Lyrical Love Letter

“Shut up Alex!” She screamed clutching her head as she bent slightly hunched over. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

The Gaskarth brothers stood on either side of their cousin, both poised several feet away from her, both looking defensive.

“Tell me what he fucking did to you Melissa!” Alex demanded angrily. “Just tell me what happened and I promise it will never happen again.” The brothers both had a good instinct for what had happened but both boys needed the information confirmed before they would act on it. Act on it—That was exactly what Missy feared. She didn’t want her cousins to act on the information she withheld from them.

“Answer him Missy before this gets out of hand!” Logan barked.

“Nothing fucking happened, Alex!” Her eyes, mirror images of his own deep chocolate eyes, flashed to Alex. Her cheeks were red and blotchy and tear strained.

“Don’t fucking lie to us!” In an instant Logan had taken two steps forward and grabbed her forearm roughly. In one swift movement he pushed the sleeve of her blouse up revealing a set of hand prints that wrapped around her arm. Alex was slower than his brother in movements but his stride was steady as he walked carefully toward her, his eyes fixated on her bruises.

“Tell me who did this to you, Missy.” Alex’s voice was calm but the undercurrent in his voice scared Missy.

“No one,” She whispered her voice shaky. Alex was the last person anyone would fear but he was one of the first for Missy. Alex was fiercely protective of Missy and she was pretty sure that Alex would stop at no lengths to be sure his cousin, the closest thing he had to a little sister, was safe. “No one did it.” Alex stared at her, his eyes flat and his gaze hard. After several moments Alex sighed and took a step back from her.

“Let her go, Logan.” Alex said, his eyes locked with Missy’s shaken form. Logan’s eyes shifted to his brother.

“Are you fucking kid-“

“Let her go Logan. Unless you want to complicate things. Melissa says nothing happened,” A million emotions were fighting for dominance inside Alex. “So nothing happened.” Even though every fiber within Alex screamed Lies, Lies, Lies. Logan glared at Missy before releasing her arm and taking a step back. A string of curses left Logan’s lips as he made his way to the kitchen. Shakily Missy drew a cigarette from her back pocket and produced an Ed Hardy lighter.

“Those will kill you, you know. Grandpa died of lung cancer.”

“Fuck off Alex.” Missy growled blowing smoke into his face and escaping for the front door. Alex just shook his head, staring at the space his cousin had once been.

“Shit.” He sighed, running a hand over his face tiredly.
_________________________________________________________________________
“You alright, Sunny?” Declan questioned. Juliette glanced over at her brother; eyes glued to his side kick, his thumbs pounding the keys furiously. Juliette rolled her eyes and made her way toward the front door. Declan never looked up from the device, never showing an ounce of care or worry for his twin.

“I’m perfect.” Juliette mumbled, several sheets of paper clutched in her hand. She waited for her brother to pick up on the obvious lie in her words but he only nodded and continued texting. Juliette sighed and rolled her eyes before walking out the front door.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Mmmhmm.”

Juliette slammed the front door behind her and walked miserably down her street. Ever since Declan started dating Melanie, Declan had been a nonexistent figure in Juliette’s life. Rian was with Kara, She didn’t know Zack well enough to go to him, Jack was not the right person to approach, and Logan was dealing with his own problems. Approaching Alex with her problems, Juliette knew, would only lead to bad things.

So as Juliette walked mutely down the street her eyes scanned over the top sheet of the four page stack of papers. On the top of each paper read in bold letters: Child Custody, Visitation, and Support Request. Juliette wanted to scream.

On the top of the paper read: Served By: Renee Barkalow. So Mother hasn’t finalized the divorce yet. Juliette thought to herself. She sighed and moved the paper to the bottom of the pile as she continued walking down her street.

The second paper read: Served By: Benjamin Mitchell Dawson. Sending that paper to the back of the pile the third paper read: Served By: Collin Henry Barkalow.

Juliette rolled her eyes before flipping to the last page. Served By: David Michael Navarro.

“Shit,” Juliette breathed staring down at the name. “This is un-fucking-believable. This has to be a god-damn record.” Juliette grumbled to herself. “A four-way custody battle. What a joke.” The whole thing was ridiculous in Juliette’s, by the time the court finally came to a decision Juliette hoped to already be 18.

Of course no one but Juliette’s lawyer knew that she had a copy of the served custody papers. When Juliette found out that Collin and David both wanted custody over her she had contacted an old lawyer of her mother’s.

The only problem with the whole situation was that if and when the custody battle went to court there was a chance that Juliette and Declan would be sent into foster care because their Uncle Ben, their current guardian, was also involved with the battle.

“Watch where you’re fucking going,” Juliette slammed into a body, while her eyes had wondered down the papers in her hand. When she glanced up, surprised eyes met Missy’s annoyed ones. “bitch.” She grumbled walking away.

“If you have something to say,” Juliette snarled. “Say it to my face, coward.” Today was not the day to piss off Juliette Barkalow.

“I said,” Missy said whirling around to face Juliette. Today was not the day to piss of Missy Taylor. “Watch where you’re going, bitch.” Before Juliette had realized what she had done Missy shrieked and was on the ground. Missy stared down at her broken cigarette. “Bitch!” she shrieked before jumping to her feet and lunging at Juliette. The two fell to the ground in a mess of hair pulling and shrieks. Suddenly arms were around Juliette’s waist and she was being pulled away from Missy.
_______________________________________________________________________
“What the hell, Sunny?” For some reason the voice of her brother made Juliette angrier just as the sound of Alex’s voice seemed to make Missy angrier.

“What is your fucking problem, Missy?” Alex demanded as he held Missy back while both girls fought from their respected family members’ hold. Juliette struggled in her brother’s grip while Missy cursed Alex to hell.

“If you don’t let me go Alexander I’m going to murder you!” Missy screamed angrily as she elbowed him in the stomach.

“You’re a fucking psycho!” Alex declared. “What the hell did Juliette do to you?”

“What are you thinking, Sun?” Declan wondered bewildered. “She’s fifteen for Christ sake.”

“Let go!” The two yelled in unison fighting from their captors. Juliette gave a short jerk of her arm and lurched forward causing Declan to loose his hold on his sister. Missy elbowed Alex as hard as she could then stomped on his foot, his grip slipped.

Missy and Juliette moved quickly out of arm’s reach of Alex and Declan, they stood side by side. For the first time the two girls stared at their favorite relatives as though they were their enemies. The two girls took one look at Alex and Declan and then turned their gaze on each other. With her papers clutched in hand, Juliette and Missy took off together down the street and away from the people they loved.