Finding You

Chapter Ten

Sarah

Jake drops D.J. and I off at the dorms before heading back to the house with Chase and Rebecca.

I take the longest shower possible to clear my mind. When I finally walk out of the bathroom, I stop and stare. D.J. is sitting on my floor with a pizza box and a vase of flowers that suspiciously look like the flowers that were in the flower bed out front.

My forehead creases as I look from the flowers to him. His eyes twinkle as he raises his index finger to his lips giving me a lopsided grin.

I can’t help but smile as I shake my head, “Dinner?”

“Yeah, it’s not much but I thought that we could stay in and spend time together.”

My eyes drop to the floor as my cheeks warm.

“It’s perfect.”

He wiggles his eyebrows as he gestures for me to sit next to him, making me laugh.

I watch as his expression turns into worry. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he shuts his eyes for a minute. I watch until he opens them again. When he does, he peers at me.

“I just don’t want to disappoint you again.”

After last night and this morning, I know what he means. I set my pizza down and purse my lips.

“This morning was just one big misunderstanding. I trust you. You have to be able to trust yourself too.”

He nods.

“It’s not just this morning..” He says it so low that I almost miss it.

Something is eating at him and I have a feeling that it could either make us or break us.

I push that to the back of my mind, “We need a redo.”

He squints his eyes as he looks at me.

I stick my right hand out as I say, “Hi, I’m Sarah.”

The corner of his mouth lifts up as he extends his hand out to shake mine. “D.J.”

D.J.

My feet were knocked out from under me and I hit the ground hard.

“Oompf.” What the..?

“Thought you might need a wake up call, D.”

I look up to see one of Mike’s goons on top of me. Jake pulls him off me and pushes him away as I get up and give him the finger.

“You are distracted today man. What’s up?”

He’s right. I am distracted. All I can think about is how hurt she still is. That she cared as much as I did back then and that she still had the bracelet. But I can’t tell Jake any of that. He’s gonna hate me when the truth comes out.

I toss him a smirk, “Sarah.”

He narrows his eyes at me and shakes his head as he walks away.

The rest of practice I can tell that none of the guys are happy with me being distracted so I’m relieved that Coach calls practice an hour later.

I make my way out of the locker room but stop when I near Mike packing up his bag. When he looks back at me, he stiffens. His eyes move behind me but I don’t bother to look with him, I know it’s Jake. He will always have my back.

The room goes silent, they’re all waiting for fists to fly but I’m not looking for a fight today. Instead, I hold out my hand and wait. Mike looks wearily at me, confused.

“Thanks man. For taking care of her for me yesterday.”

He glances from Jake to me, when he’s satisfied that neither of us are going to do anything, his stance relaxes. He looks at my hand then goes back to packing his bag.

“I didn’t do it for you.”

I nod once. “I know but still, thanks.”

I turn and I’m almost out the door when he speaks again.

“Just know that if you mess up again, I’ll be waiting in the wings. She deserves better than that.”

I narrow my eyes at him, “I know she does. Looks like you’ll be waiting forever then ‘cause there won’t be a next time. I’ve been searching forever for this girl. I’ve finally found her and I’m not letting go.”

I turn and see Jake’s s**t eating grin.

Great.

Now I’m not gonna hear the end of it.

At least she’s worth it.

Sarah

It was two weeks after the party that Jake texted me to get my butt over to the house and spend some time with him.

I was relieved when I got his text.

These past few weeks have been so busy with school that I haven’t really had quality time with D.J. or Jake.

Honestly, I just need a break, no matter what it is.

The instant I put the car in park it started to pour down rain.

Great.

I decide to text Jake.

Sarah: I’m here but it just started pouring.

It didn’t look like it was gonna let up anytime soon.

Jake: Make a run for it. Surprise inside.

What a tease, he knows I love surprises. I decide to take his advice and run for it.

Sarah: better be a good one. Have towels ready.

I hit send and stuff my phone in my pocket. I take a deep breath and brace for rain.

As I run to the door, I hit the lock button to lock my car and almost lose my balance. I make it up the steps and throw open the door.

Trying to catch my breath, I slam it shut and lean against it as someone throws me a towel.

The room is silent as I wring out my hair and wipe off my body. Not that it will do any good since my white t-shirt is now plastered to my chest.

No wonder the room is silent.

I cover myself with the towel as someone says, “Damn. No one told me what little sis was hiding underneath those clothes. I mean, I knew she was hot but damn.”

Embarrassment and anger flooded my body but before I could say something, someone beats me to it.

“Dude, you say s**t like that again and I will knock your a*s out.”

The voice is familiar.

I look to see who is talking but Jake is blocking my view.

He says something again and I instantly recognize the voice.

I jog over to my brother as I drop my towel on the floor.

“Walker!”

