Gif of Trey to the side, because for some oddly odd reason, people are forgetting he's black.

Do you ever wonder?

If the stars shine out for you?

Chapter 28 ~ Autumn Leaves

      Jamie Myers

Was I a bad brother?

Sure, I might have made some poor decisions when it came to Jillian's safety and well-being in the past. But now I was trying to do everything in my power to make sure she didn't get hurt. It wasn't like I wanted her to remain single for the rest of her life, but Blake just wasn't the right guy for her.

My overly-protective actions came back to bite me in the ass, because Jillian did not talk to me once since that night. Us having shared the same womb and everything meant we were practically inseparable. I never thought it'd be possible to not talk to my sister. It was obviously a piece of cake for Jillian, because she went a whole week without talking to me.

"Quit frowning," Scar ordered from beside me. "She'll talk to you eventually."

"Eventually?" I questioned, feeling completely repulsed by the word. "I don't want her to talk to me eventually. I want us to go back to being siblings."

Despite the fact that I felt like shit, Scar's lips tugged into a smug grin as he fell back onto the bed. "You never stopped."

Scar never seemed to have a problem with Blake, and I didn't understand why. He would've acted the same way if a douche with a stupid name tried to flirt with Amy. "You're supposed to be taking my side," I pointed out.

"I am taking your side."

I sent him a quick glare. "Then why are you not doing anything about it?"

Scar's lips peeled back into a satisfied grin, exposing rows of pearly white teeth. "She's your sister, not mine. Besides, you should allow her to make her own mistakes. If she wants to date Ake, then let her."

I cringed at the sound of that stupid name. "You annoy me."

He sat up and stretched, forehead crinkling as he glanced down at his cell phone at the edge of his bed. The small device vibrated heavily against the mattress and the screen illuminated itself with Trey's picture. It was the fourth time - I counted - that Trey had called today, and it was the fourth time that Scar didn't pick up the phone.

"You never told me about what happened with Trey," I pried. I knew that there was no possibility that Scar could have romantic feelings towards his best friend, but there was always this nagging feeling in the back of mind that he did. With Trey calling him way more times than he should, I was starting to get suspicious.

He slouched back onto the bed. "Things are good. We're friends again."

I glanced back at his phone. "Then why are you ignoring him?"

"I talked to him last night. We don't really need to talk all hours of the day because that would be weird." His dark brows furrowed as he thought it over, then he smiled.

I couldn't help but ask, "You don't like him, do you?"

Scar shot me a puzzled look. "Why are you asking?"

Trey did know him longer than I did and Scar knew him better than he knew me. I hated myself for being so paranoid, but I couldn't rule out the possibility. "Trey is an attractive guy."

He lifted a brow. "Seriously? I didn't know black guys were your type."

My lips tugged into a comical grin before I could stop it. "Neither are straight guys, but look where that got us."

He cracked a half-grin. "God, I love you," he said in a mere whisper as his soft green eyes radiated with energy.

I rolled my eyes at him and inched off the bed, standing to my full height. "I better get going."

He rested his weight on his shoulders. "Where you going?"

"I promised Max I would hang out with him," I said simply. "Wanna come?"

Scar shook his head. "Nah, I'll just stay here."

"And do what?" I countered.

He reached over to the bedside to retrieve a stack of Playboy magazines. "Masturbate."

I tried to keep myself from laughing, but I failed tragically. "Okay, well you do that. I would say that I'll be back in two hours, but knowing Max, let's make it four."

Scar had already begun to flip through one of the magazines, becoming immersed in his own little world and completely ignoring me. I've seen him like this before, when I refused to do something - like have sex - and he wanted to satisfy his needs through another outlet. His excuse for being so horny all the time was because "gay sex is better than straight sex", even though he couldn't actually prove that.

But the real reason why his sex drive was at an ultimate high was because he wasn't the one getting it up the ass.

As I jogged down the stairs with car keys in hand, I couldn't help but overhear two voice bickering. When I realized one of the voices belonged to my sister, I tip-toed around the corner and peered into the family room where she was seated on the sofa with Blake.

