A/N: Okay! I've decided to do review responses every other chapter but know that I love you guys and I read every word. Seriously. I gobble that shit up. You guys are way too good for me.

A little shameless self-promotion because who else will: Check out my other stories particularly my The Stranger Sort one. That one is most like this one in terms of POV.

Chapter Twenty-Two: I Love You Enough to Hurt You

Bernice Forman's funeral was quiet and filled with so many flowers that she more than likely would have wheeled in a trash bin and started disposing of them. Bernice Forman was not a flower person. She didn't like the smell and she certainly didn't like how they turned sickly whenever she smoked around them. While Tina's father understood this fact, her uncle had insisted until there was nothing left to do but punch him or concede. Red considered it his final courtesy to his mother that he refrained from the first.

"You look happy," her sister sneered, spearing a piece of asparagus with accuracy that menacing in and of itself.

Across the kitchen, still making the lattice for tonight's rhubarb pie, Kitty eyed her children in concern. Things had been… off since the death of Bernice. Eric had grown sullen, his eyes roaming over his twin in a way that confused Kitty - like he didn't quite know who he was looking at. For her part, Tina seemed oblivious, her attention always somewhere else. And then… Well, Laurie was still Laurie. A bitch. Kitty gave a high laugh.

Tina took a breath, scarfing down another bite of roasted chicken as she mentally prepared herself for the battle to come. She had forgotten how draining it was to constantly have her sister slinking around the house. Her eyes moved lazily over the glossed lips and the skimpy top. Another night at some club downtown. "Who are you going to take your clothes off for tonight, big sis?"

Tina glanced to her brother, reaching out on instinct for a high five under the table. Both of them delighted in riling Laurie. But her fingers met open air, his face turned away as he stared out the glass window. Her fingers grasped for a moment, floundering.

Laurie's fingers curled around the fork in her hand, her knuckles going white as she sent a wilting glare across the table. "Bitch."

Tina whipped around, off-balanced. "Slut."

"Girls," Kitty admonished, breezing to the table with some mashed potatoes just as Red came slid in through the porch door.

"How are my two little girls doing?" he boomed, wiping some motor oil from his hands. At Kitty's sharp glance he retreated to the sink to wash them properly.

"Fine, daddy," Tina and Laurie chirped, glaring at each other as they stabbed at their food.

More than anything, even her sister's general bitchiness, the truly unsettling thing was her twin's sudden silences. A knot wound tighter and tighter around her lunges, cinching down until it felt both cutting and suffocating. It hurt her, she realized, glancing at his dull eyes, his lips tight. At first, she had thought that maybe after Bernice's death something had clicked off inside of him, some odd guilt keeping him tethered in that horrible moment when he had had to drive her corpse back to the house. But the more silence, the more evenings where she stepped into the living room only to have him get up and leave…

"May I be excused?" Tina stared forlornly after her brother as he barely waited for the returned acceptance before he was up, dumping his plate in the sink before slinking off to the basement.

Her insides burst painfully. There was a distance there - she could feel it gaping open between them. And she hated it. Worse, she didn't even understand why there was a distance in the first place.

"Why, he didn't even eat his lunch," Kitty murmured. She took the general lack of interest in her cooking as a sign of illness, both emotional and physical.

Red's eyes wandered over the political section of the day's newspaper. "He's probably watching his figure. You know how finicky he is about his looks."

Kitty's eyes rolled. "Just because he takes a shower every day and wears clean clothes doesn't mean he's narcissistic, Red."

"When I was his age-" Red started, straightening his paper with a snap.

"You ran around in your dirty tighty-whiteys and didn't brush your teeth?" As if to punctuate the end to the argument, she let out a long, loud laugh, one hand going to the mashed potatoes laddle as she smiled sweetly at her husband. "More potatoes, darling?"

Laurie's eyes were catlike as she eyed her sister, taking in the sunken, helpless look as she stared after where their brother had disappeared to the basement. She knew the expression well. It was usually the one that people had right before she said something so cutting that they didn't come back to school for a month. A slow, satisfied smile spread across her lips.

