Older Brothers

Chapter Twenty-Four - Karma

Chapter Twenty - Three
Charlie

I sat on my bed with music blaring out of my headphones. It was so loud, but it helped block everything out. My heart was racing along with the beat. My fists were clenched and my eyes were scrunched shut as I laid on my bed.

I kept replaying what I did over and over again in my head. The memory hurt, but I deserved it. Just the look on Khloe's face after I hit her made my heart shatter into a billion pieces. I was a bad person. I was horrible.

I brought my knees up to my chest as I felt tears come to my eyes. Confusion welled up inside of me as I tried to understand my feelings, but it was no use. I didn't know how I felt. I didn't know how I was supposed to feel.

The thing is with Khloe is that she is a handful. The amount of times I have covered for her is unbelievable and I'm sick of it. I never asked to be dragged into her shit. But, every time she drags me into her shit like it's no big deal. She doesn't take into account how I feel. Khloe doesn't question whether I want to be involved. But, every time she knows I'll become apart of it anyway because she knows I love her.

Suddenly, I felt my head phones being yanked away from my ears. I looked up to see Tommy standing infant of me. Initially he had an amused smirked situated on his face, but when he saw my watery eyes, it soon fell.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" Tommy asked me, sitting down besides me, but I just shook my head.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't talk to Tommy about this. Whatever his reaction would be to what I had done, I'd lose either way. Tommy was an unpredictable, spiteful, little prick sometimes. It was just who he was. But, that unpredictable nature wasn't exactly something that I wanted to play a part in his reaction right now.

Tommy could either take my side or Khloe's. There's no denying that my whole family will take sides on this issue. Yet, I don't want them to. If they side with me then Khloe is being punished for my action. If they side with Khloe then I could end up with a lot more bruises than they had ever given me before. But, I deserve that. But, I don't want them to turn on Khloe.

"Go away." I mumbled.

Tommy looked at me confused as he saw the tears threaten to spill in my eyes. I suppose this was an unusual sight. Me and my brother's never cry in front of each other. Even Khloe hardly cries in front of us. I think it's mainly because if you cry in our family, you get made fun of and nobody wants to be that person.

"Charlie what is it? Why you being such a girl?" Tommy asked, lightly letting the corner of his lips form into a smirk.

"It's nothing. I'm just stressed about...the exams." I lied.

"That's no reason to cry." Tommy laughed. "Let's wrestle! That'll cheer you up. It will help you forget about the exams." Tommy grinned.

"No." I replied bluntly.

Tommy sighed. "Are you just scarred I'll beat you? Come on, I'll give you a warm up round. That'll lift your spirits."

"No." I huffed.

The last thing I needed was to try and hurt another one of my family members.

Tommy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "is this really about exams?"

"What's it to you Tommy. Go and find some random girl to amuse you."

"Why would I do that when my little brother looks like this?" Tommy said, smiling sadly at me.

"Give over Tommy. You only want drama." I rolled my eyes.

"That's not true. Now come on. Tell me or I will hurt you."

"Wow, is violence really how us Lakewood's solve everything. That explains why we're all so fucked up then." I laughed.

"What you on about? Did you get in a fight?" Tommy asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Not exactly." I sighed. "Look, you don't wanna know. So just leave it, yeah?"

"Charlie you're my brother, I'm not going to just leave it."

"What difference does it make if I'm your brother. I'm a shit one. You should just leave me alone."

Tommy narrowed his eyes at me. "It makes a lot of difference. And you're not a shit one. You're probably the best of us." Tommy smiled.

"No I'm a horrible brother, you don't know what you are talking about."

Tommy sighed. "This is about Khloe isn't it?"

I looked at Tommy and his eyes locked with mine. I didn't actually think he'd be able to figure out what all of this is about. But, I suppose he's smarter than he looks.

Tommy's eyes anaylsed me. "What has she done now?"

I looked at him with annoyance. "She hasn't done anything."

"Then what happened? Is this about the fight you guys had? What was that even about?" Tommy asked.

I sighed. "It was about her dragging me into her drama again."

Tommy shook his head. "Sometimes I want to scream at that girl."

"Well I did - more than once." I muttered.

Tommy looked at me confused. "At the party?"

"Well yes, but also after." I admitted.

"So? What's the big deal? She's our little sister. Of course we're going to scream at her from time to time." Tommy shrugged, patting my back.

I looked to Tommy as he looked at me worriedly. The guilt inside of me was eating me alive, but I didn't want to admit what I had done. It would just make it all the more real.

"This time, it is a big deal." I sighed.

"You probably just told her what she needed to hear."

"Look, it doesn't matter. Can we just not talk about it?" I asked.

"No. I want to know and you are going to tell me." Tommy demanded.

"No." I protested, standing up and walking to the other side of the room.

"Fine. I didn't want it to come to this, but if you don't tell me now, I'll get all of our brother's in here and you'll have to tell all of us." Tommy threatened with a devious smirk on his lips.

My lip trembled at the idea of me having to face all of them. "f-fine." I whispered. "But, you're going to hate me."

"Try me." Tommy said with a far too pleasant smile across his lips.

I sighed and looked down to my feet. "I hit her." I told him in a meek voice.

Tommy's eyebrows furrowed together and he looked at me confused. "Sorry, what? For a moment I thought you just told me that you hit her?" Tommy laughed.

"I-I did." I whispered.

Tommy looked at me and his eyes scanned me. His face went blank and a storm of range and confusion whisked it's way around his blue eyes. Then, he took a step towards me and suddenly his fist collided with my jaw.

Well, I know who's side Tommy's on.

••••••••••••

After a lot of pain my essay got submitted today! Thank god. So here's another chapter!

Enjoy!

Do you feel even just the little bit sorry for Charlie?