Chapter 199

"Leaving?" Casey asked me as she stirred her cereal and milk in a bowl for breakfast.
"Yeah, I'll be back by 10 p.m. tonight." I told her over the jiggle of my keys as I pocketed them. "Do you have any plans today?"
Casey shook her head, "Get home as late as you'd like, I'm not a kid, I'll be alright. I'll just be chilling inside, binge watching netflix and enjoying my ice cream."
I didn't want to argue with her about going home later. It was more for my peace of mind than anything else. For the past year, I've tried very hard to never let Casey be alone. Especially in an empty house late at night. Of course she didn't understand where my worries and anxiety was coming from but that's alright. I'll do the worrying and being the anxious one, she can live in blissful ignorance that comes with being oblivious to the dangers that seem to lie everywhere around us.
I stopped by the door to put on my shoes. "What about your friends?"
"Boyfriends." She answered simply. I could feel her eye roll without even having to look up and see her doing it. I chuckled.
"You'll get there someday." I said, trying to be encouraging. I'm overprotective but not unreasonable. I know that one day each of us will meet someone and have our own families. We can't be glued by the hip to each other forever.
Casey shrugged, "I don't mind the single life. Hearing their stories about the fights they have is enough to convince me that I've chosen the right path." Her eyebrows were slightly drawn together and her lips were set into a firm line, as if she strongly believes what she was saying.
The expression she made drew a chuckle out of me.
"Okay, Case. Enjoy the single life." I played along.
Casey turned to look at me, nodding, "Yeah, sure will. Have fun on the date!"
"Thanks, I'll see you later tonight." I waved, getting a wave back from her before I shut the door and locked it, knowing that Casey would get lazy to walk all the way to the front door and end up forgetting to lock it. I don't want to risk leaving the front door unlocked while she's in the house alone. Call me paranoid all you want, we all know that I have a damn good reason to be.
I turned around to walk to my car when I saw a familiar car pull up in front of our house.
I frowned, waiting for Dom to step out of his car as I watched and listened to the engine die.
The driver's door opened and Dom stepped out and shut the car door with one hand while the other held a flower bouquet.
My heart grew heavy, anticipating the talk I know we're going to have very soon. There's no way I'm letting him get past me and towards the house. Casey wasn't dumb, if she saw him standing on our front porch, with flowers in his hand, she'll know what he's trying to do. Then, she'll have to reject him again and it'll hurt her because she knows she'll be hurting a friend that's dear to her. Casey has been in such a good mood this morning, I don't want her to be spending the rest of today crying because of this asshole, who couldn't take a hint.
I looked behind me. I know the chances of Casey walking out at that second and witness this was little to none but I still felt the need to check anyways.
Once I tried listening for any footsteps coming to the front door and heard none, I met Dom halfway and grabbed him by the elbow, basically dragging him along and forcing him to come with me as I walked around the corner and to the side of the house.
"Man, what are you doing?" I asked, letting my frustration towards him come to the surface.
He looked at me, confused, raising the flowers in his hand to show it to me. "Isn't that pretty clear?"
My eyebrows rose slightly as I closed my eyes to try calm down before I end up blowing up on a friend I held dear to me.
"Dom, I told you she isn't interested and she feels uncomfortable. I told you not to make anymore advances towards her." I tried reminding him, in case he had a temporary memory loss that I didn't know somehow, like from bumping his head when he fell out of bed this morning or something.
Dom looked down at the flowers in his hand before looking up at me again, "I just want to give her flowers, Bry. Can't I do that when we're friends?"
I sighed, I know that I might have been too hard on the kid but I know my sister. She wouldn't take this lightly. She'll overthink, end up drawing a line, know that she's hurting a friend by doing so and end up hating herself for hurting someone she cares about.
"I'm sorry, Dom. But you know Casey's different." I tried to reason with him, tired of hurting my friend too.
