~Joey~
Wyatt, Tayo and I sit in the living room, awaiting Kevin. We don't talk much, but only because they're playing call of duty and I'm watching, snacking on the remains of their cereal box. I can't play but it's pretty cool from what I've seen. The other guy, Brett and the girl, Saanvi both left about thirty minutes ago.
"Joey! Thank fuck! What happened to you?!" Kev blurts at me the second he steps into the house through the open door. He looks like shit, with his blond hair tousled, glasses missing and bags present under his blue eyes. He's wearing a rumpled flannel shirt and black jeans with a weird white stain on the knee. His white sneakers are also browned with dirt and he's clutching his phone in his left hand, looking at me like I'm a ghost. I don't have to ask to know he's been looking for me.
Serves him right.
"You're brother of the year, you know that?" The stocky guy known as Wyatt asks with a grin.
"You shut the fuck up, man. What the hell is my sister doing here? I called you and you said you didn't know where she was!"
"We didn't!" The dark skinned one, Tayo, says. "We had no idea she even came back here with us until she woke up this morning."
I frown as the new information reaches me. Kevin looks from me to the guys with confusion written all over him. "Hold up. Woke up this morning?"
I shrug. "I was passed out since the night of the party, I think I might've taken something," I say, but Kevin's not even speaking to me anymore at this point.
"She was roofied?! Which one of you dickheads brought her here? Was it Brett?" He looks at the guys, who shake their heads in unison. "Who was it?"
"Well, she was in Keenan's room," Wyatt says. "Maybe you should ask him."
I hold out a hand to stop my brother from overreacting, but the flash of anger in his eyes stops me. Shoulders suddenly five feet higher than normal, he darts past us in the direction of the stairs. I quickly follow behind, tailed by Wyatt and Tayo, who ditch their controllers to go with the drama.
"Hey, asshole!" Kevin says, kicking at Keenan's door with a loud bang. It's locked, so it doesn't budge.
"Kevin, calm the fuck down," I say, getting tired of his overreaction. "I'm fine, aren't I?"
The door opens from the other side, revealing Keenan without a shirt on. My heartbeat spikes immediately at the sight of the body I imagined earlier. He's exactly how I pictured him, maybe even better, from a firm, tight abdomen up to several pieces of ink that form a complete sleeve on one of his arms. He looks like my dreams. I'm clearly the only one affected, because my brother sticks a finger up at him.
"How the hell did Joey end up in your room?"
Keenan's eyes are droopy from sleep, so he has to squint to realise who's talking to him. "What?"
"You slipped her something?"
"Kev stop it!" I caution, suddenly wishing this were happening anywhere but in Keenan's presence. I don't like what happened either but you don't see me losing my shit over it. Besides, I know it wasn't them. Some random idiot must've been the one to spike my drink, because I believe Keenan would've told me if any of them was responsible for knocking me out cold.
Keenan rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, still barely looking at any of us. "What are you talking about again?"
"We both know you got a new brand and Brett told me at the party that you guys were looking for someone to test it on. So you either tell me who the fuck drugged her, or I'll get all the justice done myself."
His threat lingers in mid air and the rest of the room descends into dead silence. I skittishly look from one guy to the other, completely at a loss for words as I realise who they are, or specifically, who Keenan is.
Kevin's dealer.
A wave of heat rises in my cheeks as I remember whose hoodie I'm wearing, and in whose bed I spent over twenty four hours of my life. It'll be way more embarrassing if I take it off now, though, so I just stand with my arms limp at my sides, hoping to restart the entire day.
"I didn't slip her anything," Keenan says.
Oh, thank God.
"You expect me to believe that?"
The front door opens downstairs, distracting Kevin and Keenan from their stare down. Keenan looks from him to me, sighs and lets go of his door rim, brushing shoulders with Kevin as he heads downstairs to meet whoever just came in. The rest of us follow and meet Brett by the door, taking off his shoes. He freezes as he sees his company.
"Did you dose Joey?" Kevin asks, bypassing all forms of formality.
I bring my hands to my temple and sigh. Here we go again.
"Who? Bro I didn't even know who Joey was until yesterday," Brett says, nonchalantly.
Kevin doesn't look convinced but I just think we should take their words for it and leave before the awkwardness of this entire situation turns into a steaming pile of something else. I step forward and tug Kevin toward myself, whispering loud enough for him to hear me clearly. "See? It wasn't them. Let's just go home."
"I don't buy this."
"Why not?" I raise my voice, sick of being talked about like a child a babysitter gave too much candy. "Why can't you just accept that what happened was a stupid accident? I think it'll be way less embarrassing for all of us if you'd just shut up and let's go home."
If there's one thing I hate about my brother, it's how he likes to act like he needs to save people sometimes, especially me. I get that we're twins and he feels the need to have my back, but sometimes, it's better to let things go than plague yourself by trying to fix them.
"You're just letting them get away with this?"
"You heard Keenan. They didn't do it."
I turn to Keenan and raise my brows, silently asking for him to back me up. To my greatest surprise, though, he stiffens and slowly shakes his head. "No, I said I didn't do it." His gaze then moves from me to Wyatt and Brett. "They did."
Wow, okay. Fuck me for trying.
"I fucking knew it!" Kevin shouts.
"It was an accident," Wyatt caves, looking at Brett for assistance but Brett says nothing.
"Don't you ever go near my sister again, assholes."
"It wasn't on purpose."
"I don't fucking care!" he roars at the group.
"Dude we didn't know she was your sister. I saw a chick leave a cup on the table and I only dropped one pinch of the powder to see how fast it'd kick in. It wasn't supposed to knock her out," Brett explains.
My anger rises, but I swallow it and pacify myself with the fact that Keenan still took care of me after it happened. Though now, I don't know if that was because of pity or remorse. I don't care that it was an accident, them not telling me about it is pure betrayal of the little friendship I thought I was building with them, and it reminds me of the reason I'm not familiar with these kind of people in the first place. I'm done. If I see any of these guys again, it'll be too soon.
"Leave her alone from now on. You hear me?" Kevin barks, taking three steps to stand over the guys. He then directs his glare to Keenan and somehow grows even angrier. "And as for you, don't you ever bring your fucking junkie hands around Joey again. She's not one of your toys."
"Don't talk to me like that," Keenan says, his voice hard, completely different from before. "Sure, I'll stay away from her, but don't you fucking think for a second that you have anything to do with it. If you weren't high off your ass, she never would've gotten dosed in the first place." He turns around and walks back upstairs, leaving the rest of us behind.