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Chapter 5: Making Peace?
Psymon trudged through the snow towards the lodge. Nate's words were still echoing through his head. He felt guilty, the one thing he always had promised her was that he would be there for her, and now that things weren't going smoothly he was pulling out. He was disgusted with himself. He walked up the steps and through the front door. He noticed her sneakers were there, showing she was somewhere in the lodge. He sighed and kicked his off next to hers. He walked slowly towards the living room and peeked in to see her sitting alone watching television. He paused and then walked in quietly. She looked up with her eyes, then back at the television.
"Hey." he said gently. A few seconds of silence passed.
"Hey." she finally replied. A few more seconds of quiet passed.
"Can I sit down?" he asked, still in a very gentle tone.
"You pay the bills." she answered. Psymon nodded and sat at the other end of the couch.
"Look, I've-"
'Been a jerk lately?" Zoe finished the sentence for him, Psymon nodded after a few seconds. "Yeah… I have been to." Psymon still nodded.
"I was out of line last night, I shouldn't have just left like that." Zoe now turned off the television and looked at him.
"I wasn't exactly being cooperative. You just handled it like anyone else would have." Psymon shook his head.
"Well, I'm not anyone else. I'm your brother, and just walking out on you was unacceptable." Zoe nodded. She paused and sighed.
"I've been pushing you away, I really can't blame you." There was some more silence.
"Alright, we've both accepted that, now why are you pushing me away?" Zoe cuddled a pillow and looked down at the floor.
"I don't know, different reasons I guess. I wanted you to feel like you could get on with your life, but also maybe I was doing it to protect myself from when the times comes that one of us do get married." Psymon raised a confused eyebrow. "You and Kaori didn't work, and I know you tell me it was because you rushed it but I know you well enough to know that there was something else. You felt like you were abandoning me, so you called it off with her, didn't you?" Psymon sighed.
"That is possible, but that wasn't the big reason, we WERE taking it too fast." Zoe shrugged.
"I don't know what I want with us. I want you to be able to go on with your life, but when you do I get resentful."
"Hence your temper tantrum last night." Zoe paused and then nodded.
"... Yeah."
"And why are you protecting yourself from when one of us get married?" Zoe shrugged.
"Well, when the time comes that you get married, you're going to have another family to take care of, you won't want to keep looking after me, and I'll miss you... I guess I'm scared of how much that will hurt. Same as when I get married, I have to learn to rely on someone else other than you all the time." Psymon nodded.
"I think I understand." Zoe's eyes got a little wet. "Don't start or you'll get me going." He said with a chuckle as he wiped her eye. Zoe laughed awkwardly. "Well, if you don't mind me saying, I think your plan for protecting us really sucks" Zoe again laughed shortly. "Zoe, maybe someday I will get married, but I will never stop having time for you, remember that. I've told you that a million times and I'm not going to lie about something that important." Zoe nodded. "And, yes you will have to learn to rely on your husband, and I will admit I've had trouble accepting that. It will hurt when I see another man taking care of you and making sure you're alright… but I will be able to sleep at night still knowing you ARE taken care of." Now Zoe started crying, Psymon smirked and shook his head. "Now, what was going on last night?" Zoe sniffed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
"Well I was upset, 'cuz the night before I was going to tell you I'd been feeling bad 'cuz I started realizing I HAD been brushing you off, and I wanted to talk to you about it."
"And instead I was being a jerk and was playing at that game to." Zoe nodded.
"I was scared that you were fed up with me and didn't want anything to do with me anymore." Psymon now slid over and hugged his sister, she squeezed him tightly.
"That will never happen you know that." Zoe sniffed and nodded, Psymon was now starting to leak also. "I'm just having a hard time facing the truth that I won't always be able to be there for you. It's going to feel like I'm losing a limb when you get married... hell I'd rather lose the limb than lose you... but I need to stop thinking about myself so much." Zoe sniffed into Psymon's shoulder and let the moment be silent. Finally she pulled her head up and looked at him.
"So, do I want to know what you and those two would do when you go out?" Psymon chuckled.
"Well, Kaori and I would go out minigolfing or something, since we're trying to leave the romance behind us and just focus on being friends. And Elise and I would hit the bars and clubs." Zoe looked unhappy with that. "Where she would promptly get smashed and go home with some other guy, or guys… hell I think sometimes it didn't matter what gender or how many." Zoe laughed and nodded in approval. "Don't worry, I'm keeping out of trouble... I was being an ass and was playing that same game against you... I'm sorry." Zoe shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She then looked more serious.
"So… with dad not around, will you give me away at the wedding?" Psymon rubbed his eyes and nodded.
"I better be the one giving you away, otherwise I'll kick your ass." Zoe laughed and went back to hugging Psymon.
Well, that seemed to patch up well. Don't you just love siblings? Keep reading peoples
