It was dark by the time Lizzy found herself back at Brian’s place, and she was still a little giddy from the day she’d spent with Zacky. The way he kissed her made her feel like she was floating ten feet off the ground, and she had defiantly missed the sex. She’d never admit it to Zacky himself, but practically no one she’d dated in New York had been able to compare to him. Instead of feeling guilty though, she felt loved and cared for. As if nothing had ever happened between the two of them, like they’d never broken up and he’d never gotten engaged.

Like everything was the same way it had been ten years ago.

There was a light on the living room, and feeling like she was a little drunk, Lizzy stuck her head around the archway to find Brian sat next to a table lamp, a book in his hands.
“You’re reading a book. Something must be terribly wrong- did Dad get hit by a bus?!” Lizzy giggled, but fell silent when she realised he wasn’t laughing with her. Slowly, he closed the little paperback and set it down on the table, running a hand through his hair.

“Where have you been?” he asked sternly, almost as if he was her father. She shrugged her shoulders and began to turn around. She was twenty-eight, she didn’t need her brother getting all protective on her ass and asking her where she’d spent her day.
“What’s it to you?”
“Not much. Only I got a slightly strange phone call this afternoon. From Zacky’s fiancée”

Lizzy froze in her tracks. How could she have known? They had been so careful, being sure to stay as far away from the city as they could, just so they could be together.
“What did that bitch want now?”
“She found something in Zacky’s back pocket. Thought it might belong to you” Brian said, and she hung her head. Her underwear, of course. That stupid little minx was just about to fuck up what she had with Zacky all over again. As Lizzy sighed and turned back to her brother, she watched as his eyes darkened a little.

“Why the fuck did you sleep with Zacky- AGAIN?!” Brian suddenly yelled and she took a step back. Her brother was the calmest person she knew, the only time she’d ever heard him yell at someone like that was when he’d laid it into their father when Lisa was two years old. She’d never thought she’d be on the receiving end of it.

“Why the fuck do you care?”
“I’m your brother, of course I care! Not many people pick up the phone and find a crying woman on the other side, devastated because her fiancé cheated on her with his ex-girlfriend! How could you go along with something like this?”
“It isn’t your life Brian, its mine- you can’t tell me what to do anymore!”

“I can and I will! You are not going anywhere near Zacky ever again, do you understand me young lady?”
“Brian stop acting like you’re my father! I’m twenty eight not fifteen- I don’t need you!”

She clapped her hands over her mouth, wishing she could put the words back in her throat. Brian stopped still, and the room fell into a horrible awkward silence as Brian took a step backwards, obviously trying to recover from what she’d just yelled at him.

He’d seen Lizzy mad before, hell he’d been on the end of her yelling sprees for years now, but never once had she said that she didn’t need him. They were brother and sister, they’d grown up together and he’d practically raised her like his father should have. He needed her like he needed a heartbeat. But obviously…she wasn’t feeling the same way.

“Of course you don’t need me. I’m just your older brother” he whispered sadly, before he pushed past her, heading for the stairs. His argument had probably woken up Tyler and he’d have to put him to bed all over again.

“Brian, you know I didn’t mean it, can’t we talk about this?” Lizzy began to ask, following him into the hallway, but he stopped on the third stone stair, turning back to stare at his little sister.
“NO! I want you out of my house by the morning, Lizzy. I have a family here; I don’t need a trainwreck of a sister here too” he whispered, refusing to meet his sisters eyes.

“But Brian…”
“Don’t but Brian me. You had your chance Lizzy. Go home” he muttered before stalking up the rest of the stone stairs and disappearing into his bedroom.

Lizzy stared at the stairwell for a moment, feeling tears begin to prick in her eyes at the thought of her own brother kicking her out of his house. Slowly, she turned around and began to walk towards the door, taking one last look at the large, shadow of a house her brother owned.

“But…I need you” she whispered as tears began to trickle out of her eyes and she shut the door altogether.

***
Jimmy had taken to watching re-runs of The Walking Dead now that he was coping with sleepless nights. Watching some guy run through a Zombie Massacre was oddly comforting to him, and as he watched yet another guy’s head get torn off, he heard the doorbell go off, a loud sound in the dark and quiet house.

Jamie was sleeping, tired out from yet another day working an eleven hour shift at the hospital and taking care of the thing that was growing happily inside her stomach. It was causing her a lot of grief, according to what she told him, and he couldn’t help but wonder when they’d make it so guys could have babies too- just so he’d know how painful it really was.

He paused the TV show and got up off of the couch, checking outside of his window to see if he could spot who it was. A short, shadowed figure was standing beside his front door, staring up at the bright light in front of them, if almost to blind themselves permenantly.

Jimmy opened the door to reveal Lizzy, tears streaming down her pale little face.

“Brian kicked me out” she whispered and he grabbed her into a tight hug as she broke down in his arms, holding on tightly to his stringy body.
“Why did he kick you out Mini-Me? He’s a bastard, he’s your brother!”

“I did a terrible thing…” she whimpered into his shirt, and he looked down, right into her bright eyes that were filled with tears. And he didn’t even have to ask her what it was before the words spilled right out of her mouth.

“I slept with Zacky again”