"Hello?"
Cara was still half asleep, and a little short tempered.
"Cassie, if this is another prank, I will kill you." She said, words sounding more sleepy than cold and terrifying.
"No, this is Layla on Juliet's phone -"
"Why do you have her phone?" Cara interrupted, suddenly wide awake.
"Listen, I know we parted on bad terms, but Juliet isn't feeling that well and apparently she was supposed to be home half an hour ago."
Cara checked the time, it was 10:30pm, Layla was right.
"She says she's taking the train, but I don't think that's safe," Layla continued, "I would take her home myself, but I've already had a few-"
Cara cut her off again.
"No, no, that's fine. I'll be there in half an hour." Then she hung up.
Cara was already moving, grabbing her shoes, a jacket and her public transport card. Sneaking across the hall to Juliet's room, she grabbed a hoodie and fished her sister's card out of her school bag by the light of her phone flashlight.
What was Juliet thinking?! I hope she's okay. Why couldn't Layla just leave her alone!
Cara got off the train fifteen minutes later, immediately setting off towards Oliver's house.
Not even bothering to knock, she opened the door to a typical teen party. Spying Layla and Juliet in the hallway, she strode over to the chair beside the stairwell.
Sparing not even a glance for Layla, she went directly to Juliet. "Are you okay?"
"I wasn't sure if I did the right thing…" Layla began, but Cara would have none of it.
"Don't start anything. I'm just here for my sister."
"Fine with me."
Juliet hadn't looked up, just sat with her hands on her forehead looking at the carpet.
"Come on, Jay," Cara softened her tone and offered her hand, "Time to go home."
They walked slowly together back to the platform, Cara's hand on Juliet's arm just in case.
Cara would have liked to go faster, especially since the dark felt like it was closing in and even the pools of light made by the street lamps made her feel exposed, but Juliet didn't seem to want to go faster.
What was she thinking? She's underage and had a perfectly reasonable curfew!
"Sorry." Came the soft voice from beside her.
"It's fine, I mean-" Cara stopped to collect her thoughts, "It's not fine, but don't be sorry for asking for help. Everyone gets in too deep sometimes."
"I bet I woke you up though."
"Well, yes, but I don't mind if it means keeping you safe." Cara tried to explain, two feelings warring inside her.
Juliet shouldn't have stayed up past curfew, or drank alcohol, but Cara could never begrudge her help if she needed it. And hadn't Cara herself been in Juliet's shoes once?
"You were?" Came the sudden question, breaking into Cara's thoughts like a wrecking ball.
"Huh? I was what?"
"In my shoes? Wait, oops, sorry." Juliet ducked her head again, avoiding her sister's gaze.
"Did you…just, read my thoughts?" Cara said uncertainly.
"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to! It just slipped out!" Juliet said, very close to desperately if Cara was any judge.
"How much did you drink?"
Cara knew Juliet did her best not to read anyone's thoughts and more often than not, it was an accident. They'd had a long talk about it after the whole gun incident while Juliet was in hospital. It was a little surprising to find out Juliet was a meta, but once she'd explained it to Cara, it didn't sound like something Cara wanted to try.
"Two."
"Two what?"
"Um, well I had two drinks, but Layla said there was only one shot in each. And shots are tiny."
Cara sighed, "Two shots of what?"
"Ummm, think she said tequila."
Cara swore. When I next see Layla, I'm gonna-
"Please don't," Juliet said, frowning, "Wasn't her fault – she only gave me one; I asked for the second. Most of it was fruit juice and lemonade and I don't think-"
"Look, I know-" Cara stopped. Sighed and began again, "I'm not going to go over alcohol with you now, though it's clear I really need to, but for now you really need to stop reading my mind."
"I'm trying" Juliet practically whined, then her eyes widened, "Oh. Oh."
"What?"
"My bracelet, the one Cisco made is in my pocket."
"Well then put it on!"
"Okay."
Juliet tripped on the space between the carriage and the concrete platform.
As the dirty blue lino rose up to meet her, Cara wrenched at Juliet's arm, pulling her up before she touched the floor.
"Whoa," Cara grunted, then quickly picked them out seats and sat down.
They sat in silence as the train slowly began its 'cuh-clunk-cuh-clunk-cuh-clunk' across the tracks.
"I thought I was being brave," Juliet said suddenly, "trying new things and going to a party."
"There was never anything wrong with you going to a party." Cara said, still feeling exposed in the almost empty carriage. Two teenage girls out by themselves at night was never the best idea. She covertly assessed a tired looking man in a suit two seats down, before her gaze darted to another suspicious passenger.
"But I knew I was underage, and I should've told someone where I was going."
"True." Cara said, glad Juliet was saying it, so she didn't have to.
"And I knew there was a curfew. Aunty even told me to set an alarm! But I forgot, and now she's going to be disappointed because I – what's the word?"
"Abused her trust?"
"Yeah, that."
Cara sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night and gave her sister her full attention.
"Look, being brave is all well and good, just make sure you think before getting yourself into something you can't get out of. And there's no use being brave if you know you're doing the wrong thing."
"Yeah…"
"Look, I won't tell Aunty Lin about you breaking curfew if you promise to not break it again without at least telling me where you're going and what you're doing. Even if it's 1am and I'm sleeping, I'll still come and get you if you need me. Just promise me you'll think before you do something we both know is stupid, 'kay?"
"Okay, I promise…"
Cara looked at the younger girl who had her eyes closed and was leaning her head on Cara's shoulder.
After a minute or so her breathing evened out and Cara knew she was asleep.
Cara looked out the window into the dark underground and felt uneasy. She couldn't put her finger on it, but maybe it was something to do with Layla and the way Juliet was acting. She didn't normally do crazy stuff like tonight; without regard for her own safety of the consequences of her actions.
Not that Juliet shouldn't get to go to parties but…ugh! It's too late at night for this! Or early?
She yawned, saw their stop approaching and lightly shook her sister, "Jay, Jay, wake up. It's our stop. We're not home yet; you need to wake up."
"Hmm?" Juliet murmured sleepily.
"You do not get to wake me up to take you home only to fall asleep on me before we even get there!" Cara threatened as the doors opened.
"Mmm, sorry," Juliet said as Cara helped her get up and out the doors.
"Just don't go to sleep until we get home, okay? I can't carry you." Cara said, slightly exasperated.
"You can't? Aren't you on netball team?"
Cara rolled her eyes, "That was last year, dummy, and even then I couldn't carry a teenage girl by myself up a flight of stairs."
Juliet seemed to finally, properly wake up.
"Huh? Oh, of course."
Cara snorted, "Come on genius, let's get you home again."
Author's Note:
Yay! Sibling bonding! Pretty much my favourite part of most any story :)
Consequences are all well and good, but sometimes people just need help and you can give them a lecture later. I hope everyone has someone they could call when they get into a sticky situation of their own making.
Cya next week!
Trix