A young guy answered the door and it took me by surprise. He certainly wasn’t Jason’s dad. He wasn’t old enough… and was oddly good looking. This must be Jason’s brother he had mentioned to my brothers. He looked about my brother Jared’s age except he looked less baby-faced.

“Hi… can I help you?” the guy asked in an intriguing raspy tone, breaking my contemplative reverie.

“Is Jason here?” I asked, politely, but my voice cracked a bit.

“Jason!” he called over his shoulder. He left the door hanging open as he stepped further back into the house.

“You can come in if you want,” he said.

I could feel myself blushing as I stepped into the huge house. The entry way had a marble floor and was very clean. A small black rug lay by the door and I made sure to keep standing on it. Jason’s brother closed the door gently behind me.

Just then, from a hallway to the left of me, Jason appeared. He looked partly relieved to see me there and partly pained. I hoped the relieved part was dominant. I couldn’t handle having my heart splinter any more. He glanced down to see the leather bracelet tied tightly on my wrist. His brother noticed and glanced in a mild shock at Jason. It seemed like they traded some unspoken words as they stared at each other. Finally, Jason spoke.

“Codie, this is my older brother Varner. Varner, this is Codie,” he said, making sure to avoid my title.

“Nice to meet you Codie,” Varner said, shaking my hand politely. I noticed he had on a leather bracelet just like Jason’s. I couldn’t read the words fast enough before he dropped my hand.

I looked over at Jason and when I looked back to where Varner was, he was already gone.

“Coming?” Jason asked, heading down the left hallway.

I followed him without question and he led me into his bedroom. The floor was wooden with an old woven rug beside his bed. His furniture looked worn, but purposely worn, like that was the style of it or something. The walls were blank. He clearly didn’t spend much time decorating. I figured he would have soccer posters like Alex did.

He seemed to read my mind, “I haven’t really figured out how I want my room to look yet.”

His brow furrowed and he sat down on the edge of his bed. I sat down on the chair by his desk. I swiveled it to face him.

“What do the words on your bracelet mean?” I asked, playing with the leather tying strips.

“They’re part of a proverb. My brother has one half and I have the other,” he said

“What does his say?”

“His says, ‘A man's spirit sustains him in sickness.’”

“’But a crushed spirit who can bear?’ That sounds so sad. Why do you and he wear them?”

“Long story.”

“I’m here. I’ve got time.”

“It’s late, maybe another time.”

“Do you want me to trust you?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” I was surprised that his words had stung me.

“There’s just a lot of me that you don’t see and I kind of want to keep it that way.”

“Do you not trust me?”

“I don’t even know you Codie. Do you honestly expect me to trust you after, what, a Target run-in and three days of school?”

The words stung me harder. Why was he saying these things to me?

“Then why did you leave your bracelet?” I asked, trying to scramble up some logic to my decision to come over to his house.

“I don’t really know.”

My throat was tightening, “So you’re doing all these things, putting me through all of this, for what?”

“I… I… I just feel so… so… attracted to you that I have to have you around me, but… I don’t have a logical answer I can put into words.”

“Attracted to me? It’s more like you have to force yourself to be around me. Most of the time you shy away. And on top of that, you can touch me, but I can’t touch you. It’s like I repel you.”

“Oh quite the reverse I assure you.”

“Then why do you push me away and then come right back?”

“I told you! I feel attracted to you beyond what I can describe into words.”

“That doesn’t explain anything! How do I know you aren’t lying to me? You were the one who said you didn’t know why I should trust you.”

“I don’t know how to prove it to you.”

“I don’t care how you do, but you need to do it somehow because all I think about is you and if you lie to me now and say you like me only to figure out later that you actually don’t, I couldn’t handle that. I know we don’t know each other. We’re practically strangers, but I’m lost. You can’t just keep flip-flopping all the time. You have to help me out here.”

He was silent while he thought.

“Just say what comes to mind when you think of me,” I said.

“Fear,” he said, too quickly to be fake.

“Fear? Why?”

“I just feel like something is going to happen to you.”

“When I’m away from you?”

“No, if you spend too much time with me.”

“What do you think’s going to happen to me?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want you mixed up in my life. And the more time you spend with me, the less I will be able to resist you.”

“You have to resist me?”

“You have no idea how hard it is for me to not to touch you. To keep my distance.”

“Then why do you? What’s the worst that could happen?”

