You Drain The Life From Me.

"What...what the..." I screamed at the sight of him. "Jesus!"

"No, I'm Garrett."

I rolled my eyes at his smart-ass response and kicked my legs every which way. They hit Garrett. Hard. So he fell out of my bed. I had woken up to see his smiling creeper face staring at me, so I woke up with a start.

"Fuck, Leigh!"

"Garrett, you were like two inches from my face. I'm sorry that you were so ugly that I screamed at the sight of you."

He sat up and scowled at me immediately. "God, people treat the help like such shit these days."

I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion. "The help?"

"I'm your slave for today, remember?"

I worked hard to think through my nasty hangover. "Oh...yeah! Yeah," I said with a devious smile.

He groaned. "I forgot that you were an evil child, straight from the deepest pits of hell."

"Yeah? You must have not fully met my brother then, jackass. Go get me Tylenol and water."

Garrett walked off whistling, down the stairs. I could hear him banging around in the kitchen and John entered my room.

"You know what I heard from Pat last night?"

"What, John?"

"Pat said Garrett likes you..."

"Pat was drunk."

"So?"

"He could have been bullshitting you."

"Drunk words are sober thoughts!"

"Pat doesn't think."

"Give the poor boy some credit!"

"Well he doesn't like me."

"Who doesn't like you? I'll kick their asses," Garrett offered suddenly and excitedly.

"You can't kick your own ass..." John mumbled.

I took a football from the ground and threw it at his forehead.

"Fucking potato chip!" John yelled.

"John Cornelius! Watch your language, young man!" yelled my mother from the kitchen. I laughed.

"Slave, get this asshole out of here."

Garrett put down the pills and water and grabbed John's arm and dragged him out of the room. "You can't deny it anymore!" he sing songed.

My brother was such a dick.

When Garrett came back, I had already downed the pills and was starting to feel much better. 

"So, what're we gonna do today?"

"Left 4 Dead 2, obviously."

I grabbed his hand and we went into John's room.

"I see you've forgiven me, little sister!"

I raised my middle finger and turned on the PlayStation 3.

"Wanna play?" asked Garrett.

I guess John nodded because suddenly, there was a third controller signal on the screen.

"Um...Leigh," John mumbled.

I gave him my best stink eye.

"I kind of sort of lost Left 4 Dead..."

"You what?!" Garrett and I yelled in unison.

"I..."

"Ugh, whatever, don't even explain anymore," I sighed and shoved in Black Ops.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The lost game was long forgotten in another round of Free For All. We were playing online with Halvo and his girlfriend Isa across the street. A mix of Ryan Adams, Death Cab For Cutie, Third Eye Blind, Limp Bizkit, and Everclear played in the background.

"Bitch, you are so going down!" yelled John.

"John, you play like a girl!" Garrett exclaimed.

"John, stop screaming for fuck's sake! They're not real gunshots!" I rolled my eyes.

"Garrett, stop killing me!" John.

"Halvo, I can hear you breathing. Close your mouth." All of us combined.

"John, stop dying." Isa.

"Is that a tear I see in your eye, John?" Garrett.

"Leigh, stop it, God!" John.

"Slave, go get me some Sour Patch Kids."

The game was paused as John sat there, pouting.

"Face it, big bro. You suck at this game."

I could hear Isa and Halvo over the Bluetooth. They thought I couldn't.

"Pat told me about Garrett's crush on Leigh," said Halvo.

"You know, I think she likes him."

"You think? I'm surprised they aren't already together. I mean I know Garrett spits out all this bullshit about them having sex all the time but I mean come on. We all know Garrett's a flirt."

John turned to me. I expected an I-Told-You-So expression, but he softly asked, "Do you like him, Leigh?"

I faced the television, holding back tears as I thought about how Garrett was a flirt, just like Isa said. Even if I admit I liked him, it wouldn't make a difference at all. Garrett wouldn't care. He would just take advantage of me and then throw me to the side.

John repeated, "Do you?"

Before I could turn around and answer, the door opened and Garrett walked back in.

"I come bearing gifts!"

A box of Watermelon Sour Patch Kids was plopped onto my lap and the game started again.

"Dudes," Garrett said, only talking to Halvo and John, "I have a date tonight with Rachael Roberts!"

I bit my lip, hard. My hands tightened around my controller.

"I think we're just hanging at her house. I bet you know what's gonna happen there..."

I couldn't stand being here. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see John look at me with a worried expression. I ran over to where Garrett's player was and aimed.

"But it probably won't be as good as the sex Leigh and I have, right Leigh?" he asked with a smirk.

Fuck it. I unleashed my fury on the virtual Garrett in front of me, shooting out as many bullets as I could before he dropped dead.

"Leigh! What was that for?!"

I shook my head and set my controller down. My voice wouldn't come and I didn't dare let it, afraid it would crack.

John looked up at me, his worry intensified. I just nodded and answered his previous question with, "Yes John, I do," then walked out of his room, locking the door on mine.

I could hear Garrett ask frantically, "What did I do?"

"Man, I can't believe you don't know. Fuck you. I think you should leave."

There was a door slamming. Feet going down the stairs. John sighing. A knock on the door.

"Can I please come in, baby sister?"

I unlocked the door and just stood there, still holding back tears.

One second.

Two.

Three seconds and John was hugging me and water was pouring down my cheeks, sobs fighting their way through my mouth.

Nothing was said. Just an older brother comforting his younger sister after she got her heart broken.

My tears came less frequently. I was no longer hiccuping. I could breathe. In and out. In and out. Once more.

"Leigh, I...I'm sorry."

"Why are you-you sor-sorry?"

Well, there go the hiccups again.

"I'm apologizing because I know Garrett won't."

I knew he was right. Garrett wouldn't even notice that I didn't want to be around him anymore.

"Re-remember when I was like, te-ten and Garr-Garrett said he loved me? And you go-got mad at him because only fa-family could say that to me? And I said Gar-Garrett was family, so it was okay for him to say that, but you told me it was a different kind of love? I understood and told Garrett I loved him too, and we-we 'went out' to like Chuck-E Cheese and stuff, but then one day he told me he didn't love me anymore because I wasn't girly enough so the next day I came to school in the only skirt I had, but by then Garrett had a new girlfriend. So you went up to him and pushed him off the swing."

"That asshole. I don't even remember that. Damn, Leigh. The past seriously has a way of repeating itself, doesn't it?"