Forever's Not Supposed to End

Nathan's point of view

I turned around in my seat again and looked at my brother.

He was still fast asleep in the back of the car.

I smiled to myself and turned back around.

"He still sleeping?"asked Hayley from the drivers seat.

"Yep," I answered.

We'd been driving for almost nine hours, and Matthew had been asleep almost the entire journey in the cramped back seat of Hayley's car.

She'd invited us to go to Nashville with her for a few days, so she could work on some new songs with her band.

"He sleeps so much," she laughed slightly, shaking her head. It was starting to get dark now, so she turned on the lights of the car.

"I know. He's OK thought right? I mean... that's normal?" I asked, my usual concerns voicing themselves once again.

"Yeah, with brain damage it's pretty normal to sleep a lot, the brain uses so much energy to heal so that's all he's doing. He's fine, stop your worrying," she assured me, smiling again.

"OK," I nodded.

I was still freaked out whenever anyone said the words 'brain damage' in reference to Matthew's injuries.

I was silent and just stared out of the window as Hayley's car sped towards our destination. Long journey's didn't bother me, I was used to being on the road for a long time.

"Uh... Nathan?" Hayley's voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"We're here," she said.

"Oh, sweet," I said, I hadn't even noticed the car had stopped moving.

I dived out and stretched widely, all my joints popping. Hayley flinched.

"That's so gross," she said, shaking her head.

"What, this?" I clicked my shoulder and she flinched again.

"Ew, quit it," she laughed.

"What, this?" I popped my other shoulder and she sighed.

"How am I ever going to teach you to behave?" she asked, walking around to my side of the car.

I smirked and leaned right into her ear.

"You could try spanking me?" I whispered.

"Nathan Leone," she sighed, shaking her head.

I laughed at her response and turned to look at my twin in the back of the car, to find him now awake, blinking in the bright orange glow of the street lights.

"I had a weird dream that I was drowning," he mumbled as I helped him climb out of the car.

"Aww Matthew," said Hayley, hugging him quickly.

I just stood there awkwardly as she hugged him, jealousy bubbling up inside of me.

I followed them as she led him inside by the hand, then flicked on the lights in the hallway. Her house was much bigger than I had expected, but it was obvious she was never here. It smelled faintly of her though, and I breathed deeply.

"So... you own this house? But you're never here?" I asked, as I pulled off my shoes in the hallway.

"Well... I guess my dad technically owns it, but he gave it to me, I think it was to buy me off for missing like every birthday, Christmas and holiday of my entire life," she said, flicking through a large stack of mail and then throwing it onto the floor.

"Sounds like a great dad," I said sarcastically.

"Oh he is, he thinks if he just throws money at me, I wont be upset about anything," she said, pulling off her own shoes.

Matthew stood awkwardly, leaning against the wall. I could tell he was still half asleep.

"Come on sleepy head, let's get you to bed," I said, untying his shoes and pulling them off his feet for him.

"Uh.. Matthew you can have the blue bedroom, go upstairs it's the second door on the left," said Hayley, wandering down the hallway and out of sight.

I followed Matthew up the stairs, walking behind him so I could catch him if he fell more than anything else.

"Did she say second on the right or left?" he said, pausing on the upstairs landing. His short term memory was still bad at times.

"Left."

He opened the door to the room and found the light switch. It was immaculately clean, and everything in the room was blue, the walls, the carpet, the sheets on the bed, everything.

"She hasn't kidding about blue," he mumbled, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling off his socks.

"What's going on between you two?" I blurted out, unable to stop myself.

Matthew looked up at me strangely.

"Nothing?" he said, uncertain.

"Are you sure? 'Cause it sure as hell seems like there is."

"Well... would it matter if there was? I mean, I'm allowed to like girls Nathan," he said, obviously annoyed now.

"I mean.. but it's Hayley. I saw her first," I protested.

"You saw her first? We're gonna play this game? Grow up," he hissed, rubbing the side of his head.

Right now, he was getting no sympathy from me. I didn't care how much pain he was in.

Hayley and I had been supposed to go out last night, just the two of us, but Matthew hadn't been feeling great so we'd stayed home. Later in the evening I'd found the two of them cuddled up together on the couch at his apartment and it had pissed me off.

"I really like her, so I just want to know, what's going on between you two?" I asked again.

"Nothing. There's really nothing, OK? We cuddle, and like, there was a tiny little kiss the other night but it was just because she was upset, and I was hurting and-"

"You kissed her? Well that's not nothing, is it?" I cut him off, getting more and more angry. I paced the room furiously. Matthew sat on the edge of the bed, eyes wide, staring at me.

"You're seriously this upset over it? OK, well I'll back off, you date her," he said, sounding slightly sad.

I paused for a second, and stopped my pacing, my eyes fixing on my twin. He looked so thoroughly pathetic in that moment.

I sighed deeply and dropped onto the bed beside him.

He flinched away from me, as if he was expecting me to hit him or something.

"I want you to date her. She obviously feels the same way about you as you do about her, there's nothing between me and her, I was just reading too much into her being friendly," I said, looking him straight in the eye.

"Are you for real?"

"Yeah. I can't compete with you, you've got her already, it would be wrong of me to try and take her from you," I said, shaking my head.

"But if you like her-" he started.

"Yeah, I do like her, but I mean... it wont take long for those feelings to go away, and I can just be her friend. I want to see you happy, and she makes you happy," I smiled.

"She really does, I could see like... an actual future, and its exciting," he said, laying down on the bed and putting his head on the pillows.

"Well, don't start thinking of your kids names until you've taken her on a first date OK?" I laughed, poking him in the side and getting up to leave the room so he could continue sleeping.

