Part Four: A Secret Discovered

Chapter Fourteen: State of play

Kari stood in front of her open wardrobe and flicked through her clothes. She was still having trouble finding the confidence to wear things from the punky side of the rail but knew she had to persevere. The hissing voice had already come, said its shit and been shouted back into its hole. Purposefully, she plucked the black leggings with the ribbon running down the legs from the rail and hung them on the door. She'd never actually worn them, having bought them and then planned to customise them to fit in with the red vs blue outfit she had designed, but never got around to making. That was something she needed to correct. After the photoshoot with Yolei, she had started to feel creative again. Maybe she should go into town this weekend and see if she could find the other bits she needed to make to outfit.

On her desk, Kari heard her phone vibrate. Leaving the wardrobe for the moment, she picked up the device and flicked it open. A text from Yolei. She opened it and read, "hey, really need to talk to you. On my way over, be there in five mins." She rolled her eyes. Great, just fucking great. Trust Yolei to decide to drop in on her while she was in her undies. Returning to the wardrobe, Kari quickly flicked through the t-shirts and pulled out the black one with scrawled red writing all over it. Removing it from the hanger, she pulled it over her head. What the hell was so important that Yolei couldn't have called her or arranged to meet her at some later time? In annoyance, she pulled the leggings down and stuffed her legs inside them. Finally, she picked up her black choker and put it on.

She was just pondering whether or not to put her red-tartan skirt on atop the leggings when she heard, "Kari, can you come here a sec," shouted from the main living area in Yolei's unmistakable voice. Well, that was rude, just barging into someone's home without knocking. And so much for five minutes. With a long-suffering sigh, she closed the wardrobe and left her bedroom.

Kari had barely stepped down the hall before the lavender-haired girl was atop her. "There you are. Come on, I have something I really need to talk to you about," Yolei said and grabbed her by the wrist. Before she knew what was happening, Kari found herself being dragged across the main living area. At the front door, she could see Tai pulling off his shoes. Not rudeness on her friend's part then, just good timing. She felt another pull on her arm as Yolei strode towards her brother. Before Tai even had the chance to look up, the girl had grabbed hold of his wrist. "You too," she said firmly.

"Yolei, what the hell!" both siblings said in unison as with a herculean display of strength, the lavender-haired girl marched them over to the sofa.

"Sit," Yolei commanded as she shoved them backwards. Their legs hit the edge of the sofa and they both collapsed down onto it.

Tai and Kari exchanged puzzled glances before they turned their attention to the lavender-haired girl. Like a drill sergeant, she stood over them with her hands on her hips.

Tai was the first to speak, "what the hell, Yolei," he reiterated. While his brain was still trying to process what exactly had just happened, he knew one thing for certain, the girl had planned this from the get-go. And he'd literally walked right into it. At least Kari had the excuse of being caught completely off guard.

"Shut up," the lavender-haired girl barked.

This response caused Kari to try a more diplomatic approach, "Yolei, what's going on? Is something wrong?" Even though the events of the past few minutes had left her completely bewildered, she had a suspicion as to what this would be about.

"You too," Yolei snapped and she glared at both of them. "Firstly, the two of you," she then said, firm and no-nonsense-like as she held up a finger, "are a pair of complete and utter idiots." Both siblings opened their mouths to argue but were swiftly cut off. "Secondly," a second finger popped up, "not only have you made yourselves totally miserable, but you've each done it to try and prevent the other from becoming so. Well, in case either of you has failed to notice, it's not worked."

When Yolei paused, Tai took the opportunity to yell, "we didn't have a choice!"

"Of course you had a choice!" Yolei barked, completely overriding his protest. "You still have a choice." The lavender-haired girl raised a third finger. "Third and most importantly, the two of you miss each other more than anything and both of you want to get back together."

Kari's gaze shifted to her right where she met that of her brother's. She could see the sorrow in his eyes and knew that Yolei's words had cut him just as deep as they had her. Her hand trembled as she reached out for his. It felt cold and she could feel a foreign sense of uncertainty from him. "Is she telling the truth?" she asked, afraid of hearing either answer.

