I watch as Justin gives her a piggy back ride to the elevator, taking her to Josh. I sigh, rubbing my forehead. "Nick," I call his name quietly.
"Hmm?"
"Can I come in and shut the door?"
"Sure."
I enter his room and shut the door, sitting on the couch in the corner of the room. "What's this over?"
"I wrote and recorded a song with the Boys, 'Sick As My Secrets', and she somehow heard it."
"What're the lyrics?"
He turns around and grabs something green from his bag next to him, tossing it to me. "They're in there," he says, basically telling me I can look in it and going back to the window, staring out of it.
I open it and find the lyrics, quite a few things specifically indicating my little sister. She lives about 6 miles from a few airports, there are usually stop lights every half mile. The twelve days thing, she counted that down numerous times and down specifically to that once or twice. Broken picture frame happened when she took off to see Josh and the guys, her bag had bumped the table and knocked it to the floor. Getting her back and fighting for her, he did that. The whole last verse is what strikes a nerve with me, something he hasn't done. "I understand why she's upset over this," I say, closing the notebook. "Too many details point her out."
"Fans and the media wouldn't know."
"The media is what sparked Caylei's belief that you were cheating."
"We all know the media is full of shit. They say Justin has a kid, my brother is dating someone and that I just got married six months ago with Caylei."
"I know, but if this gets out, hell will rain on your head. You know that, Nick. I understand you love her, but I think you're not being honest with her," I say, pointing at him and to the floor to indicate my sister.
"I don't know what to do."
"Ask me anything, I'll answer as best as I can. Lying to her and cheating on her aren't how to convince her to stay, it tells her that she can do the same this time because it's fair. You need to be honest, focus on her and only dip into her. You're hers and she's yours."
He sits on the floor in the corner, having slid down the wall. His head drops and he sniffles, running his hands through his hair. He holds his hair back and his eyes meet mine. "Help me," he says, sounding scared. "I can't lose her, I'll lose it."
"I just told you how and you have to treat her right. She tells me everything." I sit forward and lean on my arms, watching him start falling apart. "Keep in mind your siblings inform her of your wrong doings. Hell, Brent even tells her when you play around on her."
"I have to change."
"You've been needing to change your ways."
"How?"
"That's what you have to figure out. Talk to her and see what she has to say."
I get up, bidding him good-bye and leave his room to check on my sister. I close his door as I leave, my cell phone beeping. It's a text from my brother. 'Where are you? Need your side.'
He always gets everyone's side of anything like this that happens. 'On my way to you now.' Josh, forever the peace keeper until someone messes with his family and friends. Jazz, she started as a friend and then became family to keep her safe. She's been through so much at such a young age. Compared to her and Josh, Heather and I have had pretty sheltered lives. Josh's mom let mom and dad adopt him when he was little, Jazz's mom let her become part of our family to protect her. She's given everything to her current boyfriend, including the one thing she can never get back-her virginity. He was also her first boyfriend. She lost her mom. She lost so much in such a short time. Josh and I try to keep her glued together. Don't get me wrong, we have help from friends-hers and ours. AJ, Justin and Lance help and Aaron tries his best to keep her together, but he's just a little kid.
'Move faster.'
'Yessuh masta suh,' I send, being the smart ass I am and push the elevator button. I wait a minute or two, deciding on taking the stairs because I'm impatient. I take them two at a time and head for Josh's door the second I fling open the door to the floor they occupy, my foot coming in contact with the rug. I jog to his room, 407. The baby's is 405, next to his. We call Jazzy the baby, we started that when she started calling us her family sometime last year. I knock on his door and it swings open, showing how emotional she had gotten in the twenty minutes I talked to him. Her mascara has left black streaks down her face, her eyeliner smudged, her lipstick gone and she's pale, sleeping on Lance's lap with her head on his shoulder. One of his hands is rubbing her back, the other holding her hand. She sniffles and whimpers in her sleep, the arm she has around his neck tightens to pull herself closer to his body. She doesn't move otherwise. "What happened?" I ask, feeling like I may already know the answer.
"She talked the whole time she cried, we couldn't understand her. Lance did, Justin caught some of it and the rest of us were clueless," Josh tells me. I notice Chris and Joey in the room.
"That's because it was in Irish," Lance casually informs us.
"Explains why I understood bits and pieces and they didn't understand shit," Justin comments.
"What did she say exactly?" I inquire, turning to look at Lance.
"That he," Lance begins, shifting his eyes upward, "recorded a song about her and it was a low blow, highly personal matter. Aaron told her, gave her a copy of it and it's too detailed to not be about her. That he lied and Justin knows everything Nick has no clue about, whatever that means," he tells me, glancing at Justin.
