Confessions of a Drunk
“Hey, buddy!” He said as he staggered over to his friend who was sitting on the couch. “Watcha doin’?” He sounded like a curious little boy. He finally sat down next to him before bringing his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Watching you,” he dryly spoke, as if he was obligated. He took a sip of the cold beer in his hands before looking at his drunk friend.
“And w-why did you- do that?” Ian stuttered out to say as his gaze never lifted from his friend.
“Sissy asked me to get you here, so I did.” He simply told the other, and he watched at how he would react, but there was no reaction.
A girl was seen holding a full shot glass walking towards the two. The drunk one lifted his arm and brought it back to him, while the other just looked at her with skepticism. He knew who the shot was for. “I think that’s enough for tonight, Sissy.”
“What are you talking about, Danny?” She played the innocence card as she held up the hand that wasn’t holding the drink.
“He blurted out your secret.” He glared at her, but she kept up her charade.
“Well, call it a birthday shot.” And she saw the face he was giving her, so she further explained. “Those shots before weren’t even remotely about his birthday, this one is.” Danny wasn’t letting up his stern gaze. “This will be his last one,” she said convincingly as she looked at her brother in the eye. “I promise.”
Ian nodded, and he looked a bit flushed, but that may just be the alcohol. “It is…”
“See,” Sissy told her brother before giving the other person the drink.
Danny looked at the drink in his sister’s hand then turned to look at the drunk person next to him. He didn’t think he could take anymore. If Ian got any more alcohol, then he would certainly faint, and that would get him into trouble. Before she was able to give the drink to her friend, Danny called out her name, “Jessica.”
She faced him again. “What do you want now?” She was getting irritated from his constant bickering.
Danny placed his bottle of beer next to his foot then gestured for her to give the shot to him. “I’ll take it for him.” Now it was her turn to become skeptical, so he continued as he placed a hand onto Ian’s shoulder. “Consider this as his birthday gift from me.”
“Okay.” She just simply responded then she cheerfully gave him the glass. “Here you go!”
He accepted the glass and took the shot. It was a type of strong liquor. Yeah, Ian wouldn’t last after this shot. “You were planning to give him this?” he cleared his throat as he gave her back the glass.
All she did was smile and winked at him before heading off back to her friends. He just shook his head. That was probably a plan for him to do something nice to the person next to him who has been quiet most of the time his sister was there.
“Sissy’s gone. You could talk again.” Danny remarked.
All he did was nod. “I… know…” Ian quietly said as he fidgeted with his fingers. He looked at the person next to him and saw that he was looking at him, so he lost the words he was going to say. “Uh…” The drunk person had to avert his eyes elsewhere to actually talk to Danny. “Thanks, Dan… for… taking the shot… for me… and all…” He had lost all bravado he had earlier.
Ian opened his mouth to say something but then he saw the smiling face and closed his mouth. He looked away just shrugged. “It just… didn’t come up…”
The one drinking the beer chuckled at the action. “Well, happy eighteenth birthday. How do you feel now that you’re officially an adult?”
He thought about it, and it didn’t really feel like anything has changed. “No difference.” Ian shrugged again, but this time he was more relaxed, more confident even.
Dan saw the change and raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong…” Ian started, “but there’s something I have to tell you…” He began to fidget with his fingers again. “I know you’re three years older than me… but…” He took in a shaky breath and let it out. “I… like you, a lot… and… if I didn’t tell you… then Jessi would have told you instead…”
He knew this was coming sooner or later, but he had never expected it to be this soon. Dan kept his composure in check and he decided to play around for a bit. “What makes you think I’ll like you back?”
Ian became surprised at the question. He wasn’t ready to answer a question like that. “I… uh… I don’t know…” He answered honestly as he looked at the floor.
Dan watched him, smiling for the moment before speaking. “You know you’re pretty cute when you’re sulking.”
Ian shot up to look at the other person in shock then he saw the smirk. His heart was crushed. “Oh… you were joking… I get it… I-I’m gonna go now…” He got up from his seat and left the living room into the hallway where the bedrooms were.
That wasn’t what he meant, but the older male just watched him leave.
Not even thirty seconds passed until his sister comes to him with a scowl on her face. “What did you do?” She glared at him while she had her arms crossed. “He came into my room practically crying!”
And now he’s in trouble. “I didn’t do anything,” Dan had said, but his sister wasn’t taking any of it. “All I told him was that he was cute.”
“Oh yeah? Was that it?” She said, not believing a word he was saying.
He rolled his eyes and took a step forward towards his sister. “Look, he confessed to me, saying that if he didn’t do it himself then you would have told me.”
“Oh…” She felt dumbfounded. “W-well were you lying when you said that he was cute?” She knew what was wrong now.