Daintily, she batted her eyes, softening her expression into one of innocent inquiry. "Do you know something, Tina?"

Three pairs of eyes snapped to the auburn-haired girl, pinning her with silent questions. Questions that she couldn't answer. Stiffly, she met her sister's gaze. "No. Why would you think that?"

The doleful bat of Laurie's eyes was enough to make Tina want to barf. "Well, I only assumed since you two are twins. You practically do everything together. You two were so close…"

A slow knife jabbed into her abdomen, turning, turning, turning until Tina could barely think from the pain. Yes. They were close. They told each other everything. Tina would do anything for Eric and she knew that he would do anything for her. And now he wasn't even speaking to her - wouldn't even look at her. Laurie's words flayed her, rubbing salt into the raw wounds.

Laurie's smile had grown positively delighted.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tina whispered, forcing the words out and feeling like a failure. Those words were nothing more than a white flag to her sister. Now she knew where to strike. Tina winced, clutching at her napkin. At least, she still didn't know about Hyde. If she ever found out then there was no way that their father would allow him anywhere near her.

Laurie's bottom lip pushed out in a cringe-worthy pout, her eyes moving to between their parents and then back to Tina. For a moment, Tina actually felt a bolt of fear jolt through her system, something that hadn't happened to her since her older sister had caught Laurie shagging their biology teacher in the garage. There was an uncanny ability that her sister had - one that Tina didn't know if she should admire or fear. The ability to see vulnerability, the weakening of a predator that could turn them into prey in a moment.

She could see it now in the gentle tip of her sister's lips, the softening of her blue eyes that gave away that the hunt was drawing to an end. Tina braced, her insides aching as the cheap cutlery cut into her palms.

"It's so sad," Laurie simpered and Kitty blinked in alarm as Tina flinched, paling. "I remember when you two were little - so close. It just makes me so unhappy to see you two like this. I mean he can barely look at you now. You were the first that he told about his crush on Donna, right? Ugh. I mean, he's been kind of avoiding you right? Poor thing. You must have done something really, really horrible-"

"Laurie, I think that's enough." Laurie blinked. Kitty stilled, a rebuke on the tip of her tongue as she watched her youngest daughter sink further and further into herself.

Red made it a rule not to get in the middle of his two daughters. They were rabid, feral in a way that he was entirely sure that they got from him. They were too ready to rip into a carcass, too able to take down larger prey without breaking much of a sweat. This ferocity both made him swell with pride and wither with terror at the creatures that he had cultivated beneath his roof.

So when it was his voice snapping across the table to halt Laurie's blatant attack, the three women jolted, blinking.

Laurie's mouth hung open, her cheeks going an unflattering shade of pink. Tina felt a pop of joy at the expression. It was so rare to find her sister flustered by anything.

"Sorry, daddy," the blonde girl murmured, her eyes darting to her barely eaten plate of chicken. An odd well of shame splashed uncomfortable up at her. Like it or not, Laurie Forman would forever be a daddy's girl and no amount of meaningless one night stands and venomous spite would wink that part of her out of existence.

Tina grabbed up her dish, her insides shaking as she eyed the basement door just around the bend of the kitchen. She couldn't keep this distance anymore. She needed to talk to her brother before the silence between them became something bigger - something filled with bitterness. She couldn't bear to lose another sibling to hatred. It took too much away.

"Thank you for the meal," she murmured hastily, giving her father a reverent kiss on the cheek and her sister the middle finger as she skirted her way around the table, placing her dishes in the sink and scuttling for the basement door.

"I wonder what that's all about," Kitty whispered, her eyes rapt for a moment on the retreating form of her youngest daughter. When Kitty had given birth to twins, she had been overjoyed. She loved the idea of dressing them up in matching outfits with bows and all. And even if Red had complained that Eric looked like a snot-nosed wimp, she knew that he adored it as well. Her babies clung to each other like two parts of the same vehicle, synching in a way that was completely independent of one another.

To see that quiet order suddenly crumble was disturbing, to say the least.

"Maybe she-" Laurie started, her voice already edging into snideness.

