Matt picks his side

I spent a long time rehearsing, which helped me not to think about a lot of things, like not talking to my brother yet, but one day when I was getting home, Matt was waiting for me, sitting by his door.

"Can we talk now, or you're too busy?"

He wasn't friendly, and I couldn't avoid this conversation much longer...

"Yeah, we can."

"Can we go somewhere else? I don't want my sister to see us talking."

That scared me. Had Anne twisted the whole story and put Matt against me?

We got into my car and I parked on the other street, I thought he'd say something, but I had to start...

"Matt, I don't know what you have to say, but I'm sure it's about your sister, and I have a lot of things to tell you too..."

He cooly replied:

"You can skip this David, you don't have to tell me anything, Anne already took care of this, and don't worry, she told me the truth, and I'm shocked as well, I also think she made a terrible mistake…"

Wait. How could I know he was talking about the same truth as I was? Unfortunately, I had lost confidence in them, after what happened…

"What exactly did she tell you, Matt?"

"That she slept with your brother. Is there anything else you would like to add?"

Ok, she had been honest… but then, why was he acting like this?

"No, I guess this is enough for you to understand me…"

"Dave, I'm sorry to tell you that this time I'm not here to talk to you as a friend, I'm here as Anne's brother, just to tell you something… I tried to put me in your shoes, I don't know what I would do if this happened to me, maybe even worst than what you're doing…"

"I am doing? I'm not doing anything about this Matt... I already told Anne everything I had to."

"Exactly, you're not doing anything, you're ignoring everything you've been through, and because of this pride, my sister is sick, getting worse everytime…"

"Are you serious? I don't know exactly what's happening to Anne, but whatever it may be, it's her fault, not mine…"

He seemed to get more irritated.

"So you really think she deserves to be punished? No matter the consequences, you think it's fair that she suffers?"

"Matt, why are you telling me this? What can possibly be happening to her?"

"Nothing much David, I just found her today on the bathroon floor, crying, she can't eat anymore, and when she does, she throws everything up, she barely leaves her room, she always has headaches... but I bet that saying all those things to you will make you think that she's playing the victim, or that she asked me to made up this story to touch you."

I'd lie if I said that both hypotheses didn't cross my mind.
But when I imagined Anne sick, my chest hurt.

"Matt, tell me what do you want me to do? Really? Put yourself in my shoes."

"David, I'm not the one who has to tell you what to do, you're a grown man. I'm not gonna put myself in your shoes, I'm gonna stay in my shoes, and beside my sister. Oh, and the ONLY thing Anne asked me to tell you is for you not to be mad at Andrew because it's not his fault, and I agree with her, but I guess you already figured this out by now…"

No, I hadn't. And I couldn't even answer him, I looked at the rearview mirror and he was already going home. I stayed in the car, totally confused.

For me, Matt was exaggerating, it wasn't possible that Anne was that bad, he really should be making this up to touch me. I'd only believe if I saw it, and honestly, I didn't feel like going after that.

But I couldn't stop thinking about what Matt had told me. I felt like an idiot, but he had said she was sick, wasn't eating, just crying… but she deserved that, and much more for what she had done to me!

...

It turns out I didn't want to go after Alexis anymore, actually I didn't wanna be with a lot of girls, I never liked that.

The guys and I were rehearsing a lot, we were doing great together, those guys were great, I knew I had made the right choice. I was writing a lot too, I we got a label I wanted to have a lot of material. I tried to focus my mind on that, but when I passed by Anne's house, I always expected to see her, against my will. Ridiculous, I was very ridiculous. She meant nothing to me anymore. I didn't saw Matt anymore, either. I'm gonna admit it, I missed my best friend a lot, he was almost like my brother. But apparently he had made his choice, even though she was wrong, he chose her side. Pity.

And days went by. I was in my room playing and trying to find a rhyme, when my mom got in, bringing some clothes.

"Is Anne on a diet, David?"

I stopped playing.

"What are you talking about mom?"

"I just went outside and saw her by her door with another girl... she's so thin, I found it weird... she was already thin, but now it's too much, she may have lost 10 pounds or more... Those girls always think they're fat, she's gonna disappear someday..."

And she left the room. I was paralyzed. So what Matt had told me must be true, she never liked diets, she always ate everything she liked… so maybe it was serious… well, she caused that, that's her problem, I wouldn't worry about that… at least I tried to make myself believe that. I spent the next couple of days trying not to think about her and what my mom had told me. A lot of times I caught myself looking through the window, to see if she left the house, to check if it was true…