“He’s… a little cute…” He admitted, earning a smirk from his sister. His cheeks were getting flushed from the impending embarrassment.
“I’m shocked!” Jessica was feigned on being insulted. “You didn’t tell me you secretly had a thing for Ian.” She was widely grinning now. “That’s so cute!”
Dan groaned at the squeal. “And now you know why I didn’t,” he told her as his cheeks were still rosy. “Are you going to tell him now?”
“Nope,” she simply replied, but she still has the devious glint in her eye. “But you are.”
He had become surprised and confused. “You want me to tell him.”
“Yeah, he’s only been pining for you ever since you dated Jennifer.” She told him as if it was the most obvious fact.
“That long?” Dan wasn’t aware of that fact.
“Ugh!” His sister groaned. “You’re so oblivious!”
“Hey, I figured it out only after me and Jen broke up,” the big brother had become defensive.
“Yeah, and that’s two years too late.” She blatantly told him. “Besides that’s only what I’ve been told. He might’ve fallen for you the moment he laid eyes on you for all I know.”
“Can you take him home?” she asked. “It’s eleven now, and I don’t think Jennifer would appreciate that he came home any later, you know she doesn’t like these kinds of things.”
He just nodded. “Okay…”
She just sighed. “Get your keys while I go get Ian.” She went to the hallway, but before she disappeared she turned to say one last thing, “Don’t do anything bad anymore.”
Jessica went into the hallway with a wave of the hand while Dan just chuckled at the comment. He already has his phone, wallet and keys in his pockets, so all he needed was to wait for the other guy to come. Ian came out alone, but he still looked like he was down in the dumps.
Sissy probably just told him he needed to go home, and Ian probably became mortified that Dan was going to take him home. He internally sighed. He wanted to fix his mood, but he wanted to do it somewhere more private. “Are you ready?”
Ian just slightly nodded, not saying anything or voicing anything.
“Okay.” The older male simply said as he went to the front door and opened it, allowing for the younger person to pass through then closing it behind him. He took out his keys and unlocked his car which was parked right onto the driveway. Dan quickly walked towards the car so he could open the door for the other. Ian paused for a moment, and he looked up at the older person before getting inside of the car. Danny took a deep breathe then went to the driver’s side to get into the car. He sat in front of the wheel and looked at the other person in the car. He was staring down at his shoes with a dejected look on his face. Dan actually sighed this time. “Ian… I…” Of course it would be harder than he thought. He took another deep breathe then started again. “I really meant it when I said you were cute.” He had almost regretted telling him after the words came out of his mouth, almost.
The dejected look on his face changed into shock. “Then—”
Dan placed a finger on his mouth, efficiently silencing him. “We’ll talk more when you’re not…” He took another look at him, and it seemed like he wasn’t as drunk as he used to be. “…under the influence.”
Ian simply nodded again, not knowing which words to say or how to say them before he embarrasses himself again.
Dan finally started the car, reversed out of the driveway, and drove away. His house was about twenty minutes away and in that time, he would be able to think about what he was going to pursue.
The first thing is he didn’t know how other people would take it. It would have to be a secret at first then if they wanted to tell the world then they can and face the consequence later. Another thing was that he just didn’t want to jump into the relationship without having them thinking about it at first. Then it finally occurred to him that he never really gave much thought about pursuing this. He figured if he waited long enough, then the person next to him would stop having feelings for him, but that wasn’t the case. Ian would do things for him that would put him on his radar. Sometimes he would ask how his day was through text. Or he would simply come over to help Jessica with her homework, and once they were done, Ian would go into Dan’s room and just hang out with him for a bit or until his sister comes to pick him up. There are moments where Jessica would come home with fast food and hand it to him saying that it was Ian’s treat. It felt weird at first, but he couldn’t say no to food, so he graciously accepted it. Ian doing those things for him simply brightens up his day.
Dan had gotten to the street Ian’s house was on, and as he parked in front of the house, he finally noticed that his companion was fast asleep. The younger male had his body shifted in a way so his head would use the seatbelt for support. There was a slight smile on his sleeping face, and Dan thought. Ian was cute sleeping like that. Then his face started to heat from realizing what he had just thought about. Maybe he was in deeper than he thought.
He took out his phone from his pocket and messaged the girl who also lived in the house. ‘I’m outside. Ian’s sleeping in the car. Can we talk?’
Not even a minute later that he got the message from the same girl. ‘… Okay.’
He tried his best to get out of the car as quietly as possible; it was a slow progress. And when he finally got out of the car, she was there waiting for him with the front door open. He nervously walked up to her like she was going to pounce at him for disturbing her sleep, though she most likely wasn’t.
