Caitlin turned to Joe and saw the look on his face. He was a ghostly white color and looked like he was about to vomit, thinking it was just all his nerves racking up she ran to his side and locked her hand tight with his.
Tatiana stood at the top of the stairs, her body twisted and hands clasping the rails. She stood tall and strong with all the power and grace that she could. Her eyes gleamed as she stared at Joe, his eyes not taking their focus off her for even a split second to allow him to blink. She was wearing an outfit that seemed like nothing Joe could have ever pictured her wearing. With all her dark hair gathered and pinned back off her face she wore near to no makeup apart from a light blush on her cheeks and a few brushes of mascara over her lashes. The dress she wore had a high neck and a hem that dropped past her knees. Jaw dropped, Joe felt like he was meeting a whole new person.
"I'm going to go get the cutlery out," Bernie leant into Caitlin with a smile as she stared at Joe. She was impressed with the boy her daughter had brought home and once again it seemed that being a perfectionist had paid off for Caitlin, "introduce everyone."
Caitlin rolled her eyes at the suggestion and squeezed Joe's hand tighter. Caitlin had an uncaring attitude as Tatiana trotted down the stairs, taking her time with each step. Her shoes were low and barely could be called high heels; this was not the Tatiana that Joe knew. As she made her way down to the floor Joe could feel Caitlin's palm begin to sweat and her hand grasp his tighter. It was as though she already knew.
"Caity, you never told me he was this mature looking." Tatiana stood with perfect poise at the bottom on the stairs, one hand grazing and playing with the polished wood of the stairway rails. "I've heard so much about you." She stared at Joe, feeding off all the attention he was giving her. Her eyes only dropped focus on him for a second when she gazed over at Caitlin, looking at the tight hold she had on her boyfriend. "I've been dying to meet you," she looked back at Joe and held out her hand.
Even though Caitlin had him gripped tight, he shook free from her and took Tatiana's hand in his and tried to quickly shake it. Using her middle finger she tried to tickle his palm but the feeling caused Joe to hurriedly snap away. "I bet you have." His jaw was tense and made him look angry, using the hand he had just pulled away with he took it and wrapped his arm around Caitlin.
Caitlin's skin crawled as Joe held her tight as though he were protecting her. In a way he was. No boy or man in Joe's position would ever want their girlfriend and their mistress to meet but Joe was unfortunate enough that they had known one another their whole lives. "Joe this is my older sister Tatiana, Tatty this is my Joe."
"Your Joe?" Tatiana laughed as she grabbed Caitlin's jaw in her hands. She pushed her cheeks tight and forced Caitlin's lips to pucker like a fish. The two stared at one another with ghastly eyes. "So like you, so cute." Tatiana threw Caitlin's face out of her hands and basically pushed her into Joe, "so perfect. Don't you just think Caity is the most perfect girl you have ever met Joseph?" Tatiana cooed turning back to Joe, resting a hand on her hip.
Joe tensed up, thinking about both girls at the same time made him sick enough. Let alone them being in the same room and defiantly let alone them having been sisters. "I think Caitlin is the best and I'm glad she's my girlfriend." His voice dropped low, "I wouldn't want it any other way."
Caitlin smiled at what he said and twirled out of his grasp, grabbing his hand and holding it tight in hers once more. "And Joe is the best boyfriend ever so you can stop talking to us now Tatiana, he is nothing like-" Tatiana's lips carved a dark smile on her face as she awaited Caitlin to finish speaking. Joe turned away from Tatiana for the first time and stared at Caitlin too. He was confused as to what she was holding back from. "He is nothing like those horrible boys you see on television."
Joe turned to Tatiana as though she knew what it was Caitlin was too afraid to say and she did but she was not going to tell Joe, yet. "You're right Caitlin." She cocked a dark eyebrow up and stared at Joe through the corner of her eye, "he really is nothing like those boys you see on television."
