On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss
Chapter 76
Seth
Jenna crosses her arms, too. “Well, my boyfriend lives here, so I came to see him.”
Drew quietly closes the door. He looks at me nervously, his expression asking the same questions as mine. Do we do something about this? Do we intervene? Or should we let them work it out?
To quote my girlfriend...
What’s the worst that can happen?
“Oh, yeah?” Heidi says. “You guys still doing that, then?”
“I can’t think of a reason for us to stop,” Jenna replies. “Universe doesn’t bend to your whims just because it’s your birthday.”
“No, it’d have to take a break from revolving around you first for that to happen, right?”
Jenna scoffs. “You just came back from a night at a Botsford Plaza where we rented an entire room so your favorite band could play for you, and I’m the entitled one?”
“God, we get it! You’re jealous of me.”
“I’m jealous?”
Drew slowly wanders around them and comes to stand next to me. We nod at each other, a silent agreement to watch and listen... and intervene if something goes flying.
“My fiancé is wealthy,” Heidi says. “He treats me to nice things and trips to Europe and everything else that pops into my head, and you can’t handle that. Well, welcome to grades one through twelve of my life, Jenna. You don’t get to wave Daddy’s credit card in my face anymore and it kills you to be on the other side, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t give a fuck about Drew’s money, Heidi.”
Heidi snorts. “Yeah, sure.”
“You keep trying to frame this entire situation as if we did this on purpose. You’re not a victim, Heidi. No one’s out to get you. We’re just two people who became attracted to each other and excuse us for not thinking we needed your permission to do that.”
“This wasn’t just some random guy, Jenna! This was Seth! My brother!”
“So?”
“So...” Heidi stutters, out of words. “I... I mean... for starters, you guys make an awful couple.”
Jenna’s jaw drops. “What? No, we don’t.”
“What do you even have in common?”
“We...”
Jenna hesitates as she looks at me.
I cringe, unable to think of anything off the top of my head.
What do Jenna and I have in common... except for body parts that interlock really, really well?
“We’re... both from Iowa,” she says.
Oof. Come on, Fancy.
Wait...
Fancy!
“We’re fit and athletic,” I spit.
Heidi frowns. “What?”
“Yeah!” Jenna says, pointing at me. “Uh-huh. We’re runners. We run together. In fact, we’re training for a 5k soon.”
I smile, suddenly not caring that she read my vision board. “That’s right.”
“Hey, that sounds cool,” Drew says beside me. “Heidi, maybe we should do that.”
Heidi glares at him before turning back to Jenna. “Did you even think it through?” she asks. “Or did you just shrug and say, ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ and jump in like you always do?”
Jenna winces. So do I. “I feel like it had more steps than that...”
“Let me guess. You thought, ‘Secret fling! I’m gonna do this stupid thing again and again because I just caaan’t control myself!’”
Jenna rolls her shoulders back. “Yes, I’m impulsive and promiscuous and all the other horrible things people call me behind my back, but I never thought I’d hear it from you, Heidi.” Her eyes glisten with tears. “For years, you’ve told me you loved that part of me, that you wished you could be more like me, but you don’t! You think I’m a joke, just like everyone else, don’t you?”
Heidi hesitates, her guilty eyes tilting to the floor.
“But hey.” Jenna swallows hard. “You got your wish. I’m dating serious guys now. I have a serious boyfriend. Happy now?”
“So this is my fault?”
“Actually, yes. Yes! This is your fault! If you hadn’t insisted that he stay in our house, this never would have happened! This is absolutely your fault, Heidi. Deal with it.”
“How was I supposed to know this would happen?”
“You forced two young and attractive people who hate each other into an enclosed space for days. You read romance novels. How did you not see this coming?!”
“I just wanted you guys to get along!”
“Well, we get along just fine now, don’t we?! We get along good and hard!”
“Ew!” Heidi recoils. “Stop it!”
“What’s the matter, Heidi? You don’t want all the usual deets? His size? His shape? How good your brother is on a one-to-ten scale?”
“No, I fucking don’t!”
“Perfect ten, little sister!”
“Stop it!”
“I said never!”
Drew discreetly angles his fist toward me. I bump it.