As he got closer, she closed the door behind her and leaned against it with her arms crossed around her chest. “So, Daniel, what did you want to talk about?” She pressed her gaze upon him. The reason he wanted to talk was probably because her younger brother did something stupid at the party. “Did Ian do something dumb?”
Daniel awkwardly stood by the step with pursed lips, contemplating on if he should tell her or not. “Yes and no,” he finally said, “He hasn’t done anything that bad, but…” It was definitely easier in his mind. “He told me he likes me.”
“Oh…” She was taken by surprise.
“Yeah… I figured it out when we broke up but…” It felt odd asking her this question. “Do you know when he started to like me?”
She thought about it. “Probably when I introduced you to him,” she spoke.
His eyes widened at the suggestion then he looked back down. “Meaning that I was leading him on all this time…” Dan thought back to when he would hug the other just to make him flustered. He thought it was funny until now.
She sighed, knowing what he was thinking about. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. You were the older brother he never had, so it was fine that you were physical with him.” He smirked at what she said, so she continued. “You know, before high school he was so awkward around other people, but look at him now, he was in the prom royal court.” The smirk turned into a small smile, giving her another thought. “But it’s more than just that, isn’t it?”
Dan gave a nod. “You know me so well, Jen.” He chuckled before he spoke again. “Yeah, there’s more. Recently… I’ve been seeing him in a different light…”
“What do you mean?” She inquired, fully knowing what he had meant.
He opened his mouth to speak because he thought she would have known what he meant. But he knew she did know what he meant, she just wanted him to say it out loud. Dan sighed. “I… sort of… grew feelings for your younger… brother…” He confessed to her and immediately her face had a wide grin. He held a finger up to silence whatever she was going to say. “No, you don’t get to do that. Jessica already did that to me, and I don’t need any more from you.” His face was heating up, and he was becoming flustered.
“Are you done?” Jennifer asked while still having the huge grin.
He sighed for the umpteenth time. “Yes, I’m done.” He knew she wasn’t going to stop, so he closed his eyes and braced for the incoming embarrassment.
“Awwwww! You have a crush on Ian.” She playfully cooed. “This is the perfect love story! You, who Ian is so desperately in love with, finally returns his feelings!”
His red face sighed, again. “So when did you find out he liked me?” He changed the subject and hoped that she would too.
Jen just smiled before answering her question, knowing that he had just changed the subject. “A little bit after we started dating.” Her expression has softened. “He… made as little contact as he possibly could for a few weeks before I decided to call him out on it.” She was getting tired of standing, and with the fact that she was getting emotional, she slid down the door and sat on the welcome mat. “He said that it was nothing and told me to mind my own business. I got impatient with him. I noticed that he was fidgeting with his phone, so I took it out of his hands, and what guess who I saw as his home screen… you. It was a picture of you and him at your last game, standing side by side with you in your gear widely grinning because of the victory that night. That’s when I knew, so I shoved his phone back at him and immediately went into my room. I didn’t speak to him for a few days, but when I did, he was back to normal, like nothing had happened. He was jealous of me… because I was dating the guy he loves.” She whispered out the last part because it was to herself, but undoubtedly, he heard as well. She had her knees up and wrapped her arms around them as she leaned against the door.
Dan was now sitting on the step facing her. He felt sympathetic, so he put his hand onto hers. He also felt somewhat at fault for this happening. “I’m sorry… I wish I knew he liked me much earlier.”
She tore his hand away from hers. “So, what? So you could break his heart and watch him spiral into depression?” There was bite to her words. “I’m sorry, but if that ever happened again, you would never see the light of day.” Her eyes were fierce as she meant every word she had spoken.
A small smile formed on Daniel’s lips. Not the reaction people would think to see, but he knew her. “Is that why you broke up with me? So your brother won’t spiral into depression?”
Jennifer had calmed down from that brief outburst as she deeply inhaled and exhaled. “I just want him to be happy, y’know. And if he’s unhappy because I’m in a relationship then I don’t want to be in the relationship.”
