Chapter 15

I’ve heard people say that, when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. That’s what happened to me as soon as I heard Trent’s voice.

I saw the one Christmas I shared with my parents and my brother- one big family. I saw the time when Ryan got the chicken pox in sixth grade; he passed it on to me, I passed it on to Trent, and

Trent passed it on to Grant. I saw Grant and I share our first kiss. I saw him singing to me at our date on the cliff. I saw--

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” Trent’s voice broke my reveries of the past. “What the hell is going on here?” He seemed angry- fuming actually.

I looked over to Grant, hoping he could give me a little help. His eyes were glued to the floor though. Great, looked like it was up to me then…

“We were talking.” I replied as if it were the most obvious answer in the world, as if we weren’t kissing just seconds ago.

“In a closet?” he raised his eyebrows, not quite convinced.

“I think we should tell him.” Grant said, speaking for the first time.

He had to be kidding me. I didn’t want my brother to know; it was too soon. I was actually thinking we could tell him at our wedding, maybe? In any case, this guy was nuts right now. I turned to show him the extent of my incredulity in my expression.

Grant just continued, ignoring me completely. “Last night, I slept in Rose’s room.”

“You slept in her room?” Trent asked angrily, pointing one finger towards me. “My little sister’s room?” he took a threatening step in Grant’s direction.

“Only because—” Grant pause to take a deep breath, putting his hands out to try and calm my brother down. “Last night, my soon to be step-dad punched me in the face. I was upset; Rose was there. She comforted me. That’s it.”

I let out a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding. I’d seriously thought he was going to tell Trent about the two of us.

“I wanted to make sure he was okay.” I looked at my brother, trying to sound convincing.

Trent’s gaze softened. “I’m sorry dude.” He looked sincere. “I should’ve known you would never do that to me. It’s just that it looked like—never mind, you’re my best friend. I should’ve known it wasn’t like that.”

I could see that it took a lot for Grant to shrug casually; I knew he was feeling unbelievably guilty. “Dude, it’s no big deal.”

I felt guilty too, but this was the way things were. “I was just telling Grant that he could stay with us for a while.” I forced myself to smile.

Trent beamed, happy that he was able to redeem himself from thinking the worst. “Of course,” he patted Grant on the back. “Stay as long as you want.”

“I really appreciate it.” He thanked, and began to step out of the closet.

My brother stayed where he was. “Erm, guys? How come you needed to be in the closet to talk?”

Crap. “I didn’t really want anybody to overhear us.” Grant answered quickly. “Kind of a touchy subject, you know?”

“Oh, right.” Trent nodded. “Sorry.”

He had every right to have suspicions though; especially since most of them were true. I was just thankful that my brother seemed to believe our story. I mean, it wasn’t a lie exactly… It just wasn’t the reason we were in the closet in the first place.

“We should probably get back to class.” Grant suggested.

Trent and I nodded in unison, and we all stepped back out into the corridor. I waved to them just before they rounded the corner, then made my way downstairs and back to class.

***Grant’s POV***

How stupid could I get? Of course Trent was going to follow me out of class if I asked the teacher whether I was allowed to ‘go to the bathroom’. Rose and I almost got caught thanks to me. And now, I was going to be staying with them.

“Dude, are you sure you really don’t mind me staying at your house?” I asked again whilst we were still walking back to German class. Really, why does anyone need to learn German anyway?

He shook his head. “I want you to; it’s what friends are there for.”

“Yeah,” I replied weakly. “Thanks.” Some friend I was, dating Trent’s sister behind his own back.

“Look mate, I’ve got to ask again. Were you and Rose just talking, nothing more?” Trent grabbed my arm, stopping me from walking. His insistent question showed that he wasn’t as stupid as he seemed back at the closet. It was obvious Trent hadn’t bought our story just yet; his eyes burrowed into mine.

It took everything I had not to turn away from his gaze. “We were just talking, dude- nothing more.” I was outright lying through my teeth, straight to his face. And I felt horrible.

He nodded. “I needed to ask again whilst it was just me and you. It was just strange seeing the both of you, together, in a closet. I know we’re really close, but I couldn’t help but think it.”

“No problem, man.” I elbowed him lightly in the stomach. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Good, ‘cause if I did have something to worry about- if you two were sneaking around behind my back- well… then I might just have to hurt you.”

“Got it,” I laughed, thinking he was joking.

“I’m serious.” Trent’s voice brought my eyes back to his face; it was like stone. “I. will. kill. you.” He pronounced each word slowly, waiting for it to process.

So Rose really wasn’t exaggerating about her brother being murderous if he ever found out about us. “Good to know.” I muttered.