"Come on, Jill," he pressed with a roll of his eyes, which are the weirdest mixture of brown and yellow. "You live in a house full of fags, and you're telling me that Amy is not a dyke?"

I had to cup a hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping and giving away my location. Everything in me wanted to punch the hell out of him, but for Jillian's sake, I couldn't.

Jillian sunk further into the sofa, glancing down. "Don't call them that."

"Have you ever seen a guy look her way?" Blake responded. "I see the way she looks at you, like she's all protective and shit. She's totally a les. Wouldn't be a surprise though, it looks like it runs in the family. Your brother and his boyfriend are just flaming homos. Like they couldn't make it any more obvious."

Jillian's posture sharpened as she gazed at him with cold, unfriendly eyes. "Do not talk about my brother like that."

Blake laughed bitterly. "It's true, isn't it?" He paused for a moment. "Why do you even live here with these queers?"

I could tell she was just on the cusp of snapping. "It's safe here."

"Safe from what?" He prompted.

She hung her head low. "Nothing."

Not seeming to take a hint, Blake pressed further. He grabbed Jillian's hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze while offering her a friendly smile. "You don't have to stay here, you know. You can come with me. It's not too late to buy a train ticket."

My jaw grew slack, falling open at the sound of this new information. A train ticket? Was she seriously thinking about running away?

Jillian shook her head violently, objecting. "Ake, I can't just leave. Jamie will worry and he's a burden to deal with when he's worried."

"Why does that matter? He doesn't care about you, anyway. See how quick he was to break us apart? He doesn't want you to be happy, Jilly bean."

My blood began to boil just underneath the surface of my skin and before I could control myself, I reacted with a sudden anger-filled jolt which happened to knock over one of the knick-knacks on the nearby table. Blake and Jillian's eyes instantly shot to mine in shock, their facial expressions mirroring their confusion.

Their reactions gave me enough confirmation that this conversation was supposed to be private and not heard by anyone, especially me. I had tricked myself into thinking Jillian would talk to me eventually, like Scar said, but now she was making plans to run away from home with that asshole.

Did she really think I didn't care about her? How could that fucker drill such an absurd idea into her head?

Never in my life could I imagine living without my sister. I never wanted to imagine it because we were one, or maybe that was just how I felt because she was prepared to start a new chapter of her life - one that didn't involve me. If that wasn't betrayal, then I didn't know what was.

I adjusted the collars of my coat and stuffed the keys into my pockets. "Didn't mean to intrude," I said simply, keeping a straight face. Without giving them the chance to respond, I stomped my way to the door and slipped past the threshold.

**

I hadn't intended to shut Max out when he continued to press me with questions that I never planned on answering, but every single time he talked to me, my mind kept drifting to Jillian. I knew she wouldn't willingly leave me, not after everything we've been through together. But lately, it was getting harder to see Jillian as my sister with the way she acted - which could mostly be attributed to her bitch boyfriend.

I wanted to give him a piece of my mind so badly, but he made her happy. I already knew from first hand experience that it sucked when people's beliefs got in the way of your happiness. If anything, I didn't want to take that away from her.

Max tapped my shoulder, causing me to turn my head to him slightly. "So, your birthday is coming up soon."

I had completely forgotten until he brought it up. Turning eighteen sounded amazing when I was still living with Janice, but now it only made me realize how I didn't have any plans for the future. "Oh..."

"Oh?" Max prompted with a cheesy grin. "What do you mean oh? You can do a bunch of cool stuff at eighteen."

I raised a brow and stared at him impassively. "What, like vote?"

My look must've came off as too harsh, because Max broke eye contact and began to fiddle with his fingers while mumbling along to the current Elvis song playing, though I really doubted he knew the words.

I went back to staring blankly at the plate of untouched cheese fries in front of me as silence washed over the both of us. Max would occasionally snatch one of my fries and stuff it into his mouth, but that was the most he would do.

