Together We Made It

After explaining to her brother what had happened, and stopping him from running off to go kill her step-father, Lyric managed to get her brother to tell her what had happened to him. They were sitting on the swings of a playground about two miles away from her house. Kyle was at the point in his story where he first showed up at the house.

"I wasn't sure which house was yours, but I saw mom getting out of the car, and knew it was yours. When I asked her if you were there, she said that you were off at a friends house, so I decided to wait until you got home. that's when I saw you walking up with Ethan. I knew mom had said that you were at a friends house, but I didn't know that she meant your boyfriend...so I was kinda surprised when you showed up with him." Kyle pushed off gently from the ground.

"Wow...you sat outside the house for that long? Geez! Why didn't you at least wait in the house? You wouldn't have been as surprised that way." Lyric laughed.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to be the first to see you." Kyle laughed as he flew higher.

Lyric shook her head and pushed off the ground to try and match her brothers height. He swung higher and the frame squeaked. Lyric looked over at her brother and noticed that he was smiling broadly. She hadn't seen him smile since she had told him what happened. She didn't want him to lose the smile so she decided not to tell him about the recent visit from her ex-boyfriend.

she looked back out at the horizon and saw that the sun was starting to set. She had realized how long they had been talking for.

"Hey, do you think that maybe we should head back soon?" She asked as she started to slow her swing down.

"Yeah...we probably should. hey, I dare you to jump." Kyle told her grinning.

"What? you actually still dare people? how old are you exactly?" Lyric questioned.

"No questions, just do it." Kyle told her.

"Fine." Lyric huffed and got her swing back up to speed.

She was afraid of jumping off at the height she was at, but she'd never admit that to her brother. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for the force of the impact before letting go. She hit the ground and tried to roll out of it, but she didn't have as much momentum as she had thought. She felt her ankle turn awkwardly to the side before she finally came to a stop.

A few minutes later she heard her brother land with a thump beside her.

"Hey, Lyric, you OK?" He asked.

for a minute she didn't answer. She lay there and tested her ankle before answering him.

"I think I hurt my ankle..."

"Ah, shit...that wasn't planned. I didn't expect you to get hurt...crap. what now?" Kyle started worrying.

"Look, just get me home. I don't think it's anything serious and I can explain it to mom without anyone getting in any trouble." Lyric told him calmly as she rolled over onto her back.

He looked at her for a minute and then nodded. She sat up as best she could and he picked her up bridal style.

"Are you really going to carry me all the way back to the house like this?" She asked.

"You'd be surprised how long I can last carrying you like this. You weigh close to nothing."

"not even!" Lyric protested.

"Yes even. now shut up." Kyle jolted her slightly.

the rest of the walk was quiet and Lyric managed to pull her phone out of her pocket so that she could call her mom and warn her ahead of time. Her mother offered to come pick them up but Kyle denied the offer because he considered it "quality time". After hanging up, Lyric reached up and slapped Kyle's chest.

"what was that for?" Kyle asked incredulously. "do you want me to drop you?"

"hey! you can't drop me! and that was because I felt like hitting you...no real good reason really..."Lyric shrugged as best she could.

Kyle smirked and pretended to drop her. Lyric gave a slight shriek and grabbed onto his neck so that she wouldn't fall. Kyle laughed and readjusted his grip on her so that she wouldn't really fall. Lyric stared at him incredulously and then began to pout. Kyle laughed harder and shook his head before continuing to walk home.

They finally reached the house and somehow Kyle managed to get the door open while still holding onto Lyric. he dropped her not so gently on the couch and went up the stairs to try and find their mom. When he returned, Ms. Bouet followed closely behind.

"Are you OK?" She asked quickly.

"I'll be fine if I put a wrap on it. i didn't break it...I think. I probably just sprained it or something." Lyric blew the injury off as if it was nothing.

Her brother and mom looked at her dubiously and sighed before walking into the kitchen to talk. Lyric pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Ethan, asking him if he could come over. He quickly responded and she soon heard a knock on their front door.

"Come in!" She called.

She heard him carefully open the door and then her mom direct him into the living room. When he saw her, he stopped and turned angrily towards her brother.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I dared her to jump off of a swing...I didn't think she would actually do it. when she landed she hurt her ankle." Kyle admitted sheepishly.

"Ethan, don't get mad at him. I was the one stupid enough to jump off of the swing. He was nice enough to carry me all the way home...do you know how long that is?" Lyric asked sitting up so that I could look at him.

He looked at her and sighed before apologizing to her brother. He walked over and sat beside her on the couch. She moved forward a little so that he was sitting behind her, and once he got situated, leaned back against him. They sat like that, not saying a thing, for a long time. eventually Lyric's mom and brother went upstairs to sleep and give the two some privacy.

Once her mom had left the room, Lyric turned and kissed Ethan sweetly. He kissed her back before gently pulling away. He rested his forehead against hers looked into her eyes.

"Even all bruised up and hurt your beautiful." He whispered.

Lyric blushed and kissed him again before pulling away and laying back down on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and they went back to sitting in silence. it wasn't long before they both fell asleep.