Thankfully he turns my way before I leap into his arms.

“Hey baby sis.”

He gives me a warm smile.

“I have missed you so much.”

Giving him a kiss on the cheek before he sets me down.

“You wouldn’t miss me that much if you would pick up your phone every once in a while.”

He gives me a pointed look.

“Hey now, the phone goes both ways. Plus, they’ve been piling on the schoolwork lately.”

“Don’t forget D.J., Sarah. You’ve been busy with him too,” Jake smirks at me.

Walker’s eyes never leave my face, “Who’s D.J.?”

I throw Jake a hateful glare but he just smiles. He did that on purpose. My cheeks flame and I feel eyes on me waiting to see where this conversation will go.

“Sarah,” he warns me.

I look towards Walker but my mind goes to D.J. and I can’t help but to smile.

“Oh s**t,” he moans and starts to shake his head. “Oh shit.”

“You said that already.” I look him in the eye so he knows I’m not messing around, “I really like him, Walker.”

He runs his hand over his head, “Yeah, I can tell by that goofy a*s grin on your face.”

I stick my tongue out at him making him laugh.

He pulls me into a hug, “He wouldn’t happen to be the guy standing by the door shooting daggers at me, would he?”

My head turns and I see D.J. standing by the door, staring at Walker with his arms around me.

“That would be the one.” I nod my head before shrugging out of Walker’s embrace.

“Hey,” I say as I walk toward D.J.

The closer I get the more his eyes soften. Not caring that my brothers are watching, I kiss him. It takes a minute for his lips to soften and when they do, his hands go to my waist.

Before we give them all too much of a show, I pull back. D.J.’s eyes are heavy and we both smile. I can’t explain all of the feelings that he stirs inside of me.

“You’re soaked,” he murmurs softly.

“Yeah, I got caught in the downpour but you’re completely dry so it must have stopped.”

He smiles and kisses my forehead. I hear an “oh s**t” behind me and I shake my head. I grab D.J.’s hand, pulling him with me. “Come on.”

Walker scrutinizes D.J. as we walk over. Part of me is cringing inside and the other part doesn’t care what Walker thinks. I know that Walker is just putting on a show because he’s my brother. He wouldn’t really do anything unless he had to.

We stop in front of Walker and D.J. tenses up.

“Walker this is my boyfriend, D.J.” I turn to D.J., “This is my big brother, Walker.”

When D.J. hears me say “boyfriend”, his face is triumphant but when I say “brother”, he look a little embarrassed.

“s**t man, my bad. I thought you were trying to steal my girl for a minute. I guess I forgot that you were coming. It’s nice to meet you.” D.J. sticks out his hand and Walker shakes it.

“It’s cool. Glad to know someone is looking out for Miss Piggy.”

Walker and Jake laugh hysterically at my old nickname. D.J. stiffens but when he sees my face he relaxes a little.

Rolling my eyes as I walk away, “I hate you guys.”

I rummage through D.J.’s drawers and throw on a gray t-shirt. Throwing my still soaked hair on top of my head and go to find everyone out on the back deck. I dry off a chair and sit down.

“Alright Sarah, you have to tell us why they call you “Miss Piggy”?”

I look toward the voice. It’s a guy that I’ve seen many times but I can’t remember his name.

“I used to sometimes snort when I laughed. And they never failed to tell me that I sounded like a pig.” I look at my brothers accusingly.

Everyone starts to laugh.

“Yeah,” I say more to myself.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Walker accused.

“No, it wasn’t that bad. At least not until Jake said it at school and the whole school started calling me it. I was mortified.”

Jake sticks out his lower lip as if to say sorry but I wave him off.

“The only person that didn’t call me it was Dan..” I clamp my mouth shut when I realized what I was saying.

Walker’s smile fades as he stares at me.

“So Miss Piggy, got any embarrassing stories about these two?” Brad says pointing to my brothers trying to lighten the mood.

“Well,” my eyes slide to my brothers who were looking at me with curious stares. “When we were younger, Walker and I randomly scared each other. We have a sliding glass door in our kitchen that leads to the backyard. I was in the kitchen and he was trying to scare me by jumping through the open door but the door was actually closed so he ran face first into it. He had a red mark on his face for about two days.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as it played out in my head.

“And Jake? I was twelve and I was having a sleepover. Jake was taking a bath and him being the flirt that he was, jumped out of the bathtub and ran around the house n***d with his towel as a cape yelling “Nature boy” in front of my friends. I was so embarrassed.”

I managed to calm down enough to glance at my brothers who were laughing and making fun of each other.

“I wish I would’ve seen that.”

I turn around to see a blonde behind me. I try to ignore her but I can’t.

She stands across from Walker, “Who’s this good looking fellow?”