“I understand why you did it now.” He said as he put a hand onto her knee. “He consoled me when we broke up. He was over at my house when we had just broken up. He was able to see just how depressed I was as I went into my room. I sat on my bed with my elbows on my knees and hands on my face, before dropping myself backwards onto the bed as I put an arm over my eyes. I heard him knocking on the door before asking in a low voice if he could go in, but I didn’t respond, I couldn’t find the strength to. It seemed like a minute passed until I heard the door opening and closing then I felt someone sitting on my bed. I peeked at who it was, and it was him. Just sitting there looking at me with such caring eyes. He placed a hand on my knee and held it there.” Dan smiled to himself. “He didn’t even know what I was sad about and yet he was there. After that I sat up again and looked at him. I could see how broken I was in his eyes; I broke. I hugged him. My head in the nape of his neck and arms wrapped around his torso. He froze up at first, then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around me. Then I told him what happened. Not everything that just… that you broke up with me…”
It was her turn to become sympathetic. “I’m sorry I did that to you… That day, he came home angry and got into my face about you. He just couldn’t understand why I would break up with you, and he listed so many great things about you, but I didn’t tell him. I couldn’t. He would have felt guilty if I told him that we broke up because of him, so I kept it to myself and told him the same thing I told you, it was just a fling…” Both of their eyes locked on each other as their topic of discussion was getting real and emotions stirred.
Daniel spoked again after the brief silence. “Do you still have feelings for me?” He knew it was a loaded question, but he had to ask.
Jennifer smiled. She knew why he asked that question because if she did then he probably wouldn’t pursue her younger brother. “No, I don’t. Not anymore when Ian cares about you so much more,” she answered honestly.
He was glad. There wouldn’t be any conflict between the siblings. Dan smiled. “Then do you think we can be friends again?”
“Definitely,” Jen told him as she smiled back at him.
~!~
His surrounding felt warm, but there was this stillness to it. He was upright, so he couldn’t be in bed, but if he’s not in bed then where was he? He opened his eyes to the best of his abilities and found that the only given light were the street lights. He lifted his hand to feel the strap that was pressing against his chest before looking at what it was. He finally noticed he was in a car. He sat there and tried to remember whose car he was in until he turned his head to see two people in front of a very familiar house. He was asleep in Dan’s car. He could smell the older person’s scent all around him. He would have wanted to stay in the vehicle, but he needed to sleep in his bed. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, and upon closing the door, the attention of the two people talking went onto him. He was still groggy and a bit unbalanced as he walked towards the two. As he was getting closer to the front door, the porch light was getting brighter, so he squinted because he wasn’t used to the brightness of the light. But squinting made his walking worse, so he stumbled forward. He was too slow at the moment to catch himself. He thought he would have felt the hard ground, but, instead, he felt an arm catch him.
Ian was becoming flustered. Then he thought he had seen someone else here with him. “What were… you and Jenny… talking about?”
Daniel smiled. “We were talking about you.”
The younger male became nervous now. “What… about?”
Danny grinned. “About what you did at the party and believe me, she was not happy.”
Ian grimaced. “She’s going to… kill me now…”
The older male laughed. “I was half kidding. I didn’t tell her everything.”
“Then… what did you tell her?” Ian asked with insecurity.
Dan smiled at him. “We talked about what you told me…”
It took a few seconds for the other person to register what was said. “You… what?”
The taller male chuckled. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow… I think you should go get some sleep.”
The drunken teen nodded his head after a few seconds, and after another few seconds passed, he spoke out. “Help me?”
Dan grinned and shook his head. “Of course I will.” He was still holding onto the other person and when he turned around to face the house again, he noticed that Jennifer was no longer there. He just continued to help his friend get to the front door, before opening it, letting themselves inside.
“I’m home.” The smaller person tiredly speaks. Ian was adorable drunk, even if he wasn’t trying to be. Dan thought, and he no longer squashed the ideas anymore because he was finally going to accept them as they are. Daniel closed the door behind them and went straight for his friend’s room. He had been in this house a thousand times, so he knew where everything was. He was treated like a son-in-law, jokingly, as he was dating Jennifer until she broke it off. Though, he was still accepted there even after the break up. Ian was practically falling asleep on him, but he easily toughed it out since he was still in great condition. He finally got to Ian’s door and opened it, not needing to turn off the light. He even knew where everything was in the room, oddly enough. Dan helped him to the bed and once his legs touched the side of it, he got off of the taller male and plopped onto the bed.
Dan rolled his eyes. “Do you need help with anything else?”
The body didn’t budge, and soon rhythmic breathing could be seen. The taller male just simply shook his head. He bent down closer to the sleeping person’s head before gently placing a kiss onto his forehead. He was somewhat surprised at what he did, but all he did was chuckled to himself. He’s really fallen for him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow…” he finally whispers out before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He left the house and locked the front door behind him, just like how he used to do in the past, and maybe near future…
“What for?” He was leaning towards him, clearly not having his sense of balance. “I’m not doing anything bad.”
“You have, Ian, but I’m not gonna say anything.” There was a grin on his face as he remembered when his younger sister had to keep him from shouting a secret about her, which isn’t a secret anymore. “And besides, I had to promise your older sister that I would watch over you, so I could get you to come.” He looked up and down the person next to him. It was clear the person had a bit too much to drink.