Until the door opened. In tumbled more than a dozen jocks, all wearing their letter jackets and filtering through the diner, making unnecessary shouts and hollers. Trey was the last one to walk in, but I almost didn't recognize him because he wasn't wearing his letter jacket or his infamous baseball cap.

Max's eyes followed the direction I was looking off to. I already expected his response. "Oh my..." He sucked in a large breath, then returned his attention to me. "He's so hot."

I grimaced. Thinking of Trey as anything other than Scar's annoying best friend made me want to throw up in my mouth.

When I looked toward him again, I noticed he was staring right at me and making his way to our booth. As if this day couldn't get any worse.

Before I had the time to think of ways to avoid him, Trey was already standing in front of us and inching his way into the booth beside Max. "Hey."

I took one glance at the football team who were huddling around the bar counter and chuckling over a joke that probably wasn't even funny. None of them seemed to notice Trey's absence. "What? You got tired of flirting with Scar?"

Trey rolled his eyes and for the briefest moment, his arm brushed against Max's, which made him squeal. "I'm not trying to break you guys apart, you know. I would never try to hurt him like that."

I narrowed my gaze. "Didn't seem to stop you before."

A look of guilt washed over his face for only a second.

It wasn't like I actually thought he had a chance with Scar, because he didn't. Maybe I just enjoyed making him feel like shit because it made me feel better about myself.

Trey sighed to himself, then turned to face Max, finally seeming to notice him."Who are you?"

"Me?" Max was stunned by the sudden question. "Uh, I'm .. Uh ... My name ... My n-name is ... Um, it's Max. That is my name. Max."

"Max," Trey repeated. "Do I know you?"

"Yeah, um, I think ... You, uh, y-you shove my head down the uh, toilet, sometimes."

Trey frowned. "Really?"

Max looked away from him. I have never seen Max in a nervous faze, ever. He wasn't the shy type and he was actually pretty assertive when he wasn't getting bullied by kids much bigger than him.

To save Max from further embarrassment, I jumped in. "Why are you not over there hanging out with your meathead friends, huh?"

Trey shrugged. "We were supposed to be giving a presentation to the upcoming freshmen, but they wanted to stop here before we did. I thought it was a coincidence that I saw you here since I've been meaning to ask you something."

I leaned against the table separating us, raising a brow. "Ask me what?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but paused when he remembered Max was seated right next to him. "Uh, do you mind?"

Max blinked in astonishment and gulped harshly, looking to me for confirmation. When I gave him a nod, he hastily scrambled out of the booth, sashayed his way across the diner - being careful not to run into any of the jocks - and began to talk to a heavily tattooed girl who seemed to be the diner's sole cashier.

I redirected my attention to Trey who had magically started to sweat bullets of anxiety. "What do you want?"

He interlocked his fingers on the table, then pulled them apart, but ended up intertwining them again. "Uh, well, I'm gonna meet up with this guy and..." He trailed off when he met my dead eyes, "...he's, uh, well we're most likely gonna be doing, um, things. I just don't really know how to do those things."

For a brief moment, I just stared at him in silence. My eyes narrowed into thin slits as I tried to decode what exactly he was asking of me. I thought he was only trying to be funny, but the genuinely hopeful look on his face told me otherwise.

"I'm not sucking you off," I deadpanned.

Trey sunk back into his seat with his palms placed firmly against the table and his eyes wide. "Whoa, dude. I wasn't asking for-" He took a quick look around the room, then leaned in closer to me, "-that."

I stifled a laugh because I didn't know what better to do. I had already gotten tired of this conversation which seemed to be the trend among all conversations I had with him. "Then what?"

A dark crimson color flushed his cheeks. "I just want to know what to do and since you're experienced, I thought you could help me."

I frowned. "How would you know that I'm experienced?"

"Scar told me."

"Why would he tell you that?"

Trey fiddled with his fingers again. "He talks about you a lot."

My lips unknowingly curled into a satisfied smile. "Normally, I wouldn't bother to entertain you, but because it's going to take me a while to finish these cheese fries, I'll help. Who is he?"