Walker flashes her a smile as D.J. rubs my shoulder as he turns the conversation to some movie that’s coming out soon.

Walker grabs my hand, pulling me out of my chair and leads me inside.

Right before I can shut the door the blonde says, “Sarah, how come you get all the hot guys? Is the first ride free or something?”

I turn her way as Walker says, “She doesn’t have to open her legs to get anyone to notice her. Any guy would be dumb not too.”

Her face drops and she looks embarrassed. I glance at D.J. one last time before shutting the door between me and them. He gives me a wink and turns back to the conversation.

I follow Walker to what looks like a game room. Arcade games line the back wall, cases of candy are on one side reminding me of a movie theatre. A counter with stools behind the candy, a couch and a flat screen TV with several gaming systems that you could hook up to it.

Walker rifles through a black duffle bag then heads over to the TV. The smell of popcorn fills my nose. I didn’t even notice the popcorn machine when I walked in. Once I have a bowl, I sit on the couch. Walker sits beside me as he fiddles with the remote.

“So how are you doing sis?”

I tuck my legs underneath me, “Good. School’s good, my roommate is great. I guess I really can’t complain.”

He stays quiet, only nodding his head.

“Are you gonna turn on the TV or what?”

“I’m not gonna do anything until you answer me.” He looks at me somberly.

I open my mouth to say something but he cuts me off. “And don’t feed me any bull again, you know what I’m talking about.”

I smile to myself. Walker has always been able to see through me, calling me out when I avoid things.

“No really Walker, I’m great. I promise.” I pause, “Don’t get me wrong, he’s still in the back of my mind but it’s lessened over time. In a way, I feel like I should thank him. With him coming in and out of my life like that, I learned that the right people will come along to love and accept you for who you are. Daniel, made an impact on my life that I will never forget.”

Walker stays silent, making me second guess everything I just said. But when I finally look at him, his face is a mixture of shock and awe.

“What?”

I’m starting to get uncomfortable. Walker may be the more quiet and observing one of my brothers but he’s not normally speechless.

He shakes his head a few times. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”

“Oh geeze.”

‘I’m serious. What happened?”

“I don’t know. I just… it’s time to move on.” I shrug my shoulders, “It’s actually D.J.’s fault.”

“Enlighten me.”

Staring at the floor, I smile.

“He’s different. He makes me want to live in the here and now. When I’m with him, everything bad goes away. I’m starting to realize that since Daniel left, I’ve just been just going through the motions and not really living. I don’t want to go through life like that anymore, Walker. I want to live.”

When I finish, my body turns toward him and he throws his arm around me.

I hear happiness in his voice as he says three little words that I didn’t realize I was waiting to hear.

“Welcome back, Sis.”

D.J.

A while after Sarah went inside, I text her to make sure she’s okay.

D.J.: are you ok?

Sarah: watching a movie with Walker. You didn’t tell me about all this candy back here.

I laugh to myself as I hit reply.

D.J.: Haha my bad.

“It better be my sister making you smile like that.”

Jake’s voice interrupts my thoughts as he sits beside me.

“Oh it is,” I say teasingly as I wink at him.

“Oh dude, don’t make me throw up.” He takes a drink then shakes his head, “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

I laugh as the doorbell rings.

Brad gets up to open the door as Chase steals his chair, “So you think the team will be ready for the next game?”

“Hell yeah,” Jake yells.

We all nod in agreement and a few others put their two cents in as we hear girls’ laughter. The only girls that were here are Sarah who’s back with Walker and Tina who has been on Chad’s lap since we all ignored her since she was rude to Sarah.

I turn toward the voice and I immediately regret it when I see Riley staring at me. I groan internally. She’s been coming around more often since I told her off for the incident at the party a couple weeks ago and when she does, I try to make a quick exit.

“Oh hey D.J. Fancy seeing you here.”

Jake looks at me annoyed.

Yeah dude, I know.

“It’s not exactly fancy when I live here.”

The laughter that Jake’s trying to hold in tells me that it probably came out harsher than I meant for it too. I glance at Riley embarrassed and I start to feel bad.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a long day,” I lie.

I get out of my chair and start to walk away.

“Where are you going?”

I could hear the desperation in her voice so I turn around and look her in the eye.

“To be with my girlfriend.”

Her mouth opens to say something but when nothing comes out, she shuts it.

I turn back around and start down the hall to the game room. I don’t care if she’s with Walker, I just want to see her.

I stop when I see Walker standing there with a smirk on his face, motioning for me to follow him. He walks into the kitchen and I wait. He ignores everyone as he grabs two beers and heads out to the front porch. Not even bothering to look back to see if I’m following. If he wasn’t Sarah’s brother then I probably wouldn’t be following him but he is and I do.

He hands me a beer as I shut the door behind me. I sit on the porch swing with the beer in hand but I don’t open it.