He flinched ever so slightly at my words. I guess that would be a question for later.

“What if I were to touch you?” I said.

He scooted farther back on his bed as I moved the desk chair closer. I bumped into the bed frame and switched from the chair to sitting next to him on the bed.

“Why is this bothering you? I thought you were attracted to me?” I said.

“Oh I am. I feel like my skin is on fire,” he whispered, half choking.

I pushed my hand out to his face.

He backed against the wall.

“Why won’t you let me touch you? I’m not afraid,” I said.

“You may not be, but I am.”

I gave him a puzzled look, “Then why did you touch me so many times?”

“Because I can’t not touch you. My body can’t resist your skin. It’s so… addicting.”

“What’s going to happen if I touch you right now?”

“If you touch me, then I know you want me. And if I know that, then it will only make me want you more. And I can’t want you more.”

The thought of him wanting me made my heart race. I crept closer to him and he backed himself into a corner. I held my face close to his.

“What if I go this close? What are you going to do?” I said. I could hardly resist the delicious tension that spanned between us.

I could see his jaw clench. I let my nose brush his and I felt a literal spark transfer. It caused me to blink unexpectedly. It was like touching a live wire for a brief moment, but it didn’t hurt. I leaned in to touch him again.

“See what I mean?” he breathed.

I kept my face close, but slipped my hand onto his when he wasn’t looking. I felt like I had stuck my hand on top of one of those orbs of electricity that kids use to make their hair stand up. I could feel him trying to pull his hand away, but I wrapped my fingers around his to keep it in place.

“Do you have any idea what you are doing to me?” he growled unhappily.

“No, but I plan on finding out,” I said, with an edge of taunting to my voice.

I could feel him quivering.

“This is a terrible idea,” he hissed.

“You said to me, when I asked what you wanted, ‘Oh wouldn’t you love to know.’ You we’re right. I would love to know,” I said, my eyes finding his.

His brown irises were swirling erratically.

I found his other hand with my free hand and pinned it down. This pushed him over the edge, the electricity having no where to go. He escaped my hold and pinned me to the wall by my arms. His eyes were piercing.

“I hate you,” he emphasized each word.

He released my arms only to grab the sides of my face and press his lips to mine. I felt like a tiny light bulb had exploded in our mouths and the filament was shocking us every time we moved even the tiniest bit. He pushed me against the wall to release himself. We were both panting. He was angry and I was in a stage of unstable shock. He was starting to shake again.

“You should leave,” he said, trying to keep his voice even, but it was still hostile.

I found myself gripping the headboard of his bed to regain my senses.

“Codie, you need to go,” he said.

“I know,” I breathed. “I just… can’t… move.”

“If you don’t go now, you aren’t going to be able to leave,” he warned, trying to sound serious, but his voice was thick with want.

I let go and grabbed the nearby desk. From the desk I shimmied against the wall until I was out the door. Not seeing him made things a little easier, but I had a feeling it was only temporary. Oh boy, I thought. What had I gotten myself into? He was right… to an extent. Touching him just made me want him more and then kissing him just pushed me beyond all want into obsession. I hurried down the hallway to the front door. I scrambled for the door handle only to have it opened by a concerned Varner. I didn’t pause to say thank you or goodbye, I just dashed out the door and into the Jeep.

My hands were shaking and I couldn’t put the key into the ignition. The key dropped onto the floor. I couldn’t take my hands off of the steering wheel to search for it. I sat there, resting my head on the wheel to try and regain some kind of composure. A tap came on the window and I jerked back in the seat so hard, the whole Jeep rocked.

Varner was staring at me, his eyes riddled with worsening concern. He tapped on the window again, but I couldn’t open the window without turning on the Jeep, so I opened the door instead.

“Codie, are you all right?” he asked, holding the door open.

I didn’t move, but just stayed seated.

“Codie?” he said, this time using his hand to turn my head to face him.

I slightly flinched at his touch, half expecting to feel some sort of electricity, but it felt like any other normal person touching me. I could feel that my eyes were large as I looked back at him. His eyes were brown like Jason’s, but much darker in color… and much deeper. I felt like he didn’t hide himself. He kept himself for the world to see.

His mouth turned into a frown and his brow furrowed at my response of nothing.

“Codie, can you at least say something?” he said, trying to sound annoyed, but only sounding more concerned.