"Can it, Laurie," Kitty snapped, her eyes still lingering on the basement door.

The soft trill of a disco song filtered up to Tina as she made her way unsteadily down the rickety basement stairs. It seemed to grow more and more treacherous the longer that the wooden steps remained. Tina's father had spoken on more than one occasion about tearing the lot out and constructing something new. But everyone in the Forman household knew that while Red was handy, he wasn't tear-out-stairs-that-are-connected-to-load-bearing-wall handy.

Anxiety gnawed at whatever part of her organs wasn't already tied up as she wobbled down the rest of the stairs and came to a halt at the base, staring at where her twin was slouched on the couch. On the TV, Disco Fever blared, neon signs illuminating a stuffy looking dance studio.

Tina was never good with silence. "Are you going to talk to me or just keep ignoring me?" she blurted, noting that her voice was edged with agitation.

Slowly, Eric's head turned, one eye-catching her in a solemn stare. Tina winced. Her brother rarely let his anger show - and when it did, it was usually a diluted version like a puppy's first bark. It seemed like the venom had completely gone to the Forman daughter's, leaving their mother's mild manners to Eric.

"I'm surprised that you're even bringing the issue up to me," he drawled, turning back to the TV with a blank expression. "These days it seems like your busy doing your own thing."

Tina's brain spun, whipping around Eric's words. Angrily, she stormed over, turning the TV off before spinning back to glare down at her brother. "What the hell does that mean?"

There was that blank stare again, that single-shouldered shrug. Tina's teeth ground. It drove her up the wall.

"It means exactly what it sounds like," he replied, his shaggy mess of brown hair falling into his eyes.

"It means exactly what it sounds like," Tina parroted back to him childishly. "If you're not going to tell me what your mad about than how about you save us both some trouble and stop being such a spoiled brat? We may be twins but I can certainly tell you that I can't read whatever pea-brained part of your brain is working right now, you dweeb."

Red bit across Eric's cheeks, his lips thinning. He had fought with his sister before over trivial things like showering first or whether he had flushed the toilet or not. But this was different. This time he felt something ugly and mad twisting in his gut as he stared at his auburn-haired twin. In no way, did he enjoy it but almost against his will, he found himself submitting to it like a dog forced to sit.

"Okay," he said slowly, savoring the next words that he said, the rush of raw release that it gave him to finally speak after having to watch his sister and his best friend pet at each other, fawning and whispering. "Maybe this will help you figure out what's going on: you and Hyde."

Tina blinked, flinching back. She hadn't expected that. Her stomach dropped at the cold expression on his brother's face. Fumbling, she said, "I don't - I thought-"

"That I would be overjoyed to see my twin shagging my best friend?" he said, his blue eyes going a wintery shade that would have rivaled his sister's. Against the couch, his lanky body coiled tighter, his shoulders hunching. "If you haven't noticed, the world doesn't revolve around your happiness, Tina. Why would I ever think that this was a good idea?"

"I-" Tina felt an unsteady rush of warmth burn her cheeks. Somehow this rebuke felt worse than any other insult that could have been thrown at her. It had never crossed her mind that he would… "I thought… You always made jokes about us… You like Steven."

His lips tightened, the color bleeding away. "Yeah. I do."

Memories flitted through his mind. Everyone knew that Hyde liked Tina and maybe somewhere in the back of his mind he had registered that she liked him back. But there was a wildness in her that made it so hard for him to see her submitting to his best friends advances. Because that was how it had always been. There was Hyde and then there was his sister - the one who had punched Hyde when he had tried to grab her ass that first time. The one who had ripped out an article from a magazine titled Why Douchbags Never Win and plastered it on his locker. The one who flirted but never crossed that line. The one that was going places while Hyde…

"I'm not saying this as his friend, Tina," he finally whispered, staring at a spot just above her shoulder. "I'm saying it as your brother. Hyde's not a good fit for you. You're… If anyone's getting out of here, it's you. I know Donna thinks it'll be her but… Listen, you have so much more than this place in your future. And Hyde - Hyde will always be here - in Wisconsin."