He leans back against the railing sipping on his beer and sizing me up. I’m anxious as to what he wants, up until he went inside earlier, he’s been giving me weird looks. I keep telling myself that it’s because she’s his sister but I have a gut feeling that that’s not all of it.

The cool night air seems to be calming my nerves a bit.

“I thought that the whole “brooding, tough big brother making you wait for what I have to say” would make you run.”

“Why’s that?” I ask.

“I’m her brother. I’m supposed to protect her from everything, including boyfriends.”

“You don’t have to protect her from me.” I answer.

“Because?” he prompts.

“You don’t hurt the ones you love,” I answer boldly.

“You would be surprised at how many people do.”

He stops but then continues as he looks out over the yard, “You have before though, haven’t you?”

Silence stretches out over a few minutes before he turns back to me.

“She’s not the same girl. What happened back then, she’s never fully recovered from. Just being with her the little that I have tonight, I can tell that she’s changed. In a good way. She says that it’s all because of you. So in an attempt to try to scare the piss out of you, I want to thank you.”

I take his outstretched hand and shake it. I feel relief all over my body but then he starts talking again.

“I know who you are. There is only one person that could make her that happy. I know what happened wasn’t your fault. I’m also guessing that Jake and Sarah have no idea who you are?”

I shake my head slightly.

“That’s what I thought,” he sighs. “She needs to know the truth. I was wrong for not telling her what happened but you’re also wrong for making her think that your someone else. I know that you love her and don’t want to hurt her but that’s inevitable now. I will let you tell her when you’re ready but if you don’t soon then I will.”

He starts walking to the front door.

“I didn’t tell her because I didn’t know how she would react. I don’t want her to hate me. I never thought I would see her again.”

He stopped in place with his hand on the knob but doesn’t turn around.

“I guess that makes you one lucky son of a b***h then. Don’t screw it up.”

He walks into the house shutting the door behind him.

I sigh as I pop open the beer.

I think I need one after that.

Sarah

How long does it take for a guy to go to the bathroom? Walker’s been gone for at least ten minutes now.

I hear more voices than before so I pause the movie to investigate. I catch sight of Riley so I quietly turn to go back to the game room but I’m not quick enough.

“Oh hey, Sarah.”

Her high pitched voice stops me in my tracks. I sigh as I plaster a small smile on my face because that’s all I can give her.

“Hi.”

I see Jake and a few other guys turn my way.

“I’m just waiting on D.J. I’m pretty sure he wants a real woman over a little girl,” she says as she smirks at me.

I don’t want to let her get to me so I let it roll off my shoulders and walk away.

I make it to the beginning of the hallway before I hear a door open. I don’t bother looking to see who walked in until I hear, “Sarah, you really should ask D.J. what he’s hiding from you.”

The whole room is silent now. I stop in my tracks to tell her off but Walker catches my eye and shakes his head.

“Next time you want to talk to someone in private, you should make sure all the windows are closed,” she looks pointedly at Walker.

Apparently, the window was still open because as soon as the words are out of her mouth, D.J. walks through the same door Walker just came through looking pissed.

“What the hell, Riley? Are there no boundaries for you?” D.J. glares at her.

“Is it true?” I look between Walker and D.J. “Is it true? Are you hiding something?” As much as I try to keep my voice steady, it doesn’t work.

The silence is deafening.

I turn back the way I was going and walk away.

I make it to the room that I was in before, putting my head in my hands on the bar.

“Sarah.”

I feel D.J. walking slowly toward me.

I turn to face him.

He reaches out for my hand and plays with my fingers.

“There is something that I need to tell you. But I’m just not ready to do that yet. I need time. Can you give me that?” he whispers.

I’m confused as to why he confided in Walker. He just met him. I want to know what’s going on but my heart is telling me to trust him.

“Okay, I’ll give you more time. When you love someone, you have to trust them.”

As soon as I say it, my eyes turn toward D.J.

He’s got a smile on his face that melts my heart.

D.J.

Sarah looks embarrassed as I grab her waist, “Thank you.”

“For what?” she looks confused.

“Loving me.”

She gives me a sweet smile.

I hesitate because I know that I’m going to hurt her in the end but I need her to know. I put my hands gently on either side of her face and stare into her eyes.

“I am so in love with you, Sarah. I have been ever since I first saw you. I knew I would find you eventually.”

Tears start to form in her eyes, one making its way down her cheek. I catch it with my finger, “Please don’t cry.”

“They’re happy tears I swear.”

Taking her in my arms, I walk us over to the couch. This may be one of the last time that I get to hold her until the truth comes out. I hit play on the remote as she gets comfortable.

I push all the negative thoughts out of my head and concentrate on being with her because I know it’s not gonna last forever.