“What do you want me to say?” I asked, swallowing dryly.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m… fine… great really.”

“You’re… great? You don’t look great.”

“Oh, yea, sorry. Just got taken by surprise is all.”

“Jason took you by surprise?” He laughed.

“Am I the only one to react this way?” I could feel myself blushing.

“Well, yea. I mean, most girls are surprised for the first five minutes they talk to him, but then get used to it and move on.”

“Move on?”

We stared at each other with puzzled looks.

“Are we talking about the same thing?” I asked.

“I’m thinking not,” he said.

“What were you talking about?”

“I was talking about Jason’s lack of interest in girls.”

“He’s not interested in girls?”

“No, he is. He’s just never had a girlfriend or ever even pursued a girl.”

“What? He has girls swooning all over him at school.”

He laughed again, “Typical.”

“So… I’m the first girl he’s ever liked?”

“The first that I know of. And probably the last.”

“The last?” The thought of being his one and only made my head swim.

Varner noticed and put a hand on my shoulder to keep me stable in the car’s front seat.

“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong? I didn’t mean to freak you out. I just meant to say that he really likes you,” he said.

“No, you didn’t say anything wrong, but you might want to run what you told me by Jason,” I said.

“Oh he’ll trust my judgment.”

“You guys must be close brothers. My brothers would never trust each other that much.”

“We’ve been through a lot together. We kind of have to trust each other.”

My forehead creased, “You two are ridiculous!”

He was taken aback by my sharp remark, his hand dropping from my shoulder, “What?”

“You imply that you have been through a lot and he tells me that he doesn’t want me involved in his life. And of course, there are no explanations for any of these!”

“Hey! Jason’s known you for less than a week and you expect a life story?!”

He took a breath, “You need to get real Codie and face the fact that our lives are much more complicated than yours. We’ve never had to explain to anyone else before. Most people leave us alone.”

“Well if you wanted to be left alone, you should have told Jason to leave me alone!” I hissed.

I found the car key glinting right next to my foot. I snatched it up and started the Jeep. I glared at Varner, who returned my glare with a look of shy pain. It made my heart ache a little bit as it reminded me of Jason, but I pulled the car door out of Varner’s grasp and closed it. I pulled a tight U-turn in the front of their house and sped home.

I tossed the car keys on the wooden chest and tip-toed up the stairs to my bedroom. It didn’t do any good though as my brothers were all waiting for me. The all appeared at my door in an instance.

“Late night joy ride in the Jeep?” Randy said.

I shrugged, “I wanted to drive and I never get to.”

All three of them rolled their eyes at me.

“Going to tell us where you went?” Brad said.

“Considering I didn’t go anywhere…” I said.

Alex groaned, “We all know that’s a lie Codie. So just tell us where you went!”

“No! I don’t have to tell you guys everything I do.”

“Well, no… but it would be beneficial for your health,” Randy said.

“You mean yours!”

“Well it would certainly help,” Randy agreed.

“I’m not telling you a thing! Now get out or I’ll yell and wake up Mom and Dad!”

They all muttered unhappily.

“This topic is not being dropped… we will talk about it!!” Alex said as he left my bedroom behind Brad and Randy.

I sighed. I couldn’t believe how easily I had gotten off! As I fell onto my bed I saw the clock blinking a few minutes after midnight. Ah. That’s why they let the conversation end. Well, tomorrow would be fantastic… there was no was I was avoiding talking about my late night adventure then.

I curled into a ball and pulled the blanket over my head. My breath came in too shallow as my thoughts zipped through the corn fields and trees back to Jason’s house. The mysteries peeling away from him and his brother were stifling. It was all too crazy, much, much too crazy. If I couldn’t keep my mouth shut tomorrow, even my overly dedicated brothers wouldn’t believe a word I said. Jason would explain everything to me though, wouldn’t he? Varner had said that they’ve never had to explain to someone before. But he had also said that I was first girl Jason was really interested in. My mouth tingled as I thought of Jason’s lips on mine. I licked my lips, trying to hold onto the electric taste, but all I got was blanket. I pulled the blanket off of my head angrily and snapped the lamp off near my bed. Just before I drifted asleep, my mind wondered if the sparks we felt were visible in the dark…

Ohh man, so much drama! I don't know if you all can handle it, but I love it! Hehe. Any who, I hope you liked the chapter. I would love if you left me a review! Thanks for reading!

-WMystic