The Four

Chapter 33

On the way home from the prison and the brief stop at the frozen yogurt shop, Melanie and Emmet were stopped in front of a park watching a breakup happen.

"Twenty bucks says it's because he cheated" Melanie whispered to him with a nod.

"Deal" He responded not looking away from the fighting couple.

The girl had her back to them and all they saw were her arms wildly flailing while the boy stood there with a frightened expression on his face. The fight between them had been going on for a while now and Melanie and Emmet refused to look away. Both of them knew that they probably looked incredibly creepy but they didn't care, it was free entertainment.

Unfortunately for them the fight didn't last much longer as the fiery redheaded girl sat down on the bench as the boy walked away from her.

Melanie's eyes widened when she realized who the girl was, "Oh shit"

"Is that Avery?" Emmet asked squinting to see if it was his sister or not.

"It's Avery" Melanie nodded as she opened the car door, getting out of it, "Come on, we're talking to her"

Emmet had already planned on doing so but Melanie had moved first. He got out of the car and locked it. Emmet's mind was racing with different things to say to try and comfort the crying teenager but nothing stuck. He didn't know how to handle these sorts of things, especially not with his half-sister that he just found out he had.

"Hey kid" Melanie whispered softly as she sat down on the right side of Avery, "You okay?"

Emmet awkwardly sat down on the left of Avery. He watched her look between the two before shaking her head while wiping some of her tears with her sleeve.

"No" She whispered hugging herself, "I got cheated on and then I dumped him"

Melanie gave Emmet a knowing look over Avery's head. Emmet noticed she was looking at him and shook his head at her.

"Well he sounds like an asshole," Melanie told her, looking away from Emmet.

"He was," Avery mumbled as she leaned back on the bench staring up at the sky.

Melanie looked between the siblings and tilted her head at the teenager trying to get Emmet to step in.

Emmet cleared his throat and tried to help with the situation, "How long were you two together?"

"Seven months" Avery looked over at him, "So I shouldn't even be crying over him! But he was my first boyfriend so I guess I just had high hopes"

"In highschool seven months is a long time" Emmet said as he shifted to fully face her, "You were in your first relationship and you ended up getting cheated on, that breaks multiple levels of trust. But that guy was an asshole who definitely didn't deserve you. You deserve someone you can trust and someone who will always make you smile. It might take a few heart breaks to find that person but you will find them. In fact you might even meet them in a frozen yogurt shop when you're sixteen."

He looked over at Melanie for a moment and noticed how red her face got at his words. Although she had never said it outloud, she knew he was the boy she met in the shop in New York when she was fifteen.

Avery smiled a little as she listened to his long lecture about relationships. They were already getting closer and starting to form a sibling bond. Avery had some worries when they first started hanging out that he would hate her since she came from his mom's second family. But he didn't. He treated her like she was his sister for his entire life.

"You're getting good at this, you know" Avery said as she wiped the remaining tears from her face, "The whole big brother thing"

Emmet felt himself start to smile at the younger girl's words. Growing up as an only child didn't give you many opportunities to have sibling-like relationships. When he first found out who Avery was he was worried that he would mess it up somehow or she would hate him. But she didn't. Avery embraced the whole idea of them being siblings which in turn made him start to embrace it.