Nick
After everyone was served and seated in the cafeteria Darleen threw a wash cloth into Amber's hands and gave her the order to help Nick out with the dishes. "You have to be kidding me." Amber snorted, staring at the lunch lady with desperate eyes.
"What's wrong princess?" Darleen bowed her head and lent close to Amber, sticking one of her meaty fingers under the nest of Amber's fringe, "daddy doesn't make you do the cleaning at home?" She flicked Amber's fringe off her face and stood back up straight, "well princess we're not home. Get in there and help your boyfriend."
Amber gritted her teeth, not knowing which statement made her feel the maddest. Was it the comment about her father or that she would even joke that Amber had some kind of feelings for Nick. Even though Amber knew she had feelings for Nick, strong feelings for him she was trying to suppress everything in fear that he was a liar doing everything to and for her for a cheap laugh later on with Hal.
Nick was hunched over the sink, the fluorescent yellow wash gloves were doing no good for him and still his hands were wrinkled up from all the water contact. He had barely even touched the second pile of dishes when Amber dragged herself into the room.
"I'm going to go have my lunch," Darleen appeared at the door behind Amber and Nick spun around. He saw Amber with her head bowed and a cloth in hand, he tried to smirk at her but she would not look at him. "If I come back and catch you two making out then I'll give a talk to the headmaster and you two can help me for a few more weeks." She turned suddenly and elbowed Amber, leaving the room and Nick and Amber all alone.
Amber staggered forward and Nick jumped forward to make sure she did not fall over. Her knees were weak as she fell into his arms, feeing how much he was tensing just to hold her up. "Let go of me." She pushed herself off him and spun away so she did not have to look at him. "Do you need any help?"
Staring at her from behind Nick did not even let his eyes drop below her shoulders, all he could do was look at the back of her head and wish she would turn to him. "Yeah if you could just start drying." He turned to walk back to the piles of dishes but then felt overcome with guilt. "You wouldn't be in this mess if I wasn't so rude to you so just go have lunch. I'll finish up in here."
Turning, Amber caught sight of him staring at the ground in defeat. "Why?"
Nick heaved a breath, "as funny as it may seem and even though it doesn't sound like the truth Amber," he turned back to her and almost lost his breath. There she was, staring at him, staring at her. Even though it felt strange to them neither wanted to look away from the other. "I really do like you Amber."
"Nick," she cracked, slapping one of her hands onto her forehead. "The joke isn't funny anymore, the game is over just stop it. You got me Nick, I don't know what the next step is but I don't want to fall into your stupid trap."
"What joke? What game?" Nick almost squealed as he spoke with such defence. As hard as it was to believe, even for himself, he was not joking or lying about his feelings for Amber. It was just hard for him to publically display them.
Amber glared her eyes, "you're really thick you know that Nick?" Shaking her head she threw the cloth at him. "I think I like seeing what kind of immature pranks you boys will pull next. Don't take it as trust Nick." She had no empathy as Nick's eyes flashed cold and he peeled the cloth off himself, staring from it and then to her. "Whatever you and Hal have planned for the dance, I'm ready. What more can you two do to me? If public humiliation wasn't already enough, I don't know what is."
Nick threw the cloth she had thrown at him onto the floor, "what are you talking about? Amber, I don't have anything planned. I just want to go with you-"
"Well I'm going with Hal." Amber spat at him, her eyes drifted to the floor and looked at the wash cloth laying limp and lifeless on the stone cold floor. "Does that bother you?"
Frozen, Nick could barely even blink let alone speak. He did not understand why his so called best friend would do something like that to him. Hal could see that Nick had feelings for Amber, why would his best friend want to stop his happiness. That was, unless Hal was using Amber's feeling for Nick for his own good. For his own dirty good.
Sniffing, Amber blinked a sprinkle of tears down her cheeks. "So you can go with Lauren Bishop and have an awesome time. You know Nick, maybe by the end of you won't have to wear that ring anymore." She pointed down at his left hand, raising her eyebrows with a stern look. "At least you know how to publically display how much of an ass you are Nick." With her final words, she turned and left the room leaving Nick in an air of confusion and sadness.
