Colorful Goldfish

There's something about being an older brother. It makes you protective of those around you. And it's the best feeling in the world.

That is until your baby sister starts dating your best friend. At first I was a little weary. I mean it's John fucking Gomez for gods sake. But then I got used to it. They were happy and he seemed to have changed, for her. Up until about three months ago. They would go out on dates all happy and she would come home alone, upset and almost in tears four to six hours later.

Jess was the first to start to see this. She tried to talk to her but my sister, the stubborn person she is, just kept saying 'don't tell John.' Then Stephen saw it and he wanted to talk to John but Jess and Jenna kept him from it. Next was Brian. But he really didn't want to get involved and let it be.

The three of them brought it to me. Slowly pointing things out until I was facing the problem head on. She made me promise not to tell John and being the person I am, I agreed.

It was hard. My best friend was hurting my baby sister and I couldn't do
anything about it. What kind of brother am I?! Watching every night as Jenna came home, holding back tears until she reached her room. Then listening from the next room as she cried herself to sleep. It broke my heart seeing her like that.

But it confused me so much. The two of them could make any single person jealous just sitting on the couch next to each other. And then she comes home crying after what John said was a perfect date. And the next morning she's perfectly fine. It just didn't make sense. Well, until a random Saturday in September.

"I'm going to practice." Jenna kissed John and said good bye to all of us. Everything was going fine for four hours. Until Stephen pointed out that Jenna should be home by now. As if on cue the house phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hello. Is this the Montgomery residence?" The man on the other end sounded official.

"Yes."

"I need to speak to either mister or misses Montgomery."

"They're back packing through Europe right now. I'm their son. Can I help you?"

"Are you the brother of Jenna Montgomery?" I stole a glance across the room at John at the mention on Jenna.

"Yes I am her brother."

"We're going to need you to come down to Saint Peter's hospital. We'll fill you in once you get here." And with that he hung up. I put the phone down on the table next to me and stood up.

"Josh, what's wrong?" Jess asked.

"Jenna's in the hospital, I think." John stood up and quickly found his shoes. I grabbed my shoes and car keys and went out to my car, waiting as John got in on the passenger side.

I pulled up ten minutes later and ran inside.

"Jenna Montgomery, she's my sister. Where is she?!" I demanded the front desk lady.

"Are you her brother?" A police officer asked, walking up next to me. I nodded my head, "And whose this?"

"I'm John. Her boyfriend." He gave John a weird look and pulled me aside.

"Where the hell is my sister?!"

"She's fine. Or she will be. Do you know a Tyler Harris?"

"Uh, name sounds familiar. I think he plays football at Jenna's school?"

"Both Jenna and Tyler have identified him as her boyfriend." He took a glance at John.

"We'll deal with that later. What did he do?"

"He's been arrested for assault, and assault with a deadly weapon."

"What the fuck did he do to her?!" He jumped a little at my yelling.

"When police arrived he was starting to walk away. He had just finished beating her. She has three stab wounds as well as many other injuries. Once they finished examining her, they determined that this has been going on for quite sometime now."

"Tell me where the fuck that motherfucker is! I'm going to fucking kill him!"

"Calm down, sir. He's sitting in a jail cell right now." I took a few deep breaths to try and calm myself down. I looked over at John and my heart broke for him. This was going to crush him.

"Thank you." I turned and walked off down a random hallway. I heard Jess calling my name and running after me.

"Josh! What happened?!" I stopped when I felt her tug my arm.

"Tyler Harris. She was cheating on John with him. But from the looks of it, he's an abuser." Her face dropped.

"I- I had no idea."

"Neither did I. I always thought it would be the other way around. God, John is going to be heart broken." She pulled me so we were sitting on a bench.

"He doesn't have to know."

"Yes he does. I have to tell him. Even if she is my sister I can't hide this from him." She sighed and sat back.

"I'll tell him if you don't want to."

"Could you please? I couldn't do it. She's my sister!" She rubbed her hand in circles on my back.

"Yeah, I will." I smiled and gave her a hug, "Go see Jenna now." I did as I was told and went to find out what room he was in.

"Josh? What's wrong?" John asked me.

"Jess is gonna tell you guys. I- I just- I can't." He looked confused but nodded anyway. I looked at him apologetically before walking to Jenna's room. She was sitting up in bed.

"You know, don't you?" I guess she could tell by the look on my face.

"How could you? I just- that's so unlike you."

"It wasn't supposed to happen. I went to his house to help him study for his history final. And then it just sort of went from there. But he never asked me to be his girlfriend. He just started calling me his girlfriend. And then he hit me the first time when I was late for helping him with his college essay because I was out with John and then it just stuck." By the time she was done she was crying uncontrollably. I walked over to the side of her bed and held her.

"WHAT?!?!" We looked up to see John and Jess almost to the door way. He took one look at Jenna and was gone, Jess right behind him.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and cried. I kept my arms around her and let her cry it out.

Two hours later we still hadn't heard from anyone. Jenna was laying on her side, which I found out had two broken ribs. I tried to get her to roll over but somewhere inside her she had this idea that she deserved to be in that pain. I sat facing her back on an uncomfortable chair.

A soft knock on the door caught both of our attentions. I looked up to see John standing there, holding a large box of colorful goldfish. Jenna sat up and he walked in, handing her the box.

"I'm sorry." It was so quiet I didn't think he heard it. He smiled and gave her a hug.

"Will you still be mine?" He asked her. She nodded and hugged him tightly.

"I promise I will never, ever let it happen again." He pulled away from her and smiled.

"Do what again? I've already forgotten." She smiled and kissed him.

"I brought you your favorite, colorful goldfish, as a get well present." He opened the box and poured some into her hand.

I knew John wasn't going anywhere. If he could forgive her for that, he wasn't leaving anytime soon. He loves her and she loves him.