Empathy (TMF FANFIC)

Hailey and Zander (Third Person)

Timeline: The same day as the previous chapter (1 week, 2 days after Jake's suicide)

"Hey Zander, what did you want to talk about?"  Hailey asked as she set her status to offline.
"What exactly happened with Jake in the past?"  He cut to the chase.
Hailey found herself caught off guard as she wasn't expecting him to ask that question.  "Uhh...that was a private conversation between us, and I'd rather not-."
"I'm your step-brother, I have a right to know."  He interrupted.
"E-Excuse me?!  I'm entitled to my privacy in case you weren't aware!"  Hailey looked at him exasperated.
"As family, we're supposed to trust each other and tell each other everything."
"No, we tell each other things when we're ready for it, and I don't want to talk about it! Just because we're family doesn't mean that you're entitled to know every nook and cranny of my damn life, because it's MY life!  Sorry if it pisses you off, but you aren't getting shit out of me until I want to talk about it!"
Zander growled in frustration as he felt like punching a wall.  "I just want to know why he fucking bullied us, joined the band, but stayed with those assholes he called friends, enabled his friends' verbal harassment, built our trust only to fucking rip that to shreds, then fucking kill himself over something that HE ruined!  Is that really too much to ask?!  Little to nothing is adding up to me!  Why the hell did he say all that?!  I just want to make sense out of it all, dammit!"
Hailey looked at him with a bit of sympathy before she looked down at her lap.  "I'm sorry you feel like that. As valid as your feelings are, it's like what Sean said.  If we don't want to lose anyone else, we need to learn where our boundaries are, and we need to assert ourselves more.  So when I say that I'm not ready to tell you yet, it means you should respect the fact that you're gonna have to wait until the subject is within my comfort zone."
"You're right. But don't be sorry." Zander replied, looking down at his feet with a frown, "It was me who stepped out of bounds, not you."
Hailey sighed as she never liked arguing with her brother, especially when it was right after having a cyber-argument with the club. "It's fine Zander. Just- please try not to demand answers from me like that, alright?" Hailey said as she got up and pulled Zander into a hug.
Even though Zander wasn't necessarily a hugger, he had a soft spot for Hailey and Luke, so he was quick to return the embrace.

(Yeah, this one's short and cringy asf lol-)