boyfriend.
He didn't need that particular image in his head, anymore than it already was.
--
Katie didn't know exactly what she'd been planning when she turned up at the apartment to yell at him, but it wasn't... That.
Why did her brother have to be such a problem solver? She came to rant and cry and... And then he had to go ahead and be so reasonable about the whole damn thing.
Only one who was.
Pretending her boyfriend had dumped her when she tried to rearrange their date wasn't going to be difficult.
He had.
She'd already got the call from him and balled her eyes out like she was a teenager all over again. She'd really hoped that he was the one who wasn't going to turn out to be trash.
But no, all he was interested in was bedding the town celebrity for bragging rights to his little wannabe asshole friends. So when it looked like she might be having second thoughts, he dumped her without hesitation.
It was only after all that she'd gone over to yell at Will.
So when he'd been bobbing his head away listening to music whilst he cooked for them, she'd tried brainstorming what to do with Suzie, and got nowhere.
The real problem was going to be coming up with a way to tell her brother after he'd decided to set aside his weekend to drive her up to the city when it wasn't even really his fault.
She was the one who didn't want to move out of home, and was scared of living on her own. Even more scared of getting a roommate.
She'd sort of been hoping that he would let her move in once she was old enough to move out, but by the time that had happened some sort of coldness had grown up between them. He came home, but he avoided looking at her, talking to her.
Katie was still basically the same girl she had always been. The confused teenage girl who stared at him when she hoped he wasn't looking. On the other hand, the moment Will had moved out of home he'd gone from the quiet and scared boy she knew to this confident and charismatic thing.
He'd found himself in the newfound freedom, and she hadn't coped with it at all.
Felt like her brother had been stolen away from her.
And now... Now she had to deal with the fact that not only had he become this confident and perfect guy the moment he ran away, it turned out that everyone else had noticed.
She had really hoped she was wrong when she saw the bra on the doorhandle. That it was just the untidyness of some college chick who had crashed on the couch after a party or... Or an explanation that actually made sense. Even her heart wasn't clever enough to come up with a lie she believed.
Katie knew she wasn't supposed to be jealous. He was free to live whatever life he wanted to, and he was still coming over once a week to see her and their parents... But it felt like another nail in that coffin.
The perfect way out of this would be to somehow convince him to go through with the camping trip. Rekindle a bit of their relationship rather than have him yell at her for not telling him that she was already a dead weight.
She buried her face in a pillow and gave a yell.
Maybe she had changed, after all.
It didn't help her feel better in the least.
Katie had to bite the bullet and let her brother know that he didn't need to say anything. She fumbled with her phone and hoped that he wouldn't call her afterwards.
The text message was simple. Just a statement of facts. As little information as she could tell him, and hope to hell he was as dense about these things as he used to be.
"He dumped me. Don't worry about it. <3 U."
Katie hesitated before sending it. Maybe she should wait until the morning. Make it less obvious that this was past tense.
She left the message in her drafts and threw her phone across the room to try and not think about it. She pulled up her laptop and found her favourite TV show's stream.
Her phone rang.
The computer hit the ground as she had a heart attack. The message hadn't sent, right? She scrambled to get over and picked it up, "Y... Yes?"
"Ah, Katie! It's Dan, here." Her manager responded, "Just checking in on you. I got some weird voicemails from your father. You going to be alright to get to practice next week? Something about the car?"
"Eugh. Just guy trouble. It's all fine." She said, still feeling palpatations. "Usual overreactions all around. Nothing to distract me. We're going for the Open again this year, right?"
"Absolutely. Looking forward to it, just thought I should check in on you." He skirted his actual meaning - he wanted her to move out. Had since he'd first met her parents.
She just... Couldn't imagine being in a place by herself.