“Don’t you want to know all the ways we’ve done it?” Jenna prods harder. “Or all the sturdy, flat surfaces around the house we’ve done it on?”
“No, I—” Heidi cringes in disgust. “You’ve done it on the table?”
“Hell yeah, we have!”
“I eat there!”
“So has he!”
“Okay...”I move forward to get between them. “This is just getting weird, so I’m going to step in here. Heidi...” I address my sister. “I understand that you feel hurt and confused about this, but Jenna and I are together now. I’m in love with her and all I’m asking for is that you show us the same respect that I showed you and Drew.”
Heidi scoffs.
“Eventually,”I add.
“Piss off, Seth.”
“Hey, you dated my best friend for months without telling me, and now you’re pissed off and throwing tantrums because I did the same? Now who’s the fucking hypocrite?”
She leans back, hurt by the words.
“Okay...” Drew plants himself between us. “Now I’m stepping in,” he says to me, his voice a low rumble of warning. Fair enough. My bad. “Now, what I think we all need to do is calm down and apologize—”
“I’m not apologizing to her!” Jenna says.
Heidi pokes her head over Drew’s shoulder. “Neither am I!”
“I’ll apologize!” I say. “Heidi, I’m sorry. It was wrong to keep this from you and it was rude to announce it at your party. I’m truly sorry.”
Heidi sneers. “Too little too late, Seth! I should have known you’d do something like this. You never could resist being an asshole, could you?”
“Hey!” Jenna lurches forward. I extend an arm to hold her back. “Leave him alone, bitch!”
Heidi gasps. “What did you call me?!”
“You heard me!”
Drew quickly curls his arm around Heidi’s waist, easily pulling her back as she tries to rush at us. Jenna fights against my arm, but she’s not nearly strong enough either.
“Guys, stop it!” Drew shouts. “That’s enough!”
The girls jerk in our grasp, but they quickly give up.
“This has got to stop!” he says, looking between them. “Okay?”
A few huffing breaths and the girls ease back. Heidi crosses her arms. Jenna stands tall with closed fists. They stare at each other with fiery, unblinking eyes and I remember the night Drew and I fought over this exact thing.
Alpha Delta Xi.
There are no losers in this house. Everybody wins. Nobody loses. We’re all equals. We’re all helpless alone but powerful together. We’re all friends here.
No matter what.
“You’re best friends,” I say. “This isn’t worth throwing away a lifelong friendship.”
“He’s right,” Drew says. “You’ve been friends since you were five years old. You’ve been through everything together. I asked Jenna to plan our engagement party because I knew that there was no one else on this planet who knew you like she does.”
The girls stay quiet.
“Heidi, I know for a fact that when you picture our wedding, Jenna’s standing behind you at the altar,” he says. “And Seth’s going to be right there next to me, holding our rings. So, can we all please move past this?”
I smile at Drew. Damn, he’s good.
I love you, dude.
The girls continue to glare at each other, fuming while they shift on their toes.
Finally, Jenna leans forward. “I’m not apologizing until she does.”
“Then, I guess you’re never apologizing then,” Heidi says.
“Wasn’t gonna.”
“Then, what do you want to do?!” Drew asks, fed up. “Do you want us to let you go? Let you fight it out? Is that really what you want? To throw down? Have a fistfight? Wail on each other with pillows and hockey sticks?”
They pause. Jenna and Heidi make eye contact, their hard expressions twisting into looks of purpose.
“Sure,” Jenna says.
“Sounds good,” Heidi adds.
Drew pauses. “That wasn’t—“
“Assuming little sister here isn’t scared of getting her ass handed to her,” Jenna says over him.
Heidi narrows her eyes. “Oh, I’m in. Been waiting for an opportunity to knock you down a peg.”
“Just say when.”
“Delta Xi party. Eight o’clock.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Me, too.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
Jenna throws open the front door. “Fine!”
“Fine!”
Heidi bolts into Drew’s bedroom as Jenna leaves and they both slam their doors behind them.
Drew and I remain together in the living room, stiff and unmoving.
I barely breathe. “Drew, what have you done?” I whisper.
His pale brow twitches. “I don’t know, but I’m scared.”
Me too, brother.