Sister, I'm Not Much a Poet but a Criminal

"I don't even want to know what happened in here," Ariella grumbled as she walked in. We were all still randomly sprawled across the room after our war.

"We just had an orgy, that's all," Gerard grinned up at her from where he lay on the floor. Her jaw dropped, and she turned to me. She must have known it was a joke, but it somehow seemed to offend her.

"Don't worry, I just watched."

The look of horror deepened on her face, and everyone cracked up. When she noticed Ray laughing as well, she hit him on the arm.

"Don't laugh at that! It's not funny!"

"Not to you, maybe, but it is to the rest of us," he argued.

She scowled and sat on a chair, spinning it around to stare out the window.

"Come on, Ariella. We were just having some fun," I sighed, rolling my eyes at her immaturity. That's right, the girl who was just involved in a massive pillow fight is calling her immature.

"I know, but I don't want to hear anything like that. Especially not when it involves my baby sister," she pouted.

"But it didn't involve her," Frank persisted. "She told you she just watched all of us."

I tried to hold back a laugh, but Ariella spun back around and caught me grinning. She shook her head as if in disbelief that I found it funny.

"Just because you're dating him, it doesn't mean you have to laugh at all of his jokes."

"I know. There've been a couple times that I've left him hanging. But usually he's funny. And if his attempt at a joke isn't, the look on his face when I don't laugh sure is!"

She shook her head again and I stood up.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

I shrugged and walked towards the back of the bus. I wasn't ignoring her or trying to irritate her, I was simply leaving before we got into a fight. I wasn't going to forget about the promise I'd made that we wouldn't do that anymore. I sat down in the studio, and it wasn't long before Frank joined me. He shut the door and sat down beside me.

"So what made you decide to tell me you love me?"

I turned to him, surprised. "I felt it."

"Yeah, but... you don't think I'm going to hurt you?"

"I trust you. If you were ever to hurt me, it wouldn't be intentional. I know you well enough to see that."

"But you couldn't see it the other day?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't want to say it before because you didn't want anyone to have the power to hurt you like that. What's changed since then?"

I couldn't help but be a little confused. Why did it matter so much?

"I was just honest with myself and I realized that if I care about you this much, you've already got that power. Three little words can't affect it."

"You don't think I'll abuse the power?"

I laughed. "No, I don't think you'll abuse the power. Nothing's going to change between us because of this, don't worry. Nothing bad will happen just because we've admitted we're in love."

"You promise?"

He looked like a five-year old that just broken a lamp. The worried expression that wrinkled his brow was so unbelievably cute that I couldn't help but smile.

"I promise. As long as we're here together, we'll be okay."

He slid his arms smoothly around me and I leaned in. He kissed me softly and I lay my head on his shoulder. We sat there for a long moment before returning to the others.

"Where'd you go?" Ariella was still seated on the chair, and everyone else had moved off of the floor and onto some kind of furniture. I flopped down on the couch, bringing up my legs and laying them across Mikey's lap.

"Excuse me?" he asked, pretending to be annoyed. He wasn't a very good actor, because I could tell he was hiding a smile.

"Thank you for being my footstool," I replied.

"I asked you a question," Ariella pointed out.

"There's not a whole lot of options to answer it. We were somewhere on the bus."

She sighed. "You two don't do anything apart. I'd hate to see what you'd be like if you were married."

I blinked in disbelief. "You and Ray are the same way."

"Not quite. I don't make him do everything with me, and I let him have space."

"And I don't?" I could feel colour creeping into my cheeks.

"You follow each other around like lost puppies. He follows you around the bus, and you follow him around when you're off of it. You even follow him out for cigarettes."

"I don't follow him just for the hell of it. I'm out there smoking, too."

My eyes mirrored hers as they widened in shock. The room went dead silent and everyone turned to see Ariella's reaction. They weren't shocked by my confession, mainly because all of them already knew. What they were shocked by was who I'd just told. I was shocked, too, and wishing desperately that I could take back the words that had poured from my mouth out of rage. This was way worse than insulting her.

This was a death sentence.