He's My Brother's Best Friend and My Enemy, This Can't Be Good!

Jayden was now in the middle of the room staring at the two of us with a blank expression. Max had finally entered the room and was rummaging through his suitcase looking for clothes. Parker was currently sitting on the edge of it, still a bit delirious from his slumber.

“What is going on?” Jayden asked, keeping his eyes glued to the two of us.

Jayden was acting ridiculous. It was like he caught us making out or something when really we were just sleeping. I stole a glance at Parker. He was still in shock. I knew I was going to have to handle this battle on my own.

“What do you mean what’s going on?” I asked, trying to think of an excuse as to why I was asleep with Parker.

“What do you mean what’s going on?” I asked trying to think of an excuse as to why I was asleep with Parker.

“What are you doing in here?” Jayden asked slowly.

“I forgot my room key,” I confessed. I barely recognized the words leaving my mouth. I had no idea how I thought up a logical excuse. Jayden was staring at me waiting for me to continue. “When I left you guys I came back to my room before realizing I had left the key in the room. I knew the front desk wouldn’t give me one since the rooms are under your name so I was sitting outside,” I continued.

“I saw her when I came up to the room and figured she could hang out here until you guys came back,” Parker added quickly.

Jayden was still watching the two of us. I could tell he was thinking, trying to figure out if what we were saying was the truth. Max was back from changing. He had been listening the whole time. He was behind Jayden now, looking at me with a worried expression.

“Well, since you guys are back I might as well be heading back,” I said. I grabbed my shirt that I had placed at the foot of Parker’s bed and walked into the bathroom to change. When I came back out the boys were all sitting on their respective beds. Max trying his best to ignore the tension was on his phone, most likely texting Ava. I threw the borrowed shirt toward Parker’s bed, before making my way to the doorway. “I’ll see you boys in the morning.”

When the door closed behind me I breathed a sign of relief before walking back toward my room. I didn’t get to far before I heard my name being called. I turned around to find my brother standing there with his arms crossed.

“What’s up Jayden?” I asked trying to keep my cool. Leave it to Jayden to be interested in my life tonight.

“Since when do you accept Parker’s help?” he questioned arms still folded.

I guess I was stupid for suspecting that Jayden had bought Parker and I’s last minute excuse. I wish he would have. I really wished Parker hadn’t had followed me and I was sleeping in my bed right now.

“It was better than sleeping on the hotel floor. Plus, I figured you’d be pissed if he had walked passed me to go to his room and left me outside,” I said. Even if Parker and I weren’t a couple I would have taken the offer for the exact reason I told Jayden. To keep peace between the two of them.

“I think there’s more to the story Josylne,” Jayden insisted. “Why were you in his shirt?”

“I had no pajamas and my shirt was bothering me,” I added swiftly. “God Jayden you make it seem like I slept with him.”

“You were sleeping with him.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” I added irritated. “I don’t get what the big deal is.”

“Are you kidding me? A few months ago you two were killing each other and now your all cuddled up in a bed sleeping. You don’t see that as a reason of concern?” Jayden bellowed.

“It’s not your place to be concerned Jayden,” I hissed. Jayden had no reason to be acting like an overprotective brother right now.

“Yes, it fucking is Josylne!” he exclaimed.

“I’m not having this discussion with you right now Jayden. It always ends badly and I want all of us to have a nice trip. So I’m going to bed now,” I stated before walking away from my brother. He didn’t follow.

I entered my dark room to find Miranda sleeping and Ava’s face dimly lit up by her phone. I quickly changed into my pajamas before climbing into my bed. I fell asleep despite my level of worry.

***

Jayden had arranged for the front desk to send a wake up call to both rooms at eight in the morning. The plan was to get on the road by nine so that we could be up in the mountain by noon. It took the three of us forty minutes to get our selves and belongings ready. We met the boys down in the lobby an hour later. Once again we all piled into a van.

I was dreading the drive to Mountain High more than I’ve ever dreaded anything. It was about a two hour drive and there was obvious tension in the van. Luck appeared to be on my side however because Miranda had said nothing about last nights events, which lead me to believe that Jayden had not told her anything yet.

We made it to the resort faster than I had expected. After checking in and getting settled into our two rooms, we headed down to the rental shop. The boys had scheduled snowboarding lessons for the six of us for tomorrow. We were simply supposed to rent our equipment today and just explore the area. Of course once the boys had their snowboards in hand there was no way we weren’t going to the snow. With our equipment in tow we headed toward the mountain. We ended up finding an empty area not to far from the ski lifts but far enough way that we wouldn’t bother the regulars.

“Why can’t we just wait until tomorrow to do this?” Miranda whined. She was struggling to get her boots strapped into the bindings. Jayden simply ignored her question and helped her into them. “None of us even no what were doing!” she added.

“Speak for yourselves,” Max said. He was currently strapped into the board and standing up. Ava was standing up behind him making it look effortless.

“Do you have anymore hidden talents we don’t know about?” I asked Ava. She just shrugged her shoulders before coming to assist me.

Max and Ava attempted to help the four of us for an hour and a half before they gave up. They were clearly getting irritated by our inability to listen to them. The four of us were now sitting on the snow. Ava and Max had left to do a run down one of the slopes. I watched them as they walked away to get on the ski lift to head up the mountain. Once they were out of sight I dropped my gaze to play in the snow by my feet.

I didn’t realize that I was building tiny snowballs at first until I had about ten by my feet. Parker, who was originally next to his sister, was now standing over me.

“Preparing for a war?” he smirked.

I quickly glanced over at Jayden and Miranda. They were engulfed in a conversation, clearly ignoring the two of us. My gaze returned to Parker’s. He now had one of my snow balls in his hand.

