That Girl

Jack’s POV

“Dude no way!” Alex protested laughing as I tried to jam a whole chilli pepper in his mouth.

“Go on, I bet it only burns for a minute,” I laughed.

“You do it then,” Alex replied still laughing.

“Nah, doesn’t matter,” I answered throwing the red death food away as we headed out to my car.

Alex was my best mate, he got my sense of humour, he was a kickass singer and songwriter, could hold a tune on the guitar and listened to Blink 182, my type of guy really. He was the first person I ever really let in after my Dad walked out. Of course since letting him in I’ve let Rian and Zack in as well. Unlike my sister I learned that one person letting you down should only make you fight for people who wont. Thinking about my sister was always difficult. We used to be so close, and I know its weird for siblings to get on with each other but she really was my best friend.

My sister, my twin sister in fact is more like a stranger to me these days. I’d do literally anything, and I mean anything, to get her back to her old self. She just shut down when our dickhead of a Dad left us, in fact you could probably say she left us as well and in all honesty, losing her was ten million times worse than losing my Dad. I guess its because she’s still here, she just won’t let me communicate with her. I try all the time, I try every single day and nothing. At times I actually think to myself I should just give up, but that’s not what she wants, regardless of what she thinks. Its also certainly not what I want, I’ll never give up on her, although, I no longer hold any sort of hope she’ll ever let me in again. I’m never going to stop trying though. I’m not my Dad and I definitely wont abandon her.

“DUDE!,” Alex screams clicking his fingers in front of my face.

“What?,” I ask oblivious to everything.

“You did that zoning out thing again, what are you thinking about?” he asks me looking concerned.

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter,” I lie not wanting to discuss it.

“It’s Ella isn’t it?,” he asks knowingly. I can see the sympathy on his face. He’s the only one that knows the full story, the other guys just think my sisters a straight up bitch. Which she is, but that’s not really her, if you get what I mean?

“Yeah, isn’t it always? I dunno man, I just want my sister back, my family back,” I say getting a little upset. So you guys must think we’re pretty feminine for guys, sitting around discussing our feelings and shit, but that’s how it is with me and Alex. We vent, we use each other to lean on when we’re going through shit, call us what you like, we’ve heard it all before but the fact is, he’s my rock. There’s no ‘macho bravado’ when it comes to us, we’re just people.

“Look, don’t give up on her, she’ll come round,” Alex says encouragingly looking a bit upset. I can tell he’s thinking about his brother Daniel who committed suicide a year ago. I remember his exact words to me the day of his brothers funeral.

*flashback*

“Don’t give up on her,” a tear stained Alex was saying to me as we sat at a table in the crowded bar filled with Alex’s family and family friends, all dressed in black, all with saddened expressions on their faces.

“Don’t give up on who?” I asked confused.

“Ella, keep trying, keep letting her know you’re here for her, because if I could get one more chance to help Daniel, I’d take it in a heartbeat,” he finished as he began to sob.

Putting my arm around his shoulders I answered him honestly “I will never give up on her, you have my word”.

*End Flashback*

I nodded at Alex and we got into the car, the others left about an hour ago but I didn’t feel like going home and Alex stayed to keep me company. The drive home was short, Alex only lived next door so there was no drop offs to do tonight, we were home in ten minutes. When we got out of the car I noticed the lights downstairs where still on in the dining room, weird, it was after 12, Mum normally went to bed about eleven thirty and Ella stuck to her bedroom. Shrugging it off I waved good bye to Alex and made my way to the front door. Opening it quietly in case my Mum was in bed. I gently tiptoed in heading to the dining room to turn the light of I presumed my Mum forgot to switch off. When I got to the door though I was met by the weirdest scene I had ever scene. There was my twin sister fast asleep on my Mums shoulder while my Mum stroked her hair and had her in an embrace.

“Is eh-Wha-” I stammered not really taking it all in.

“Shh, don’t wake her, do you think you could carry her upstairs love?,” My mum whispered.

“Um, sure” I replied confused. I was far from strong, in fact I was lanky and skinny, not a bit of muscle on me so I’m surprised I actually had the strength to carry my sister upstairs. I guess it’s because she’s tiny and extremely light. I lifted her gently off the chair and out of my Mum’s arms and began to carry her upstairs trying my best not to wake her. When I got her into her bed I threw the duvet over her noticing her eyes were red and slightly swollen. I tiptoed back downstairs to the dining room.

“Is everything ok with Ella? Why was she crying? I didn’t even know she knew how to,?” I began to ask in a bit of a panic, it suddenly hit me that something must be really wrong, something terrible must have happened to make Ella breakdown and actually let anyone comfort her.

“Everything’s fine sweetheart, actually better than fine, I think my little girl has finally broken through her armour and is ready to let us back in,” my Mum said with a grin.

“What?” I asked not allowing myself to believe it, not letting myself hope in case this wasn’t true.

“She came to me, well after we had words at dinner, I don’t know what happened but she stormed off and I thought that was it, but she came back, she came to me for comfort” My Mum answered in a shaky voice as she began to cry, I knew they were happy tears and suddenly my heart starting beating a million miles an hour and I couldn’t stop smiling. My sister needed us, she was going to let us in and she was going to be involved in my life again, and in return let me into hers. I knew it would be a long process, that nothing was going to magically be sorted over night but this was the moment I’d been waiting on for nine fucking years. I had a family again, a proper one. I threw myself into my Mum’s arms and began to jump about like a five year old child on Christmas morning. For the first time in nine years I felt like everything was going to be ok, and I knew my Mum felt the same.