Anything for Us

“Bro, you look nervous,”

“Of course I fucking am, I’m going to talk to Dakota,” I muttered, running my fingers through my messy curls.

“You’re not backing out of this?” Rocco asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head.

“No, I need to get this shit sorted out. Dakota was…is my best friend, I don’t like how everything’s gotten. He knows how I feel about him so I’m going to confront him today, once and for all,” I nodded.

Funny enough, I sound a hell of a lot more confident than I feel.

“I’m proud of you,” Rocco beamed.

“Whatever,” I grumbled.

Spring Break was the worst week of my life. I’m not going through that again just because Dakota isn’t man enough to talk to me like he said he was going to. No, now it’s my turn.

“Shit, I’ve got to speak to my tutor about my next art assignment…are you alright finding him on your own?” Rocco frowned, glancing at his watch.

“Yeah, I think I can handle it,” I snickered.

Only Rocco would be behind on assignments before class even starts.

“Let me know what happens,” Rocco grinned, before pushing through the crowd.

Taking a deep breath, I started walking the opposite way. How hard can it be to find Dakota, right? I mean, I know he’s pretty short, but I guess I can…

“Angel!”

“Hey Zach,” I smiled, lifting my hand in a wave.

“Are you looking for Dakota?” Zach asked.

“Obviously, since you’re the one that convinced me to talk to him,” I mused.

“He went this way, Yasmin said she just saw him,” Zach announced.

I swallowed heavily. This was it, this was the moment I’d been dreading.

“Lead the way,” I nodded.

As I walked next to Zach, my heart started pounding. I don’t know why I’m so nervous, this is just Dakota. The boy of my dreams. The boy I love. Fuck, what am I doing?! This is madness. I should just back out now, before I say something I’ll regret.

Wait, no, what am I talking about? I love him. I can tell him that, right?

“Oh fuck,” Zach whispered.

I snapped out of my thoughts and glanced to my left, where Zach was looking, only to have my heart freeze at what I saw in the classroom.

Dakota. Kissing another guy.

This can’t be happening! Why?! I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not…oh fuck.

“I-I don’t understand,” I managed to choke.

“Angel, I’m sure there’s another explanation. He wouldn’t do this to you,” Zach said desperately.

I just shook my head, starting to walk backwards.

“I’m not doing this. Not now. Not when he’s…”

I trailed off, wiping my cheeks dry with the back of my hand. That’s it. I’ve put my heart and head through the grinder for so long now, especially recently, and I’m done. I am done torturing myself.

“Tell Dakota that I hope he’s happy with his choice,” I said to Zach.

Then I turned round and walked right back out of school.

*

[Rocco]

“Why the fuck would you wait until the end of the school day to tell me that Angel cut out before class even started?!” I growled at Zach.

Why the fuck am I always the last to know these things?!

“Because I didn’t want you making a scene, and neither would Angel,” Zach hissed.

“Why the fuck would I make a scene? They talked, right?” I snapped.

Zach didn’t speak. Oh hell no. Angel and Dakota didn’t talk?! I thought they’d both disappeared for the day because they’d made up!

“You have 5 seconds to tell me what happened,” I said through gritted teeth.

Zach just sighed.

“Angel and I went to find Dakota, and we saw Dakota kissing another guy through the classroom door,” Zach said with a wince.

I couldn’t stop the slew of curses that tore from my lips. That asshole! That complete and utter inconsiderate scumbag! How dare he treat my brother like this?!

“He’s dead. He’s so dead,” I spat.

“Calm down, Rocco. Angel’s upset enough as it is. He, um, he started crying,” Zach admitted.

Dakota made my brother cry?

“You go and comfort Angel. Do whatever you basketball-freaks do. I’m going to teach that little shit a lesson,” I growled.

“I would tell you not to, but I saw how upset Angel was today…so I’ll just tell you not to let Yasmin find out,” Zach shrugged.

Well that was easy enough.

“I’m not scared of your girlfriend,” I scoffed.

“Maybe not, but I am,” Zach winked, “good luck, you’ll need it,”

Rocco Lewis doesn’t need luck.