Pain, sudden and blinding twisted through her. Because there was always that fear, niggling at her. The fear of what came after high school when the real world started to knock. Somehow… She had never thought to think past tomorrow or that shift at the hub in a couple of days.

Unsteady, Tina fumbled for something to say. "Hyde is - Hyde isn't just temporary-"

"That's what I'm afraid of," he said with a finality that made her heart twist. His eyes were sad, analyzing as they ran over her. "It's not just about that, Tina. I thought… I mean that night at the Hub, he just left. That isn't the first fight that you guys will ever have and his first instinct was to just get on the back of some girl's moped and dip? What the hell is that?"

Tina winced, fighting against a current of inner fears. Because at night after Hyde had left, when her thoughts were the only thing keeping her company she had thought about that. In the dark, it all seemed so consuming, larger than life. But then morning came and the sun cleansed her of those insecurities. Because Hyde was with her.

Hot, reflexive tears burned at her eyes, blurring her brother's stiff figure. "Why the hell are you being such an ass?"

Eric flinched.

Yeah. He was being an ass.

But he couldn't bear it. Couldn't bear seeing his sister with someone like Hyde. Because even though he loved the guy, he had also seen how many girls had slipped in and out of his spell these last years. Just as he was able to name off all of the reasons that Hyde was his best friend, he was also able to name off all of the reasons that his sister would get her heart broken by him. Hot-tempered. Spiteful. Bitter to his very core and boiling over with so much anger that sometimes Eric could hear the undertone of hate in his voice. How could Eric be okay with his little sister going out with a guy that got into a fight every single week? A guy who stole every time he could? A guy who barely had a home to go back to on the good days?

And just as he would list off all the reasons that Hyde was bad for her, he would do the same for Tina. Blunt. Stubborn. Suspicious. Easy angered. Too willing to give people a second chance after they had earned her trust. Guys like Hyde would use her and throw her away like last week's trash.

"You'll do what you want," Eric finally said, looking away from his sister's trembling form. "But if dad finds out about this then you know what will happen."

Tina's breath whistled out of her. "Are you threatening me?"

Eric grimaced. He would never out her. "No. But I am trying to make you realize that maybe a relationship based in secrecy isn't the way to go."

There was a finality to that statement. A simple, mocking prod. Tina had gone down this road before. The road of secrecy. She had nearly lost Hyde to it. What would she lose this time, she wondered.

A humorless laugh burst from Tina's trembling lips. Eric's head whipped around to stare at her, a strike of fear bolting across his face at her shaking, cruel curve of a smile. Slowly, tears tracked down her cheeks, smearing the mascara on her lashes.

"I wish that you had just been my brother instead of whatever fuckwad is sitting in front of me right now," she hissed, all the venom and bitter sadness bursting across Eric's veins like the poison of a serpent.

The clodding of her platforms across the room and up the stairs was a sharp exclamation to her words, filling Eric's head like gunshots.

Numbness settled across Eric along with a jumble of disjointed thoughts. I am your brother and that's why I can't watch you ruin yourself for a guy that thinks the government put chips in us when we were born. I love you enough to hurt you. But I didn't want to. God, why couldn't I be good with words? Don't go out with Hyde. Don't do that to yourself. Or the group. Why am I ever worried about the gang? What happens when they break up? Will I have to choose between my sister and my best friend?

Selfish. He knew it. He was a worm. And the worst part was that he had made her cry. Only people that she cared about could do that to her.

Listlessly, he stared at the black of his TV screen, the basement around him growing darker and colder as the hours burned past.

I hope everyone's keeping safe and sanitized. And is practicing social distancing. I know my platform here is small but I care about you and I have people in the danger bracket in my life that I really don't want to lose from something as trivial as not staying six feet away. Personally, I've been reading like crazy and I also refurbished my bookcases. What are ya'll doing? How's your Goodreads 2020 challenge fairing? If you want to add me so that we can hype each other up, my name is in my bio.

Again a little shameless self-promotion because who else will: Check out my other stories particularly my The Stranger Sort one. That one is most like this one in terms of POV.