“Then what’s your problem?” I blink and the threatening tears overflow, my voice cracking slightly. I’m unsure if my emotions are anger or relief that my brother doesn’t think I’m a complete fuck-up.
“Him!” Harry shouts, gesturing to Jake.
“What?!” Jake, Lisa, and I all say at the same time.
“Dude, I love you but you kind of get around a bit.”
“Oh what, and you never had casual sex before you got married?” Jake says with more snap than I’ve heard him talk to Harry with before.
“You’re going to marry my sister now?” Harry snarks back.
“Maybe!” Jake shouts.
“Whoa, let’s all just calm down,” I interrupt before my heart gives out completely.
“You know every time things start to look a little serious with a girl, he bails?” Harry says to me.
My cheeks flush and I look to the floor because I don’t know what to say to that.
Lisa claps her hands together once and gets everyone’s attention. “Okay, we’re all going to take a breath. Nel, come with me. Harry, talk to your friend and apologise for being a dick. Then come find Nel to do the same.”
Lisa practically shoves Harry at us and holds her hand out to me, which I take, letting her lead me to the kitchen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Don’t say flesh when you’re talking about my sister.”
JAKE
"What the actual fuck, Harry?” Okay, I’m pissed. I knew Harry would be a little surprised. I knew he would probably react poorly to begin with. I knew his anger would be with me, not Nel no matter what she thought. But outright saying I’m not good enough is a major kick in the balls. I mean, this guy is meant to be my best friend, my ride or die, the Goose to my Maverick. Not the guy shitting on me for being a little fast and loose with Little Jake over the years. Seriously, the guy was basically Casanova at university before he met Lisa. Where does he get off judging me?
“Not here,” he says, grabbing our coats from the hooks and throwing mine at me. “Outside.”
We head out the door and I look back to see if I can catch Nel’s eye to see if she’s okay, but she and Lisa have long gone. The air is bitter and the sun has set, so we walk up the street by the light of Pear Street’s Christmas lights.
“H,” I sigh, trying to lose some of my anger. “Is that really what you think of me?”
He groans and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry, dude. That all came out wrong.”
“Well, how was it supposed come out, Harry?” I start walking at a slow pace. He huffs, clearly uncomfortable and unsure of how to respond, so I give him a break and start this conversation off. “I know you’re protective of Nel, it’s natural, she’s your little sister. But mate, you know you can’t be mad with this, right? We’ve not done anything wrong.”
He stops to look at me, we’ve barely made it past the front of his massive house, walking at such a slow pace. His head hangs, takes a deep breath and lets it out before looking back up to meet my eye. “Nel barely sees me right now. She’s always too busy or too tired to come out to us, and when we lost Mum and Dad, it got worse. I had to beg to get her here and I think she’s enjoyed it. I want her to come by more often, have more of a relationship with the boys, and I think that’s more likely now she’s spent Christmas with us. But it won’t happen if you fuck this up.”
What he’s saying makes sense, but I still can’t help the punch to my gut. “And you think I’m going to fuck this up.” It’s not a question, he basically just told me as much. Me and Nel.
He looks at me helplessly. “Come on man, you’ve broken up with every girl who ever got slightly attached.”
“Isn’t every relationship unsuccessful until you find the one that succeeds?”
“So Nel’s the one, is she?” he asks sceptically.
“I don’t know dude,” I shrug. “Before this weekend, I hadn’t seen her in the flesh for years.”
He screws his face up. “Don’t say flesh when you’re talking about my sister.”
I snort and continue walking along the pavement. “But you should know, I’ve been following her on social media. I lied before when I said I’d seen one or two posts; I’ve seen them all. I kind of became enraptured by her. I meant it when I said you should check out her posts, H. I think she’s a wildly different person to the sister you think you know.”
He still looks unsure, stopping his steps and looking out to the road in contemplation.