“Parker don’t you dare.”

Parker took a few step away from me before tossing the snowball. It hit my leg with a thud. I quickly stood up grabbing my own snow ball and aimed for him. It made direct contact with his stomach. He grumbled for a second before bending down to form another snowball. This was war.

Parker lobbed another snowball my way, this one hitting my stomach. I threw another before running in the opposite direction as he. Parker of course followed after me, still throwing snowballs or rather snow at me. I stopped abruptly to catch my breath. Before I knew it I was lying on the cold ground with Parker on top of me. I managed to turn underneath him so my face could see his. He was still hovering over me.

“That was uncalled for,” I laughed.

“You shouldn’t have stopped running,” he smirked. Parker placed a kiss upon my lips before getting up off of me. Once he was up he offered his hand to help me. I took it but pulled him back down to the snow. “What was that for?” he asked rubbing his head.

“Pay back,” I smirked.

He got up once more and this time I let him pull me up. I brushed the snow off my jacket and his before Parker pulled me close to him. We were standing there hugging for no more than a minute before we were interrupted.

“What the hell did I miss?” Miranda questioned.

I quickly untangled myself from Parker’s arms and was met with the faces of the others. Fuck. There was no way we were getting out of this situation this time.

“Are you gonna explain what’s going on or are you gonna make up some bull shit excuse again?” Jayden sneered.

I instinctively put more space between the two of us. Miranda’s attention was now focused on Jayden. She still didn’t know what happened last night. Ava and Max were still behind Jayden and Miranda, looking at us with fear.

“What are you talking about?” Miranda asked Jayden. Jayden quickly filled Miranda in on the events of last night. Her face had gone from a smile to deep in thought.

“Jayden I told you I’m not doing this now,” I said calmly. I really did not want to have this conversation on this trip. Let alone out in the public where everyone could hear us yelling.

“You probably should have thought about that before,” Jayden snapped.

“Don’t talk to your sister like that,” Parker defended.

“Shut up Parker,” Jayden snapped again.

“Let’s not do this here,” Max said stepping between the four of us. “Come on.”

The four of us followed Max and Ava back to the resort and into the girl’s room. I was really hoping that Jayden and Miranda would have opted out of this reunion but unfortunately my luck for the day had run out. Once inside the room we stood in similar spots as we had outside.

“I still don’t know what is going on,” Miranda confessed. She had left Jayden’s side and was now sitting with her legs crossed on her bed. Ava followed suit and sat on her bed beside me. Max stayed standing between the two of us, but not directly between us.

“All I know is that they’re lying to us,” Jayden muttered load enough for all of us to hear.

His words caused me to wince. I hated lying to my brother. He was supposed to be the one person I could tell things to. I wasn’t ready for the backlash that was going to happen. Jayden was standing there still waiting for a response. I looked up at Parker searching for an answer on his face. He looked down at me briefly before looking back up. I took a deep breath in, dreading what was going to happen.

“You’re right,” Parker said. Jayden’s eyes formed into tight slits as he tried to put the pieces together. I could feel my hands trembling by my side. I still wasn’t breathing. Parker moved a step closer to me before taking my hand in his, the trembling immediately stopping.

“Wait, are you two a couple?” Miranda stuttered.

Parker was still holding my hand. He looked down at me before turning to respond to his sister. I gripped Parker’s hand tighter.

“Yeah.”

I quickly dropped my gaze to the floor. Afraid of meeting the judgmental eyes of my brother and best friend. My hand that was not held by Parker’s began to tremble again. Ava reached her hand out to hold mine. I let my gaze leave the floor to meet hers, she was worried.

“How long?” Miranda mumbled.

Parker dropped his head this time. This was the answer that was going to kill Miranda. We could have lied and sugar coated it but that wouldn’t have been fair. I knew it was my turn to take part in this conversation. To save Parker from hurting his sister.

“Three months technically,” I gulped.

As the words left my mouth I realized what I had said. Parker and I had been together for three months, despite one week and a half break up. We had hidden a relationship for three months. We had said I love you multiple times in a three month span. Three months wasn’t a long time for some, but for us it was an eternity.

Miranda didn’t want to believe the words I had said. She kept looking at me like I had betrayed her. The worst thing about it was that I did betray her. I deserved every disappointed look she shot my way. Just when I thought she was going to say something she stopped herself and began to cry. For the first time since we got to the room Jayden stopped staring down Parker and looked towards Miranda. Seeing her cry killed me. I never wanted to hurt her but here she was crying because of me.

“Miranda I-” I started letting go of both Parker’s and Ava’s hands.

“Save it Josylne,” Jayden snapped.

This time it was my eyes that filled with tears. I silently cursed myself. For once I’d love to have control of my emotions. Max was the first person to acknowledge I was crying. He quickly crossed over to me. Taking my hand in his he lead me to where Ava sat on the bed. Once seated I let my head fall into my hands. The tears falling onto my warm hands.

I didn’t see Jayden drag Miranda out of the room. I only heard the door shut behind them and when I did I let out a sob. Parker’s attention immediately shifted toward me. He walked over and kneeled in front of me. Taking my hands and separating them from my face. He made me look at him.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

Parker stood up and pulled my into his arms. I cried against his chest. His hands combed through my hair trying to get me to calm down. My tears finally subsided but I stayed pressed against him. He turned slightly so I could see Max and Ava. They were sitting on Ava’s bed hands intertwined.

“It could have gone worse,” Max said trying to ease the mood.

“The night is still young,” Parker muttered.

I hugged Parker tighter before leaving his arms to hug Max and Ava. I was so grateful for them. Here they were putting themselves in the middle of a war that they did not need to be involved in.

“Thank you guys for everything.”