“And w-why did you- do that?” Ian stuttered out to say as his gaze never lifted from his friend.
“Sissy asked me to get you here, so I did.” He simply told the other, and he watched at how he would react, but there was no reaction.
A girl was seen holding a full shot glass walking towards the two. The drunk one lifted his arm and brought it back to him, while the other just looked at her with skepticism. He knew who the shot was for. “I think that’s enough for tonight, Sissy.”
“What are you talking about, Danny?” She played the innocence card as she held up the hand that wasn’t holding the drink.
“He blurted out your secret.” He glared at her, but she kept up her charade.
“Well, call it a birthday shot.” And she saw the face he was giving her, so she further explained. “Those shots before weren’t even remotely about his birthday, this one is.” Danny wasn’t letting up his stern gaze. “This will be his last one,” she said convincingly as she looked at her brother in the eye. “I promise.”
His gaze still didn’t let up. Danny turned to the person next to him and asked him a question. “Is today really your birthday?”
Ian nodded, and he looked a bit flushed, but that may just be the alcohol. “It is…”
“See,” Sissy told her brother before giving the other person the drink.
Danny looked at the drink in his sister’s hand then turned to look at the drunk person next to him. He didn’t think he could take anymore. If Ian got any more alcohol, then he would certainly faint, and that would get him into trouble. Before she was able to give the drink to her friend, Danny called out her name, “Jessica.”
She faced him again. “What do you want now?” She was getting irritated from his constant bickering.
Danny placed his bottle of beer next to his foot then gestured for her to give the shot to him. “I’ll take it for him.” Now it was her turn to become skeptical, so he continued as he placed a hand onto Ian’s shoulder. “Consider this as his birthday gift from me.”
“Okay.” She just simply responded then she cheerfully gave him the glass. “Here you go!”
He accepted the glass and took the shot. It was a type of strong liquor. Yeah, Ian wouldn’t last after this shot. “You were planning to give him this?” he cleared his throat as he gave her back the glass.
All she did was smile and winked at him before heading off back to her friends. He just shook his head. That was probably a plan for him to do something nice to the person next to him who has been quiet most of the time his sister was there.
“Sissy’s gone. You could talk again.” Danny remarked.
All he did was nod. “I… know…” Ian quietly said as he fidgeted with his fingers. He looked at the person next to him and saw that he was looking at him, so he lost the words he was going to say. “Uh…” The drunk person had to avert his eyes elsewhere to actually talk to Danny. “Thanks, Dan… for… taking the shot… for me… and all…” He had lost all bravado he had earlier.
Dan smiled at the other person. “No problem, man.” He patted his shoulders with the hand that was already there and then reached for the beer that was on the floor. A thought came to his mind as he looked at the bottle. “Why didn’t you tell me today was your birthday?”
Ian opened his mouth to say something but then he saw the smiling face and closed his mouth. He looked away just shrugged. “It just… didn’t come up…”
The one drinking the beer chuckled at the action. “Well, happy eighteenth birthday. How do you feel now that you’re officially an adult?”
He thought about it, and it didn’t really feel like anything has changed. “No difference.” Ian shrugged again, but this time he was more relaxed, more confident even.
Dan saw the change and raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong…” Ian started, “but there’s something I have to tell you…” He began to fidget with his fingers again. “I know you’re three years older than me… but…” He took in a shaky breath and let it out. “I… like you, a lot… and… if I didn’t tell you… then Jessi would have told you instead…”
He knew this was coming sooner or later, but he had never expected it to be this soon. Dan kept his composure in check and he decided to play around for a bit. “What makes you think I’ll like you back?”
Ian became surprised at the question. He wasn’t ready to answer a question like that. “I… uh… I don’t know…” He answered honestly as he looked at the floor.
Dan watched him, smiling for the moment before speaking. “You know you’re pretty cute when you’re sulking.”
Ian shot up to look at the other person in shock then he saw the smirk. His heart was crushed. “Oh… you were joking… I get it… I-I’m gonna go now…” He got up from his seat and left the living room into the hallway where the bedrooms were.
That wasn’t what he meant, but the older male just watched him leave.
Not even thirty seconds passed until his sister comes to him with a scowl on her face. “What did you do?” She glared at him while she had her arms crossed. “He came into my room practically crying!”
And now he’s in trouble. “I didn’t do anything,” Dan had said, but his sister wasn’t taking any of it. “All I told him was that he was cute.”
“Oh yeah? Was that it?” She said, not believing a word he was saying.
He rolled his eyes and took a step forward towards his sister. “Look, he confessed to me, saying that if he didn’t do it himself then you would have told me.”
“Oh…” She felt dumbfounded. “W-well were you lying when you said that he was cute?” She knew what was wrong now.
