Scares On Hips and Hearts

Everyone in the room was dead quiet as they gaped at Parker. Farah had stopped breathing all together.

“H-how, how could this happen?” Cyd stammered. She had always wondered what her life would be like if she had a brother she never knew about but she never expected her daydreams would come true. Now she sat there staring at her brother, her brother and she never knew he had existed until now.

“I was put up for adoption right after I was born. I decided I wanted to try to find out who my parents were,” Parker sighed “But I couldn’t find any information about where they lived or who they were but I found out I had two sisters, you guys.” Parker paused letting his information sink into their minds. “I came to find you because I wanted to meet you and I wanted to see if you knew where our parents are.”

Farah’s head now rested in her hands. Just like her sister she had imagined what it would be like if they had a brother. She always wondered if their dad would have been any different, but something told her he wouldn’t. “Parker, our parents…” Farah took a deep breath but it did nothing to calm the twisting knot in her stomach. “Our parents are dead, Parker.”

Tears threatened to spill from the corners of Parker’s eyes. Disbelief gripped his insides and twisted them into impossible knots. All of the wondering he had done about what his parents would be like was now gone, ripped from his hands. “How did-? When were-? What?” Parker managed, cutting himself off repeatedly.

Cyd let out a quivering breath as she tried to think of how to tell him what had happened to his darling parents. “You’re lucky you got out.” Cyd began. Confusion ran across Parker’s face. “Our dad was abusive, Farah and I suffered but our mom got it the worst. When ever dad would get bad she would always take as much as she could so he wouldn’t come after us.” Cyd lowered her head. “But she couldn’t save us every time. One night our mom couldn’t do it anymore. She shot and killed out father and then turned the gun on herself.”

Now the tears were falling from Parkers eyes and he couldn’t stop them. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He had this vision of what he hoped his parents were like but that vision now laid torn to pieces. Parker felt his sisters wrap their arms around him and their tears falling on his shoulders. But then he realized that even if he didn’t have the family he was imagining, he had the family that he needed. Farah and Cyd had the love he was missing and even though his parents weren’t there with them he still felt at home.

The newly reunited family exchanged phone numbers, promises that they would see each other soon and kisses on cheeks before Parker got back in his car and drove away. Farah and Cyd walked back into the living room, both mixed with emotion. For the second time that night their breath was caught in their throats, they looked up to see all four boys standing before them with shocked and sympathetic looks on their faces. They had heard everything, every painful detail that had been spilled only moments before, they had heard them all.

Farah began to sob lightly and buried her face in her hands. Andy quickly scurried over to her and held her securely to his chest as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. Cyd pressed her fingers to her temples as hot, salty tears rolled down her cheeks. She struggled to wrap her head around the night’s events as she felt two arms wrap around her. There was no need to look up to know who it was. Joe held her in his strong but gentle embrace as she completely broke down in his arms.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Cyd, Farah and Nicole were still sound asleep while Jessie was wide awake. She laid in her bed staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours sorting out what had happened yesterday. She was beyond shocked about Parker. She, nor any of them, had ever thought that Cyd and Farah actually had a brother they never knew about. But what she was so severely perplexed about was Pete. She couldn’t breathe when she saw him, her mind raced with excitement when ever she thought about the conversation that went down the day before. She couldn’t even listen to Fall Out Boy with out getting dizzy.

Eventually Jessie freed herself from her thoughts and made her way down stairs and started to make a pot of coffee. She turned on the coffee maker and decided to get dressed while the coffee brewed. After dressing in her usual skinny jeans and hoodie she reentered the kitchen only to be greeted by coffee covering the counter top and dribbling into the ground.

Jessie groaned as she lifted the coffee pot to see a massive crack straight up the side of the glass.

“Well, it looks like a Starbucks morning.” Jess sighed as she wiped up the spilled coffee and threw away the cracked pot. As she was getting ready to walk to Starbucks there was a light knock on the door. Jessie’s raised an eyebrow in confusion as she walked to the front door. She looked through the peephole, her heart skipped a beat and her breath hitched in her throat. It was Pete.

She quickly smoothed her hair and straightened her hoodie before she pulled open the door.

“Good morning, Jessie.” Pete smiled a smile that put the rising sun to shame.

“Morning Pete, what’s up?” She asked as she casually leaned on the door frame.

“Um…well I’m going to Starbucks and I was wondering if you wanted to join me.” He asked with a hopeful smile.

Jessie smiled sweetly as she thought about how this kind of thing only happened in the movies. “Yeah, I was actually just about to walk down there myself. Our coffee pot had a minor meltdown this morning.”

She and Pete started their walk down the sidewalk toward the coffee shop passing their neighbors yards on the way. As they walked past the yard with the pink flowers in it Jess spoke up.

“Remember when you picked one of those flowers for me?” She reminisced with a smile on her lips.

“Oh yeah, that was right after we met.” Pete laughed.

“I still have it.” Jess said quietly with a lopsided grin on her face. The flower Pete had picked for her was lying on her dresser, old and dead but still in one piece. Her heart jumped out of her chest when she felt Pete lace his fingers with hers.

“I’ll never forget that day.” Pete sighed and gave her hand a light squeeze. “That was the first time you kissed me.” He stated shyly.

Jessie smiled as she remembered how she had kissed his check in thanks for the flower and how she was surprised to see him blush because of it.

She could feel him gazing at her. She lifted her eyes to meet his and they slowly stopped walking and just looked into each others eyes. Jessie’s heart started beating faster as Pete took a step closer to her. He slowly brought his hand to cup her cheek as they both leaned in toward each other. Pete was so close she could feel his breath on her lips. He closed the gap and pressed his lips against hers. Hearts jumped into throats and stomachs flipped as a spark lit their lips.

As the kiss they shared came to an end they stood for a moment, inches apart gazing deeply into each others eyes. Jessie saw something swimming in those big pools of caramel. It was love. She saw love in his eyes, not the kind of love one has for a pet fish or a sibling, but a love that can only be shared by destined soul mates. Smiles spread across their faces and they kept on walking, hand in hand, completely high on life.