Begin Again

John wiped his hands on his skinny jeans; he shook them out and cracked his neck before he rang the buzzer.

“Who is it?” He heard a guy ask through the buzzer.

“It’s John, is this Tyler?” He closed his eyes and waited for the response.

“Yeah, come on up.” He heard the outside door unlock, he released a breath before opening the door and heading up the black stairs. He stopped outside of the door marked 213, and knocked.

Leah opened the door and smiled up at him.

“Hey,” She stood on her tippy toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He leaned down and lifted her in his arms, she laughed as he squeezed her.

“Hey,” He said as he put her feet back onto the hardwood floor.

“I need a couple minutes, but come in and I’ll introduce you to Tyler.” Leah said grabbing his hand and pulling him into the apartment. He closed the door behind him and looked around as they turned the corner into a big living room.

“Ty, this is John.” She said as she skipped out of the room into her bedroom.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Tyler said.

“You too,” John replied looking at her brother. He was taller than Leah, but they both had the same brown hue of hair and dark blue eyes.

“So I should give you the big brother speech, but I’m not going to.” Tyler said smiling. “I haven’t seen my sister this happy in a long time.”

“What do you mean?” John asked sitting next to Tyler on the leather couch.

“Well, she was in a shitty relationship. It ended about eight months ago, but since she met you, she’s been better. I moved in with her a year ago when the relationship was at it’s worse, I didn’t trust the guy to be here.”

John gulped down saliva and nodded. “She never talks about it.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Tyler said looking back and seeing his sister’s door closed. “She was really broken, but she seems fixed.”