“He’s… a little cute…” He admitted, earning a smirk from his sister. His cheeks were getting flushed from the impending embarrassment.
“I’m shocked!” Jessica was feigned on being insulted. “You didn’t tell me you secretly had a thing for Ian.” She was widely grinning now. “That’s so cute!”
Dan groaned at the squeal. “And now you know why I didn’t,” he told her as his cheeks were still rosy. “Are you going to tell him now?”
“Nope,” she simply replied, but she still has the devious glint in her eye. “But you are.”
He had become surprised and confused. “You want me to tell him.”
“Yeah, he’s only been pining for you ever since you dated Jennifer.” She told him as if it was the most obvious fact.
“That long?” Dan wasn’t aware of that fact.
“Ugh!” His sister groaned. “You’re so oblivious!”
“Hey, I figured it out only after me and Jen broke up,” the big brother had become defensive.
“Yeah, and that’s two years too late.” She blatantly told him. “Besides that’s only what I’ve been told. He might’ve fallen for you the moment he laid eyes on you for all I know.”
Dan had gotten silent, thinking about the possibility. “So what now?”
“Can you take him home?” she asked. “It’s eleven now, and I don’t think Jennifer would appreciate that he came home any later, you know she doesn’t like these kinds of things.”
He just nodded. “Okay…”
She just sighed. “Get your keys while I go get Ian.” She went to the hallway, but before she disappeared she turned to say one last thing, “Don’t do anything bad anymore.”
Jessica went into the hallway with a wave of the hand while Dan just chuckled at the comment. He already has his phone, wallet and keys in his pockets, so all he needed was to wait for the other guy to come. Ian came out alone, but he still looked like he was down in the dumps.
Sissy probably just told him he needed to go home, and Ian probably became mortified that Dan was going to take him home. He internally sighed. He wanted to fix his mood, but he wanted to do it somewhere more private. “Are you ready?”
Ian just slightly nodded, not saying anything or voicing anything.
“Okay.” The older male simply said as he went to the front door and opened it, allowing for the younger person to pass through then closing it behind him. He took out his keys and unlocked his car which was parked right onto the driveway. Dan quickly walked towards the car so he could open the door for the other. Ian paused for a moment, and he looked up at the older person before getting inside of the car. Danny took a deep breathe then went to the driver’s side to get into the car. He sat in front of the wheel and looked at the other person in the car. He was staring down at his shoes with a dejected look on his face. Dan actually sighed this time. “Ian… I…” Of course it would be harder than he thought. He took another deep breathe then started again. “I really meant it when I said you were cute.” He had almost regretted telling him after the words came out of his mouth, almost.
The dejected look on his face changed into shock. “Then—”
Dan placed a finger on his mouth, efficiently silencing him. “We’ll talk more when you’re not…” He took another look at him, and it seemed like he wasn’t as drunk as he used to be. “…under the influence.”
Ian simply nodded again, not knowing which words to say or how to say them before he embarrasses himself again.
Dan finally started the car, reversed out of the driveway, and drove away. His house was about twenty minutes away and in that time, he would be able to think about what he was going to pursue.
The first thing is he didn’t know how other people would take it. It would have to be a secret at first then if they wanted to tell the world then they can and face the consequence later. Another thing was that he just didn’t want to jump into the relationship without having them thinking about it at first. Then it finally occurred to him that he never really gave much thought about pursuing this. He figured if he waited long enough, then the person next to him would stop having feelings for him, but that wasn’t the case. Ian would do things for him that would put him on his radar. Sometimes he would ask how his day was through text. Or he would simply come over to help Jessica with her homework, and once they were done, Ian would go into Dan’s room and just hang out with him for a bit or until his sister comes to pick him up. There are moments where Jessica would come home with fast food and hand it to him saying that it was Ian’s treat. It felt weird at first, but he couldn’t say no to food, so he graciously accepted it. Ian doing those things for him simply brightens up his day.
Dan had gotten to the street Ian’s house was on, and as he parked in front of the house, he finally noticed that his companion was fast asleep. The younger male had his body shifted in a way so his head would use the seatbelt for support. There was a slight smile on his sleeping face, and Dan thought. Ian was cute sleeping like that. Then his face started to heat from realizing what he had just thought about. Maybe he was in deeper than he thought.
He took out his phone from his pocket and messaged the girl who also lived in the house. ‘I’m outside. Ian’s sleeping in the car. Can we talk?’
Not even a minute later that he got the message from the same girl. ‘… Okay.’
He tried his best to get out of the car as quietly as possible; it was a slow progress. And when he finally got out of the car, she was there waiting for him with the front door open. He nervously walked up to her like she was going to pounce at him for disturbing her sleep, though she most likely wasn’t.