Justin shrugs when I look at him. "What we talked about before maybe?"
"Think so," he answers.
I nod. "I know what it means and it's between the three of us, I promised not to say anything until one of them say something to him," I inform them, quickly motioning to Josh before dropping my hand back to my side.
"What does that mean? Who else knows? Why am I left out of the loop?" Josh questions angrily.
"It means Justin and Jazz have secrets involving each other. Only the three of us know what it entails. We left you and everyone else we know out of the loop because it's between the three of us and we made an agreement." I try to stay calm, I don't want to wake her yet. She can be ready in 15 if I tell her to get ready, she and I haven't fought yet. She fights all the time with Josh.
"So I'm chopped liver?" Josh comments, clearly agitated.
"Dude, I don't break promises and you of all people know that!" I growl, pointing at my brother.
"It justifies keeping shit from me?!" he shouts back, getting up.
I see our sister stir. "Justin, Lance, take her to one of your rooms," I demand. They nod and Lance shifts her weight to carry her like a small child with one arm under her knees and the other across her back, her head never leaving his shoulder. Once they leave, I turn to Josh and inform him of some minor points. "She isn't a virgin, Nick was her first, he has the most control over her and Justin knows as much as Jazz and I do. They told me everything because I don't fucking nag them about shit and you do, so they didn't tell you. You also can't keep your fucking mouth shut about shit like that. I know more than Justin, but just much as Jazz does. There's shit only Jazz and I know, then there's other shit only Justin and I know and then there's things all three of us know. Either way, I know everything about them. I can't tell anyone because I made a promise to them both."
"Why do it behind my back, though?" he asks defeated.
"Because it's personal, sometimes I'm just the go between."
"So you're just a middle man?"
"Sometimes. Other times I'm fully involved and because of the nature of what I know, I can't even tell Heather or Kace or Chris," I explain.
He drops his head and stops the conversation, understanding where I stand in the situation. "Oh, ok. We have 45 minutes before we leave."
"I need to wake her up."
"Lance can do that."
"I need to talk to her first." I walk to the door, my hand resting on the knob. "What room?"
"Justin is in 406 and Lance is 404."
I leave the room and look for Lonnie, spotting him by 404. "Jazz, Lance and Justin in here?"
"No, only Jazz and Lance are. Justin's getting ready to head out, that boy and his curls. I swear that's a love story turned horror story," he says, smirking as he teases the guy.
"You're bad, man. Can I go in?" I ask, pointing at the door.
He knocks on it and Lance opens it. He smoothly comes out, leaving his door open a little. "Hey, what's up?"
"I have to talk to Jazz."
"About the whole situation?"
"I'm afraid so."
"I can tell you what she wanted to say because I doubt she wants to say it in English."
"Why?"
"When she gets upset like this, she only speaks Irish Gaelic. The only thing everyone can comprehend is when she flips them off."
Some people may say that she does it for attention, but she avoids speaking Irish unless she's upset or talking to people from Mississippi that speak it as well. "It's worth a shot."
He shrugs, looking at me like it's a waste of my time. "If you really think so."
He leads me into his room and I shake Jazz's shoulder. "Saoire aonar dom," she tells me.
Lance sighs in annoyance. "Jazz, Tyler ba mhaith ach a labhairt leat. Ní mór dúinn a fhágáil i leath uair an chloig. Tá tú a fháil ar bun agus réidh le ceachtar bhealach."
"Níl mé ag iarraidh a labhairt."
"What did she say?"
"Leave her alone and she doesn't want to talk," he explains as she gets up and heads to the bathroom.
"She doesn't want to talk period or just not in English?" I ask.
"Let me check," he says, walking over to the bathroom door and knocks.
"Cad anois, súile glas?" she asks.
"Ná mian leat labhairt i mbéarla nó nach bhfuil ar chor ar bith?"
"Níl mé ag iarraidh a labhairt i mbéarla, James."
He strides back over to me, shrugging. "She doesn't want to talk in English."
"I guess that's out the window," I say, scratching the back of my head.
"She might be in a better mood later," he offers.
"Maybe." I turn and leave the room, letting them talk in Irish. Justin walks by me and a thought dawns on me. "Justin!" I call after him.
"Yeah, Ty?" he says, turning to face me.
"Does she speak Pig Latin or Op-Top when she gets upset like this?"
"Sometimes, but I'm not sure about this time around," he admits, tapping his fingers on his leg.
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