Tai lowered his head, unable to keep gazing into those beautiful reddish-brown eyes and all the pain they held. "I miss you more than anything," he said slowly, seeing little point in denying it now. "I take it you feel the same?" he asked, not needing her to answer. Yolei had played both of them it seemed.

As soon as she heard Tai's words, Kari knew that her best friend was right about everything. How she had got her brother to spill his guts, she did not know. But that was merely academic now. She nodded her head and whispered, "yes."

"Surely the two of you can see that you belong together," Yolei said after a moments silence.

"It's not that simple, Yolei," Kari said slowly. "I wish more than anything that is was, but it's not."

"Kari's right," Tai added. "All our relationship resulted in was both of us getting hurt."

"No it didn't," Yolei snapped. "I've talked to both of you and each of you said that the moment's you shared were magical. The only reason that you got hurt was that both of you got scared and pulled the plug on it."

"We had too," Kari cried out. "The issues with having a long-term relationship were just too great."

"And what you're having to deal with now isn't?" Yolei asked though it sounded more like a demand.

Both siblings opened their mouths to say that it wasn't, but neither of them could actually bring themselves to do so. They both knew the situation they were in was far worse than they had expected.

"I thought as much," Yolei said firmly. "Your idea might have worked if you had never acted on your feelings for each other. But you opened Pandora's Jar and have seen what's inside. And you can't just shove the contents back in and hope to forget about them."

"Isn't that supposed to be Pandora's Box?" Tai interjected.

"In the original Greek tale, it was a jar. It only became a box when someone incorrectly translated it..." Yolei stopped and shook her head. "Besides, that's not the point! The fact of the matter is, neither of you can forget what it was like when you were together. And those memories aren't going to go away. They'll keep haunting you and continue to make you miserable."

Kari lowered her head and had to resist the urge to cry. "You're right, Yolei, about everything. But it doesn't change the long-term problems."

"Hang the long-term problems. You've got plenty of time to figure out what to do about them."

"We're sorry, Yolei," Tai finally said. He knew the girl meant well and was just trying to help them, but he'd had enough. The conversation on the way home had been bad enough without adding this one on top of it. Now he had to live with the fact that he knew for certain that Kari wanted to get back together. How was he supposed to restrain himself when he knew she wanted the exact same thing he did? "We know we're both miserable, but that's just something we need to work through."

"URGH! The two of you are impossible!" Yolei exclaimed as she threw her hands into the air.

Deciding that he needed to shut himself away inside his room post-haste, Tai got to his feet. "I need to go study."

"I'll show you out," Kari said softly as she too stood up. She had no desire for company now. She just wanted to go to her room, put some music on and try to drown herself in it. However, as Tai brushed past her, she felt her gaze follow him and felt the urge to say something stupid. Only before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Tai, since you'll need to eat sooner or later, do you want to order a pizza... maybe play a round of Mario Kart?" Why on earth had she just asked her brother that? How was she supposed to sit there and suppress her feelings if he said yes? Did she actually want to torment herself?

Tai stopped mid-step. Crap! Why did Kari have to ask him that? Just say no, he told himself firmly. She's surely just being reactionary. Just say no. He opened his mouth to do so, only instead found himself mouthing, "yeah, I'd like that." Idiot! Why the hell did you just do that? Do you have some masochistic desire to torture yourself? Before his tongue could get him in any more trouble, he walked away to his room.

Shit, Kari thought. Damnit, Tai, why did you have to be an idiot too! If you had just said no, we'd both be off the hook. Shit! With an internal sigh, Kari led Yolei to the front door, unable to see the thin smile on her friend's face.

"Have a good night, Kari," the lavender-haired girl said as she gave her a hug.

"You too," she replied, trying to suppress the bitterness in her tone.

This wasn't her fault or Tai's. If Yolei hadn't just yelled at them on the sofa, they could have enjoyed separate dinners within the confines of their own bedrooms and been content in their slightly less miserable states. Now they were going to have to sit through pizza and Mario Kart and be properly miserable. She opened the door, ushered her friend out and closed it again. Kari sighed. It seemed tonight had just become a lot more complicated.