At this point, streaks of anger started to mar Dom's expression, ones I have never seen him direct at me before.
I've seen Dom mad. We grew up together, it was impossible not to do so. He has been mad at me before, but the last time that happened was years ago, when we were kids, and it was over an incident where I had broken one of his toys by accident.
Even then, his anger didn't last long.
I've seen him get pissed at other people, but he has never gotten pissed at me. Even during our first fight when I first confronted him about his feelings for Casey, he didn't have this.. this hatred in his eyes.
It blazed like a burning fire in his eyes and I can't lie and say it didn't scare me.
"What about her being different? Of course I know how she's different, Bry! Of course she's different! She's your sister so not just anyone can pursue her. She's Casey and that's why the standards gotta be high. But what about it? What? Do you think I'm not good enough for her? Do you think I'm not good enough?" His face ended up inches away from mine and I could feel his heavy breathing hit the lower half of my face as he held my eyes.
I didn't back down from the anger in his eyes, in his voice. I met his stare head on and held it although I knew that he misunderstood the meaning behind my words, I understood where the anger was coming from now that I've listened to his rant.
His insecurities shone brightly beside his anger. Through the stream of words that had left his burning soul, I could hear the insecure voice of a little boy that felt like he was being denied recognition, acknowledgement.. appreciation.
When I said that Casey was different, I was referring as to how she might take the gesture he was making in coming to the house on Valentine's day with a bouquet of flowers for her. She was different, she wouldn't have been able to shrug it off with a simple dismissing thought of it just being a friendly gesture; not with her awareness over how Dom felt for her.
But what Dom heard was denial and rejection.
My heart went out for him, for the little boy that was screaming to be acknowledged.
I understood him but I had to stand my ground. My first priority is and will forever be my little sister.
"I'm sorry, Dom."
In hindsight, it was probably not the best response I could've given a friend who was very obviously not quite in his right mind.
His face morphed into an ugly expression and he threw the flowers he was holding to the ground between both of our feet before he turned to the side and punched the wall beside him angrily, screaming in rage, as he continued with kicking the bin standing beside him. I watched in silence as I let him vent aggressively.
I reckoned that if I tried to stop him, he would have really punched me. I didn't want to show up to Maddy's place with a bruised jaw if I can avoid doing so.
Dom turned to look at me, his chest rising and falling as he visibly struggled to control himself. His hands were clenched into fists at his side and he looked at me as if I was his enemy. A look I never thought I would receive from such an old friend.
A part of me started doubting if what I did was right, it was the part that valued my friendship with Dom but the other part of me, the one that focuses on living up to the responsibilities I was born with as an older brother, knew I did what I had to do to protect my little sister from unnecessary emotional torment.
One day, I hope Dom would understand and see where I was coming from. One day, I hope he's able to push past his insecurities and find more self-confidence for himself.
After another few seconds of just looking at me with eyes still full of anger and hatred, Dom left and I watched him walk away. His hands were still in fists, feet kicking the ground, scraping it and stomping angrily as he continued to throw a fit while walking to his car.
I walked back to the front of the house, towards my own car, keeping my eyes on Dom as he got into his ride and turned the engine on and zooming past me.
Once his car was out of sight, I turned to look at the front door to the house to make sure that Casey didn't hear any of that and decided to step out to see what was happening.
Fortunately, the front door was still closed shut and there was no signs of movement coming from the windows beside it.
I rested my hand on top of my car and leaned my head on it. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, trying to clear my mind. I didn't want to drive with a muddle mind and end up putting my life and other's lives in danger.
I got into the car and just sat there for a while, texting Maddy that I might be a little late. I'd rather take the time to calm down and make sure my head was screwed on right than rush to get to her place and end up ruining the entire plan for the day by bringing my foul mood along.
When I was finally sure that I've calmed down, I buckled up, turned on the engine and shifted the gear into place before pulled out of the driveway to start driving to Maddy's place.