He could not try to fight back; he could not run after her. His body was solid, it had shutdown and would not allow him to move. Nick knew that if he wanted his happiness back, then he had to do it- he had to show Amber that she was not a punch line in his joke and she was more than a guilty pleasure. Nick knew that if he wanted to end up with the girl in the end, then he had to show not just her but everyone else how in love he really was.
Joe
Caitlin's had put light background music on while everyone sat and ate dinner. Caitlin sat by Joe's side, their hands held tight under the table. Every time that Tatiana would even open her mouth and look like she were about to talk, Joe's hand would sweat and Caitlin would have to pull away and wipe her hand on her chair seat. Her parents kept conversation flowing and there was not a silent moment. Joe would have called it a success, had the girl he lost his virginity to only a day ago not been there. Even more importantly, not been his girlfriend's older sister.
"So Joe," Tatiana interrupted a story that her father was telling about his line of work and stared up at Joe at the eyes he had grown used to. She had a stick of carrot on her fork and as she pushed it into her mouth, Joe knew what she was trying to do. He bit his lip and gripping Caitlin's hand. "You drove here? What kind of car do you drive?"
Caitlin put down her fork and turned to Joe, she lent close to him and he knew she was trying to tell him something but Joe just dropped her hand and brushed her off. "It's not really my car-"
"You'll have to show it to me later, I just adore cars." Her tongue basically rolled over her lips and Joe had to look away.
Caitlin's eyes bulged at her older sister before she picked up her fork and quickly dropping it down onto her mom's good china. Everyone stared at her as she pretend to jump, "sorry about that." She picked the fork up again and stabbed it into a carrot that was on her plate. Joe's whole body was tensing as he watched the two sisters eye one another with glares.
"Maybe later." Joe nodded and turned back to James, awaiting him to tell the rest of his story. Even though Joe was putting on a strong front and listening to every story and laughing at every joke inside he was scared and shaking and wanting to scream and run. Every time that he even saw Tatiana move in the corner of his eye, his heart would start to race so fast he was tempted to fall to the floor and plead for Caitlin to call the hospital.
Pushing herself forward onto the table, Tatiana did not notice or rejected Joe's end of their discussion. "After we finish dinner I could give you a tour of the house. Caitlin is on kitchen duty after all."
Caitlin's jaw dropped. "Tatty, my boyfriend is here I think we can swap for one night." She had a disgusted look on her face at her sister before she stared down at her dinner plate. Joe basically ignored Caitlin's argument and made a definite eye contact with Tatiana.
"That would be great," his legs were wildly shaking under the table, but he tried his hardest to calm his body down. "Thanks Tatiana."
She smirked, chewing on the end of her fork. "You can call me Tatty."
Joe wet his lips and nodded, turning to Caitlin he reach to her hand a squeezed it tightly. He made sure that he held her right in front of everyone, even though her parents could see he did not mind all he wanted was for Tatiana to see them together. He did not know why, but he wanted to make her jealous. It was almost like Joe want to rev Tatiana up so she would be all over him, but he did not like Tatiana like that. He was just being a boy, not thinking with his mind at all.
At the end of dinner Joe leaned back in his chair and smirked at Caitlin, "that was really good." He smiled and grabbed her hand again.
Caitlin looked to her parents and raised her eyebrows as though waiting for a sign of approval. Her mother was smiling and had started to clean the table up, humming something under her breath. Her father had a glass of whiskey in hand and a proud look on his face as his eye darted to where Joe held Caitlin's hand. He was a father and protective of his daughter but at the same time, he was really impressed with Joe. Tatiana was staring at their hands, her bottom lip tucked beneath her teeth and a bitter expression flooding her face. She had her arms folded across her chest and her family thought they could tell she was not impressed by Joe at all.