Zach gave me a ride to Dakota’s new apartment (Yasmin went round a friend’s house so he didn’t need to give her a life home), before driving off to my house. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I slowly walked up the stairs to the third floor, apartment 5, and knocked on the door.

Be calm and rational, Rocco. Calm and rational.

“Rocco?” Dakota frowned as he opened the door.

I slammed my fist into his face.

Okay, maybe not so calm or rational.

“What the fuck?!” Hendrix yelped, running over.

“How could you do this to him, huh? How could you?” I yelled down at the bleeding boy on the floor.

“What the hell is going on?”

Joaquin. Huh. I glared at the oldest Rae, shutting the door behind me.

“This little asshole has been torturing Angel for weeks and today he broke him,” I snarled.

“What?” the brothers asked, confused.

“But I didn’t see Angel at all today!” Dakota protested, shakily standing up from the floor.

I resisted the urge to punch him down again.

“You have no idea, do you? You have no idea that he saw your little morning classroom rendezvous,” I spat.

Dakota paled and Joaquin sighed, realising Dakota was actually in the wrong.

“What did you do, Kota?” Joaquin asked wearily.

Dakota just started to cry, loud harsh sobs that made me wince. Wow. Maybe he isn’t as much of an inconsiderate bastard as I thought. Joaquin sighed again before scooping Dakota up into his arms, carrying him into the living room. I followed and Hendrix walked into a few seconds later with a bunch of tissues to stem the bleeding.

“You have some explaining to do,” I muttered, taking a seat opposite the crying boy.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him, I swear!” Dakota wailed.

“Alright, Kota, calm down,” Joaquin soothed.

It took Dakota another minute or so before he could calm his sobbing down to hiccups and then to shaky breathing.

“Talk,” I ordered.

I’m not settling for his bullshit today. No way.

“I spent the whole Spring Break in my room, trying to figure out the best way to tell Angel that I love him…”

“He really did. It was quite funny really,” Hendrix snickered, interrupting.

Dakota pouted.

“I was going to tell him today, I was going to tell him everything!” Dakota insisted.

“Then why did you kiss that random guy this morning?!” I hissed.

Hendrix winced and Joaquin groaned. Dakota’s eyes just filled with tears again.

“I read somewhere in a magazine that if you’ve liked a guy for such a long time and you finally get the chance to be with him, that you should kiss someone random just to make sure your heart is right, that you haven’t just created a fantasy around that person! I wanted to be sure 100% that I wouldn’t ever feel anything for another guy again, not even lust – and I didn’t!”

“You got it from a magazine?” I asked as calmly as I could.

“I get all my advice from magazines, why?” Dakota asked, confused.

I have no words. No kind ones, anyway.

“Look, I’m going to lay it all straight with you. You’re an idiot…”

“Hey!”
“Hey!”
“Hey!”

“…and you’ve really hurt my brother. More than anyone should ever have been allowed to. More than I should have allowed. Hell, I shouldn’t even be considering letting you anywhere near him…”

“But you are considering?” Dakota interrupted hopefully.

I scowled.

“Against my better judgement, yes. I know Angel loves you, so grow a fucking pair of balls and tell him that you love him too. This is your last chance, Dakota, I mean it this time. He cried over what he saw today, he can’t take anymore bullshit from you!” I said angrily.

“I made him cry?” Dakota whispered.

He sounded so sad that I felt a bit bad at being so angry. And that’s coming from me.

“Fix it. Fix what you broke, or you’ll lose him for good,” I said firmly.

“I will,”

“Fix it now,” I added.

“I will!”

“Or I will hurt you,” I finished.

“Alright, Rocco, I think he got the message,” Joaquin warned.

I narrowed my eyes at the oldest brother, before looking back at Dakota.

“I’ll unlock his bedroom window, but I’m not helping you out anymore than that. If he’s not fixed by tomorrow then as far as I’m concerned you’re never going to be in his life again. And I don’t think any of us want that. Please, fix this,” I sighed.

Dakota just nodded, biting his bottom lip. I squeezed Hendrix’s shoulder before showing myself out. I know I joked about Operation super-sneaky-help-my-twin-end-his-eternal-man-period, but I never wanted Angel to get hurt like this.

I can only hope Dakota does the right thing.