Clarity

“LOU!” Chris yelled. The blonde brought a hand to her forehead, rubbing down her face in anguish. A throbbing ache seemed to course through her entire body. She pulled off her shiny black heels, throwing them on the floor lazily. She slipped on a pair of cotton shorts, taking off her dress and putting on an old high school t-shirt in its place. She made her way out, staring down at her brother.

He stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting patiently for her. “You know the drill, princess.” He handed her a garbage bag once she had made it down while searching for their cleaning playlist on his iPod. He settled on Kanye’s “Mercy”, the bass vibrating through the floor. Lou rolled her eyes and began picking up the plastic cups that littered their house.

“All I wanted to do was chill in your two-seat Lambo, and your girl just started trying to jerk me!” Chris yelled dramatically, walking in from the kitchen with his own garbage bag. Lou giggled at her older brother.

She made an attempt to twerk while picking up various pieces of trash on the floor and laughed when she heard Chris make gagging noises. “White girls, let alone my sister, should never twerk.” She only laughed and continued her “white girl” dancing.

Suddenly the music stopped, and she stopped dancing to see what had happened. "Hey-"

Her eyes widened when she saw the two well-built men standing together and staring at her with bemused faces. She blushed, her eyes falling to the floor as she ran a hand through her hair. “Um,” She searched for words to say but had none.

“Lou, this is Jeremy,” Chris said, chuckling at his sister’s sheer embarrassment. “Dude what are you still doing here?”

Jeremy rubbed at his neck nervously. “I, uh, got caught up in something.”

Lou narrowed her eyes at him and Chris nodded knowingly. “Fine with me as long as you cleaned up, dude!”

Jeremy met Lou’s heated gaze and immediately felt guilty, though he hadn’t really any idea why. They hadn’t shared more than a few words together. They didn’t know each other. But there was something in those eyes of hers that pulled at him.

“I’m gonna go check on the bathroom,” Chris mumbled glumly. “If I don’t come back in an hour, something has gone terribly wrong.”

Suddenly it was just the two of them and a thick, agonizing silence. Lou huffed and continued cleaning up the room while Jeremy watched her helplessly. He looked behind him awkwardly, when his eyes landed on the box of garbage bags. He took one and began helping her clean up.

Lou glanced at him and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” She muttered.

“Not a fan of the shameless hookup?” He decided to test the waters.

She eyed him, not sure what his deal was. “Oh, I’m a fan of them. Some girls just can’t handle them. As a member of the female population, I am protective over their feelings.”

Jeremy smirked, picking up a plastic cup carefully. “So you’re saying I should’ve slept with you?”

Lou’s face scrunched up in disgust. “What? No. First of all, it’s not sleeping with you. It’s having sex. You boys just love to dupe girls into believing that you’re into the romance shit. Call it like it is.”

Jeremy stood up straight, fully amused with her. “And second of all?”

“You’re not my type.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh really? You don’t even know me.”

She shrugged. “I know you’re my brother’s friend. I don’t get involved with people I know I’ll see again.”

“That must get lonely,” He commented, running his finger along the mantel and looking at the framed photos smiling at him.

“I have all that I need. A relationship isn’t included in that,” She stated, her words cutting through Jeremy like knives. She was very standoffish. He had never felt so shut down by a woman, and he definitely wasn’t enjoying it.

“All is well in the bathroom!” Chris sang, walking back into the room. He stopped when he saw the way Lou and Jeremy were looking at each other, like they were about to throw a few punches. He let out a whistle, shoving his hands in his pockets awkwardly.

“I’m going to do a perimeter check on the backyard,” Lou muttered, slipping on her flip-flops and opening the sliding door.

“Hey, let East out while you’re at it,” Chris said. The American bulldog came running from his favorite hiding spot at the mention of his name.

“Hi sweetie! Come on let’s go out,” Lou cooed, letting East pad his way outside and closing the door behind her.

Chris turned to look at Jeremy, who was still staring at Lou. “Do I even want to know?”

“Is she always so cold?” He asked curiously. “I know she’s not. She likes Tom, at least.”

Chris nodded knowingly. “It’s hard to earn her trust. The only reason I have it is because I’m her brother and she had to stick around with me for a while. I honestly don’t know how Tom did it. But don’t mistake it for trust with him. He still doesn’t know her that well.”

“He knows her enough to tell me that I shouldn’t get involved. Why?” Jeremy continued his interrogation.

“Look, man. I don’t know what you’ve heard or what she’s told you, but whatever it is it’s probably true. She avoids my friends like you all have herpes, which is probably smart of her to do…considering I don’t know how many you guys actually do have STDs,” Chris chuckled. Jeremy smirked. Chris was always trying to lighten things up with humor.

Jeremy glanced outside again and Chris could tell he hadn’t convinced him. “Take it from me, when they say not to get involved with her, they’re right. She’s got a lot going on. She knows what she’s doing. If she says she doesn’t want a relationship, she doesn’t want one.”

Jeremy would have to accept that for now.