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“Then maybe you should worry about getting her to let you stay the night over at her house, instead of worrying about where I've been.”
That got me another dirty look and a cuss word under his breath that my parents couldn't quite hear. My brother had always been the underhanded one who would whisper horrible things to make me say something back. Of course, when I said it, I would be full of emotion, usually loud, where everybody heard. The problem was that nobody would hear the things that he said, and I would just come across as crazy. I wasn't going to let that happen again. We didn't need to perpetuate it another moment.
“You know, considering who you've been hanging out with, I just thought it was wise to make sure that you are making better decisions.”
I gave Lester a look to let him know that I wasn’t grateful. He was in a way threatening to tell our parents about him finding me with Jeff, but I decided to beat him to the punch.
I didn't know why I was feeling ready for war this morning, but I was. I think it was probably the way that Lester was looking at me like he wanted to battle.
“I've only been hanging out with your friends, Lester. If you don't like me hanging out with your friends, maybe you should think about that, before you start to ridicule me. They are your friends.”
“Exactly, they're my friends. You shouldn't be hanging around them.”
Our parents looked confused and asked what was going on. I told them that it was nothing, mine was more of an empty threat, but apparently, I had pushed Lester to the breaking point, because he was sharing details that I wished he wouldn't.
“Jeff?” my mom said stunned. “Why in the world would you want to go out with him? What in the world were you doing at the beach with him in the middle of the night drinking?”
I could have killed my brother. He was practically dying laughing inside. I could see it on his face. It wasn't cracked with this huge smile, but more like something of false concern. He had somehow tricked our parents into thinking that he was a good guy, but I knew better. He was not good at all. He was making the situation worse, which was saying something, because it was already complicated.
“What are the two of you going on about?” Mom asked.
“Nothing, there is nothing going on with me and Jeff. Lester is just trying to start something because he knows that you don't like him.”
“With good reason. You know that I don’t dislike people for no reason. It’s not Christian. There's always been something about him that I just didn't like. You should listen to that inner voice telling you that something is off with that boy.”
Lester had this huge smile on his face now that my parents weren't paying him attention. He successfully came across as the good son. At this point, I just wanted to spite him. They were always going to see him as perfect and me as the black sheep as it was anyway. It's not like there was anything I could do to change it. I didn't even know that I cared to. What was the point?
“I’m going to go take a shower.”
“Were you really with him?” my brother asked. He said he just had to know. I should have lied to him, that's what Jeff and I had agreed to, but I just couldn't do it. It wasn't because I couldn't lie to my brother, but because of the hard time he had given me. I wanted to do the same. Instead of saying anything that was agreed upon and smart, I said, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I saw the expression on his face, and he was not happy. That was my prize. He could be our parents’ favorite and I would continue to be the black sheep, if I got to get my barbs in every once and a while.
I groaned inwardly as I made it up the stairs. I shouldn’t have done that. All I was doing was starting WW3, and for what? It made me feel better, but only for a few moments. It didn’t take long at all for me to start to worry about all the consequences that were going to come from this. I really should have kept my mouth shut. Getting Lester back was going to be something I paid for.
20
Jeff
Iwas just getting into work when I saw Lester coming toward me. We hadn’t spoken since the incident with his sister, and he didn't look any happier. I made a mental note to not lose my cool. He was my best friend, and I was in the wrong. No matter how stupid things got, I needed to remember that. Very soon we were going to be friends again, so I didn't want to say or do anything that would jeopardize that.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on with you and my sister?”
I wasn't ready for him to come out with it right out of the gate. I should have been, I swear I had ten minutes to get ready, so why wasn't I prepared when he was standing in front of me?
“What do you mean?”
“Don't play stupid with me. My parents said that my sister was out all night, and I'm pretty sure she was with you. She practically said as much a little while ago.”
Lester was not quiet, and people were already starting to look at us. I thought it would be better to talk about this somewhere else and surprisingly, that got him really upset.
“So, there is something to talk about?” His voice just kept rising.
“What the fuck, man? We’ve been friends for how long? Why are you fucking with my sister?” Lester was all curse words when it came to Beatrice. He never usually talked that way. I felt guilty because I knew it was my fault. I had started this, and knowing what would go down, I’d still chosen to pursue her. I didn’t feel good about that, not seeing how upset Lester was. He looked like he was about to lose his cool for real.
Again, this was a perfect opportunity to deny everything. He didn't know the truth, didn't have to know the truth, all I had to do was just deny it. How could he figure it out? There was no proof, unless Beatrice told him, and I didn't think she was going to. Neither one of us wanted the results of that.
Then again, I was getting it anyway, so what did it really matter?