As he got closer, she closed the door behind her and leaned against it with her arms crossed around her chest. “So, Daniel, what did you want to talk about?” She pressed her gaze upon him. The reason he wanted to talk was probably because her younger brother did something stupid at the party. “Did Ian do something dumb?”
Daniel awkwardly stood by the step with pursed lips, contemplating on if he should tell her or not. “Yes and no,” he finally said, “He hasn’t done anything that bad, but…” It was definitely easier in his mind. “He told me he likes me.”
“Oh…” She was taken by surprise.
“Yeah… I figured it out when we broke up but…” It felt odd asking her this question. “Do you know when he started to like me?”
She thought about it. “Probably when I introduced you to him,” she spoke.
His eyes widened at the suggestion then he looked back down. “Meaning that I was leading him on all this time…” Dan thought back to when he would hug the other just to make him flustered. He thought it was funny until now.
She sighed, knowing what he was thinking about. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. You were the older brother he never had, so it was fine that you were physical with him.” He smirked at what she said, so she continued. “You know, before high school he was so awkward around other people, but look at him now, he was in the prom royal court.” The smirk turned into a small smile, giving her another thought. “But it’s more than just that, isn’t it?”
Dan gave a nod. “You know me so well, Jen.” He chuckled before he spoke again. “Yeah, there’s more. Recently… I’ve been seeing him in a different light…”
“What do you mean?” She inquired, fully knowing what he had meant.
He opened his mouth to speak because he thought she would have known what he meant. But he knew she did know what he meant, she just wanted him to say it out loud. Dan sighed. “I… sort of… grew feelings for your younger… brother…” He confessed to her and immediately her face had a wide grin. He held a finger up to silence whatever she was going to say. “No, you don’t get to do that. Jessica already did that to me, and I don’t need any more from you.” His face was heating up, and he was becoming flustered.
“Are you done?” Jennifer asked while still having the huge grin.
He sighed for the umpteenth time. “Yes, I’m done.” He knew she wasn’t going to stop, so he closed his eyes and braced for the incoming embarrassment.
“Awwwww! You have a crush on Ian.” She playfully cooed. “This is the perfect love story! You, who Ian is so desperately in love with, finally returns his feelings!”
His red face sighed, again. “So when did you find out he liked me?” He changed the subject and hoped that she would too.
Jen just smiled before answering her question, knowing that he had just changed the subject. “A little bit after we started dating.” Her expression has softened. “He… made as little contact as he possibly could for a few weeks before I decided to call him out on it.” She was getting tired of standing, and with the fact that she was getting emotional, she slid down the door and sat on the welcome mat. “He said that it was nothing and told me to mind my own business. I got impatient with him. I noticed that he was fidgeting with his phone, so I took it out of his hands, and what guess who I saw as his home screen… you. It was a picture of you and him at your last game, standing side by side with you in your gear widely grinning because of the victory that night. That’s when I knew, so I shoved his phone back at him and immediately went into my room. I didn’t speak to him for a few days, but when I did, he was back to normal, like nothing had happened. He was jealous of me… because I was dating the guy he loves.” She whispered out the last part because it was to herself, but undoubtedly, he heard as well. She had her knees up and wrapped her arms around them as she leaned against the door.
Dan was now sitting on the step facing her. He felt sympathetic, so he put his hand onto hers. He also felt somewhat at fault for this happening. “I’m sorry… I wish I knew he liked me much earlier.”
She tore his hand away from hers. “So, what? So you could break his heart and watch him spiral into depression?” There was bite to her words. “I’m sorry, but if that ever happened again, you would never see the light of day.” Her eyes were fierce as she meant every word she had spoken.
A small smile formed on Daniel’s lips. Not the reaction people would think to see, but he knew her. “Is that why you broke up with me? So your brother won’t spiral into depression?”
Jennifer had calmed down from that brief outburst as she deeply inhaled and exhaled. “I just want him to be happy, y’know. And if he’s unhappy because I’m in a relationship then I don’t want to be in the relationship.”