"Caitlin why don't you go help mom with the dishes and I'll give Joe the grand tour?" Tatiana stared at Joe as she dropped her arms and leant forward. Her hands clutched at the table cloth the same way Joe wished they would pull at his clothes and skin.
Caitlin rolled her eyes and looked over to Joe. The second that Joe felt Caitlin looking at him, he dropped the look he had on and turned to her. Whenever Joe looked at Tatiana he could not help but gap his mouth and have one of those dumbstruck looks on. Caitlin's eyes looked wet and he could tell she was afraid of something, he just did not know what. Leaning forward, Caitlin made it look like she was just giving Joe a kiss on the cheek but she also whispered something in his ear. "Be careful."
"So that was where we eat," Tatiana walked a head of Joe, striding around the house like someone trying to sell it. Joe looked back at the kitchen and saw Caitlin hugging her dad and jumping around with an excited look as she spoke to her parents. "This is where we watch television." She waved her arm out and showed Joe the massive screened television.
Joe was not paying attention to a word that Tatiana said and he was not even looking at her. His eyes were glued on Caitlin, making sure she stayed safe. Still staring and watching his girlfriend Joe's heart began to race and he started to feel regret but all that was pushed back as Tatiana slammed shut the door that led to Joe's only sight of Caitlin.
"Next I'll show you where we keep all the books!" Tatiana oozed a fake enthusiasm that Joe could see right through. She had her hands tightly grasped together and a beaming smile on her face that almost made him sick.
"Fuck you." Joe snarled and turned away from her, shutting his eyes he tried to build up as much corage as he could to face the argument he knew they were about to have.
She almost burst into laughter; Joe's pain was nothing that she really cared about. It was Caitlin's pain that she cared about and not for the reasons that a sister should have. "I don't want you to keep looking back at parts of the house we have already seen. This is all about learning new things." She stepped in front of him and stood patiently until he peeled open his eyes. "I thought you liked to learn new things Joe."
He almost screamed. "Not about you closing the door Tatiana, about you seducing me when you knew exactly who I was and even more importantly who my girlfriend was!" He kept his voice low, getting right up into her face he felt tempted to kiss her but at the same time he felt tempted to punch her. "You've destroyed everything I had with her."
Tatiana leant back away from his face, "And you think I did that all as though it were a mistake?" She turned to the window and let the light hit her body. She looked down at her nails and started to pick at them, "you think I did that all as though you were the first?"
Gulping, Joe took a step closer to Tatiana and grabbed her arm in his hand. He forced her to look at him and stare into his dark eyes, his expression was black. "You seduced me, had sex with me and potentially ruined my relationship with the girl I love on purpose?"
"I seduced you and that was no task, you basically did it yourself. So simple." Tatiana's lips curled as she shook herself out of Joe's grasp. She started to walk towards the alcohol cabinet, turning back to him to speak every few steps. "I had sex with you and you had sex with me Joe. I like sex."
"But that's not all." Joe gritted his teeth.
Taking a bottle of vodka from the cabinet, Tatiana took a swig and then pulled a disgusted face. "No you're right that isn't all." She extended out the bottle for him and raised her eyebrows in suggestion but Joe was quick to refuse. "I really do like you Joe and when you're not inside of me I feel like something is missing. You're like a vital organ, a beating heart. I need you more than I want you and I just don't think you would understand how much it is that I want you right now."
Falling for all the lies that she had to roll out of mouth; Joe walked over to her and took the bottle of vodka from her hands. He took a large sip and pulled an even worse face that Tatiana had. Putting the bottle down firmly on the top of the cabinet he grabbed the back of Tatiana's head and pulled her close to him. He started to kiss her and even though the foul taste of vodka was still on her lips, he did not pull away.
Tatiana had lied before and Joe knew it, but he still went for it. Tatiana was lying again and Joe believed her. She did not like him, she did not want him but she certainly did need him. For without Joe there would be no revenge.