Between You & Me || Luke & Jai Brooks

Chapter XXV - Throwing Punches

* Meghan's pov *

"Jai. I really need to speak to you. Just come over when you can, I'm at Ali's. Thanks." I leave a message on Jai's answering machine when he doesn't pick up. Alicia's laying out on the sofa, eyes closed, looking like a corpse. She's sixteen, but she looks at least twenty at the moment.

Sixteen and pregnant.

Our lives are TV shows in themselves.

I make myself a cup of tea and take a block of chocolate from the bag I brought yesterday. At least Daniel isn't at home. Alicia doesn't know where he is.

As I sit on the sofa with the chocolate, I take out my phone. I promised to fill in Luke with all the details, as he's the only person other than me that knows what's going on. I want to text him but decide to ring him because it's safer, there'll be no proof of what was discussed. He answers softly on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, babe. I just wanted to tell you the results of the test." I say quietly. "They came up negative."

There's an intake of breath from his side. "Well, Skip knows already." He says, and I gasp in horror.

"What?! How?"

"He figured it out. She told him she was 5 weeks, and he did some maths for once, and actually got a correct answer." Luke replies, and he sounds as tired as me. It's getting to us both, fixing up problems that aren't even ours.

"Typical." I sigh. "Well, I'm going to talk to Jai hopefully this afternoon so I guess you can tell him if you want."

Luke sighs too. "I think I will. I'm going to need to eventually, so I may as well get it over with."

I hear the doorbell ring on my side of the conversation and start when I see Jai through the window. "Speak of the devil! I'll see you tonight, Lukey. Love you!"

"Love you too!" He makes cute kissy noises down the line and I blush and smile before hanging up. Then I cover Alicia's sleeping body with a blanket, tucking it right up to her chin, and head to the door.

* * * *

*Luke pov*

"Skip!" I call out from the lounge room. He's upstairs in my room finding a hoodie to wear, but he's taking his time and I want to get this over with.

"Yeah?" He pokes his head out over the staircase.

"I need to talk to you, mate."

He rolls his eyes."Don't go getting all d&m on me now man." He laughs as if he's extremely funny.

"It's about Alicia's baby." I say nonchalantly, and Daniel practically launches himself down the stairs.

"What is it? What do you know?"

I chew on my lip nervously. I don't want Skip to cry, or break shit, or hit me, but I need to tell him. I'm not sure if the father being a friend will be a negative or positive thing in Skip's mind. I hope he won't take it out on me because I'm the twin. So many things are going through my head bit I know the longer I leave it, the more crap will go through Skip's head.

"Meghan's with Alicia, and they've taken a paternity test." I say simply. "As you figured out, you're not the father." I feel like Maury. I pause. Like a bandaid. Nice and quick. "The father is Jai."

Skip drops his head to his hands and runs his fingers through his blonde hair, clenching and unclenching his fists. He shakes his head, and tugs on his hair, hard. I'm not sure if he's crying, but his breathing is jerky and shallow. When he looks up, his eyes are watery but no tears have fallen.

"You're sure?" He asks shakily.

I nod, and I pity Daniel so much in this moment.

"How did this happen?" He asks quietly, choked up, almost to himself. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you, Skip. Alicia loves you. She got drunk, Jai got drunk, one thing led to another... Alicia wanted that baby to be yours so badly, mate." I try to comfort him but he's just shaking his head, fingers tangled in his hair. A few tears drop silently onto his shorts. "I'm sorry." I say quietly.

"It's okay, man, it's not your fault. And whether the baby is Jai's or not, Alicia's my girl and I'm going to be the dad to that kid." He says determinedly.

I nod. "That's probably exactly what Ali wants to hear, man. She's absolutely devastated about this whole thing, she's destroyed."

"I need to see her." Skip says, rubbing his eyes and standing abruptly. "Can you drive me? Please? I have to see her, now."

"Yeah, I'll drive you. She's at home, just around the corner."

Skip puts his arms around me and embraces me quickly, before stepping away and putting his shoes on. I really hope he manages to get through this, because on the inside he's such a different guy than he comes across as.

* * * *

*Meghan's pov*

I take a deep breath with my hand on the door handle before opening it. I force a smile, but it doesn't matter because Jai sees straight through it.

"What's this all about? I know something's up!" He walks straight in past me.

"Go through to the kitchen, Jai. Leash's asleep on the sofa." Is all I say, which I can see infuriates him. He goes anyway, and I follow, closing the kitchen door quietly behind us.

He corners me as I shut the door, and puts his hands on my shoulders. His face really isn't the same as Luke's, I've known them for my whole life and only twice mixed them up. Jai's face was always rounder until lately when everything suddenly became defined and structured. Luke has the baby face now.

Jai's heavy-set eyebrows are pulled together in the middle and his brown eyes are serious. "What the hell is going on, why are you so uptight and nervous to talk to me and why is Alicia lying there looking like she died a week ago?" he asks in one breath and I feel the urge to giggle bubble up in my throat for some absurd reason. I feel slightly hysterical.

"This is going to be a huge shock for you, but I need you to think calmly and logically, Jaiby." He relaxes noticeably as I use the nickname I gave him when I was younger. I haven't used it in forever, I almost forgot it, but it just seemed to roll off my tongue when I saw him so anxious and upset. I clear my throat. "Alicia is pregnant."

His jaw drops. "What?! When did this happen? How is Daniel dealing with this?"

I squeeze my eyes shut then open my mouth when the doorbell rings. My mouth shuts with a snap and Jai shoots me a worried glance. He pulls me in for a one-armed hug. "Hey, just stay here honey, I'll get this." He says, but I still follow behind him to the the door.

I see the scene play out in slow motion before it happens. I glance a flash of blonde hair through the glass, and the pain flash through Skip's eyes as the door opens, then Jai comes flying towards me sideways as the sound of Skip's fist smashing into his jaw replays in my mind.