brothers.

17~ What a Tangled Web

Kyle

My head was pounding. I wanted to block out the conversation, pretend it wasn't happening, but I couldn't help but listen. It was painful seeing Tommy pacing back and forth, pathetically apologizing over and over again.

"I swear, babe. It was just a prank. I swear."

A pause.

"I'm not! I'm not, babe. Okay?"

I wearily glanced at my other brothers, who gave me the same look back.

"I love you, too." Tommy then sighed. "I love you, Shirl-bear."

"Oh, God." I rolled my eyes while Jack and Harry snickered.

"Okay. Bye." He hung up with a large sigh.

"Tom, she may be toxic, but you shouldn't have lied to her," I said.

"She's too crazy. I can't tell her the truth." He crashed onto the sofa.

"You know... this was the perfect way to break it off. For a moment, you were free," Harry pointed out.

"Are you crazy?" Tommy frowned. "I'll be the 'ex' for her. She'll go around telling everyone how 'horrible' I was and how I cheated on her. People are saying enough about me. I don't need more."

"She's the reason you started looking at that stuff in the first place!"

"Could we drop the subject?"

Jack scoffed. "Yeah. Avoid talking about it, like you always do."

"Alright, that's enough." I got off my phone, having ended my conversation with Nicole. "You guys want to play PS5 or something? Did you do all your homework?"

"I have some, but it's due Friday," said Harry.

"Today's Thursday." Jack looked at him derisively.

"Yeah. I have 24 hours."

"No, you don't."

He groaned. "Come on, I need to unwind right now."

Tommy's phone rang again, the familiar ringtone instantly irritating us.

"Oh, come on, don't answer!" I said.

"Just give me a minute." He took the call.

"Or ten hours."

He glared at me. "Yeah, babe?" A pause. "Uh... no, no. We haven't." A few seconds. "Honey, I told you, it's not easy. We can't just tell her."

I looked up at him, narrowing my eyes. He paced around the den, tensing up. "Shirley, please, I explained this to you. This is something too personal."

"What is she saying?" Jack asked. Tommy motioned for him to be quiet.

As Shirley spoke, the color drained from his face. "What? No. Don't-" He shook his head. "Shirley, no. You can't... no! No! I said no!"

"What is it?" I demanded.

"This isn't your right." Creases formed around his eyebrows, his eyes shifting left and right. His pacing grew faster. "Because it's not! Please, Shirley... please! Don't do this!"

I stood. "Let me talk to her." I held out my hand.

He waved me away. "Shirley, we'll tell her. Okay? We will." He motioned for me to stop as I tried to grab the phone. "We'll tell her! I promise."

"It's none of her business," said Jack.

"It kind of is," said Harry.

"How? Just because she's Tom's girlfriend doesn't mean she has the right to-"