"I'm gonna give it a while I think, when I feel stronger, maybe another month or something," he mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea, you don't wanna pass out like... in the middle of anything," I smirked.

Matthew threw a pillow at me and it hit me in the face.

"Touchy subject?" I laughed.

"Get out," he said, half laughing.

I opened the door and left the room, still chuckling to myself as I shut off the light and closed the door behind me.

I walked back down the stairs, and along the hallway in the same direction I'd seen Hayley walk. I found the kitchen and she was sitting at the counter, a bottle of Jack Daniels and two glasses, each containing a few ice cubes, in front of her.

"You gonna get me drunk?" I asked, sitting on the stool next to the one she was sitting on. I looked around, the kitchen was spotlessly clean, and super modern with white units and counters, contrasting with the black tiles floor.

"Maybe a little," she smirked, pouring our drinks.

"Matthew sleeping?" she asked, replacing the cap on the bottle.

"Yeah," I said, taking the glass meant for me and sipping from it.

"He won't always sleep this much you know, we need to try to get his energy levels up though, make him a bit more active," she said, taking a sip from her own drink.

"I'm sure there's something you could do to help him with that," I hinted, raising my eyebrows slightly.

She spluttered halfway through a sip of her drink and stared at me with wide eyes.

"What?" I laughed.

"That's just... wrong," she laughed, shaking her head, but blushing furiously.

"So... you wouldn't?" I laughed, taking another sip from my drink.

"No, well, I mean, not until he's properly recovered and everything..." she trailed off, looking awkward.

I laughed to myself and took another sip of my drink, this could be a fun evening of harassing Hayley and getting some confessions.

***

Within two hours all of the Jack Daniels was gone, and we'd moved onto doing Tequila slammers, which was hilarious although unpleasant.

We were also playing a weird kind of truth and dare that meant we had to tell secrets.

"OK," I sprinkled the salt on the back of my hand, ready, and picked up a piece of lime.

Hayley filled the shot glass.

"Uh.. In college I wrestled Matthew and I was naked and he wasn't!" I blurted out, then licked the salt, downed the shot and shoved the lime in my mouth.

Hayley laughed loudly and stumbled backwards into the couch.

"You were naked and he wasn't?" she asked for confirmation.

"Yep. Not our finest moment," I laughed. I was very drunk, and probably should have gone to bed, but I didn't want to, I was having too much fun, and I was starting to regret my promise to Matthew that I wouldn't try anything with Hayley. I did really like her.

"Alright, your turn," I said, pouring her a shot of tequila.

"Uh..." she thought of a confession as she sprinkled salt on her hand.

"The first time I ever got drunk, I made out with a girl," she messed up her sequencing and took the shot, spluttered, then tried to lick the salt, forgetting about the lime completely.

"Oh Hayley, bed time for you I think," I laughed as she continued choking on the burning liquid.

"Uh-oh, is he getting you drunk?" came Matthew's voice from the doorway.

Hayley's couching turned into giggling and she fell right off the couch onto the floor.

"Aw jeez, look at the state of you," said Matthew, shaking his head and looking down at her laughing helplessly on the ground.

"Have some tequila Matthew," she giggled, heaving herself to her knees and going for the bottle that I was still holding.

"I don't think that's a great idea, do you?" he said, trying to pull her to her feet.

She giggled and turned around so she was facing him.

Matthew's entire body tensed up as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Hayley you drunk," I laughed, getting up from the couch.

The amount of alcohol I had consumed hit me and I stumbled slightly and landed back on the couch, laughing hysterically, the room spinning slightly.

"For god's sake," muttered Matthew, frustrated by our drunkenness.

"I'm sorry Matthew, let's all go to bed," slurred Hayley, leading him upstairs by both his hands, staggering slightly.

I giggled and followed them, crawling on my hands and knees so I didn't fall.

We reached the upstairs landing and Matthew had stopped and was holding Hayley upright by her shoulders.

"Jeez, how much have you drunk?" he asked, looking at her out of focus eyes and messy hair.

"A bottle of Jack, and like.. half of Tequila between us," I said, crawling past the and into the bed Matthew slept in earlier. Still in my clothes, I climbed in and curled up, closing my eyes. I was vaguely aware of Matthew leaving the room, mumbling something about getting a glass of water from the kitchen.

I started to drift off to sleep, but then felt a weight drop onto the bed beside me. I could feel something tickling my face.

I opened my eyes and was met with Hayley's face, extremely close to mine.

I giggled drunkenly.

"Hi."

"Hello," she slurred, giggling back at me.

"You look cute," she mumbled then leaned down, pressing her lips to mine.

I put my hands on the back of her head and deepened the kiss, tasting her mouth. She tasted like Tequila and sweetness and it was making my heart pound.

My hands fisted in her soft hair and she crawled on top of me, kissing me roughly, one hand on my chest, the other on the side of my face.

We made out heatedly for a few moments, then she dropped onto the bed beside me and curled up in my arms, one arm draping lazily across my chest.

"Night Hayley," I whispered.

"Night Matthew," she mumbled back, kissing my cheek.

I froze.

That stung. A lot.

Questions started rushing through my mind.

Was she really so drunk she'd got us confused? Did she think she'd been making out with my brother all along?

Could I really just let him have her?

I heard him creep into the room and fumble, trying to find a space in the bed but Hayley and I were taking all the room.

"Psst. Nathan?" he whispered.

I didn't reply, I pretended to be asleep. I knew I couldn't go back on what I'd said to Matthew, about letting him date her, and she clearly only had feelings for him, but I wanted to be selfish for a brief moment.

Just for tonight, I wanted to sleep with Hayley in my arms, and I didn't want to share her with anyone.