"His name is Eric," he said quickly as if it was the only piece of information he knew. "I met him online and he's really-"

"You met him online?" I interrupted him. "Are you that desperate?" Trey prepared himself to respond, but I silenced him by raising a finger in the air. "Actually, don't answer that."

He made a soft disgruntled noise. "Stop making fun of me and just help me."

I was slightly surprised by Trey's demanding tone. Then again, I'd probably be pissed too if I was in his position, but that didn't mean I was going to stop degrading him.

"Well as much as I would love to see you carry out that plan, I'm going to advise against it. This 'Eric' character could be a fifty year old man. He could be a serial killer. Or worse," I lowered my head and spoke in a dangerously low voice, "he could be a girl."

Trey straightened his posture against the booth, blinking rapidly as he processed that information. It was evident he hadn't thought of that himself. "Well, what do you suggest I do? I mean, I don't want anyone to know I'm like ... You know. I still want to do things though, but it needs to be kept on the down low if you know what I mean. "

I did know what he meant. He wanted to stay in the closet for as long as possible, and was willing to sleep with strangers to accomplish that. I mentally rolled my eyes at Trey's lack of smarts as I started to realize why him and Scar were best friends in the first place.

My gaze gravitated towards Max, who seemed to be in a heavy conversation with the tattoo girl.

I had no idea how the idea came to mind, but I was so glad it did. "Max," I stated.

A frown creased Trey's forehead. "Max?"

I nodded. "Max."

He gave me a weary look before glancing over his shoulder at the dark haired boy sitting on one of the stools. He examined him for a good ten seconds and returned his attention to me, biting down on his full, pink, bottom lip. "What about him?"

"He can teach you everything you need to know."

Trey glanced at Max again, as though he was actually considering it. "He probably hates me for bullying him."

I stuffed one of the cheese fries into my mouth. "Obviously there's something about you that makes people forgive you easily. If you want to get things done, then Max is your guy."

I pulled my lips into a fake, forced smile as I scooted out of the booth. I caught Max's stare and gave him a slight nod before walking across the diner to the exit.

**

The house was quiet, eerily so, when I arrived back home. Since it was past noon, I had expected the twins to be running around the house or playing video games in the living room like they always did. Blake's car wasn't in the driveway, so I assumed Jillian left with him. Amy and Scar were nowhere to be seen.

Just a moment later, my phone chimed. I glanced down at the incoming message that illuminated the screen.

S - Come upstairs.

I clutched the phone in my hands and slightly chewed on my lip. Something told me Scar was going to do something special, especially since my birthday was just in a few days. Then again, this was Scar. He always messed things up without even trying.

Nevertheless, I climbed the stairs two at a time. My fingers trailed along the banister as I made my way to Scar's bedroom. Taking a deep breath to prepare myself for whatever atrocity was about to come, I pushed open the door and was met with complete and utter darkness.

The blinds were closed and the curtains were drawn shut, preventing any light from entering the room. What caught my attention was the neon colored dots on the walls. When I looked further, I could tell the dots were arranged into several different constellations.

In the darkness, I felt my lips crack into a smile. I clutched my phone to my chest, torn between laughing and crying. The memory of everything that had gone wrong in the history of our relationship was quickly erased by the mere fact that I had the best boyfriend in the entire world.

"Jamie," I heard his voice close by and it was instantly followed by a slight crack in the windows, which illuminated the room with some light so I could see the outline of his body. Beside him, was Amy and the twins.

I glanced back at the glow in the dark stars that were plastered onto the walls, and smiled. "You guys did this?"

Scar nodded. "When we went to the planetarium, I saw how happy it made you. You said you would love to fall asleep to this every night, so now you can." Before I knew it, he was enclosing his fingers between mine and leading me to one of the walls. "This one is the Little Dipper."

"Big Dipper," I said under my breath.

"Yeah, that." He pointed to another constellation. "This one's Orion." He looked to me for confirmation, and I nodded.

"That one is Hercules." He pointed to a group of stars that tapered off the