“I understand why you did it now.” He said as he put a hand onto her knee. “He consoled me when we broke up. He was over at my house when we had just broken up. He was able to see just how depressed I was as I went into my room. I sat on my bed with my elbows on my knees and hands on my face, before dropping myself backwards onto the bed as I put an arm over my eyes. I heard him knocking on the door before asking in a low voice if he could go in, but I didn’t respond, I couldn’t find the strength to. It seemed like a minute passed until I heard the door opening and closing then I felt someone sitting on my bed. I peeked at who it was, and it was him. Just sitting there looking at me with such caring eyes. He placed a hand on my knee and held it there.” Dan smiled to himself. “He didn’t even know what I was sad about and yet he was there. After that I sat up again and looked at him. I could see how broken I was in his eyes; I broke. I hugged him. My head in the nape of his neck and arms wrapped around his torso. He froze up at first, then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around me. Then I told him what happened. Not everything that just… that you broke up with me…”
It was her turn to become sympathetic. “I’m sorry I did that to you… That day, he came home angry and got into my face about you. He just couldn’t understand why I would break up with you, and he listed so many great things about you, but I didn’t tell him. I couldn’t. He would have felt guilty if I told him that we broke up because of him, so I kept it to myself and told him the same thing I told you, it was just a fling…” Both of their eyes locked on each other as their topic of discussion was getting real and emotions stirred.
Daniel spoked again after the brief silence. “Do you still have feelings for me?” He knew it was a loaded question, but he had to ask.
Jennifer smiled. She knew why he asked that question because if she did then he probably wouldn’t pursue her younger brother. “No, I don’t. Not anymore when Ian cares about you so much more,” she answered honestly.
He was glad. There wouldn’t be any conflict between the siblings. Dan smiled. “Then do you think we can be friends again?”
“Definitely,” Jen told him as she smiled back at him.
~!~
His surrounding felt warm, but there was this stillness to it. He was upright, so he couldn’t be in bed, but if he’s not in bed then where was he? He opened his eyes to the best of his abilities and found that the only given light were the street lights. He lifted his hand to feel the strap that was pressing against his chest before looking at what it was. He finally noticed he was in a car. He sat there and tried to remember whose car he was in until he turned his head to see two people in front of a very familiar house. He was asleep in Dan’s car. He could smell the older person’s scent all around him. He would have wanted to stay in the vehicle, but he needed to sleep in his bed. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, and upon closing the door, the attention of the two people talking went onto him. He was still groggy and a bit unbalanced as he walked towards the two. As he was getting closer to the front door, the porch light was getting brighter, so he squinted because he wasn’t used to the brightness of the light. But squinting made his walking worse, so he stumbled forward. He was too slow at the moment to catch himself. He thought he would have felt the hard ground, but, instead, he felt an arm catch him.
A deep voice he recognized to admire spoke, “You should stayed sleeping.”
Ian stood up straight, but he was still wobbling. Confused, he still spoke as he looked up to the one who had spoken, but he spoke to the best of his abilities. “But… I… in your car…”
“Then I could have easily carried you inside,” Dan simply said, earning a blush and an averted gaze from the person in front of him.
Ian was becoming flustered. Then he thought he had seen someone else here with him. “What were… you and Jenny… talking about?”
Daniel smiled. “We were talking about you.”
The younger male became nervous now. “What… about?”
Danny grinned. “About what you did at the party and believe me, she was not happy.”
Ian grimaced. “She’s going to… kill me now…”
The older male laughed. “I was half kidding. I didn’t tell her everything.”
“Then… what did you tell her?” Ian asked with insecurity.
Dan smiled at him. “We talked about what you told me…”
It took a few seconds for the other person to register what was said. “You… what?”
The taller male chuckled. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow… I think you should go get some sleep.”
The drunken teen nodded his head after a few seconds, and after another few seconds passed, he spoke out. “Help me?”
Dan grinned and shook his head. “Of course I will.” He was still holding onto the other person and when he turned around to face the house again, he noticed that Jennifer was no longer there. He just continued to help his friend get to the front door, before opening it, letting themselves inside.
“I’m home.” The smaller person tiredly speaks. Ian was adorable drunk, even if he wasn’t trying to be. Dan thought, and he no longer squashed the ideas anymore because he was finally going to accept them as they are. Daniel closed the door behind them and went straight for his friend’s room. He had been in this house a thousand times, so he knew where everything was. He was treated like a son-in-law, jokingly, as he was dating Jennifer until she broke it off. Though, he was still accepted there even after the break up. Ian was practically falling asleep on him, but he easily toughed it out since he was still in great condition. He finally got to Ian’s door and opened it, not needing to turn off the light. He even knew where everything was in the room, oddly enough. Dan helped him to the bed and once his legs touched the side of it, he got off of the taller male and plopped onto the bed.
Dan rolled his eyes. “Do you need help with anything else?”
The body didn’t budge, and soon rhythmic breathing could be seen. The taller male just simply shook his head. He bent down closer to the sleeping person’s head before gently placing a kiss onto his forehead. He was somewhat surprised at what he did, but all he did was chuckled to himself. He’s really fallen for him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow…” he finally whispers out before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He left the house and locked the front door behind him, just like how he used to do in the past, and maybe near future…
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