I swallow my next words. He listens to me. He took care of me last night. Even made me a goddamn tea. When was the last time either of you did anything like that?
"He's just a thug who fights for money," he continues.
I freeze. So they know that, but they don't know I was with him yesterday at the fight, or that he spent the night here. If they knew, this conversation would be much uglier.
"Father, you do know I’ll gain possession of my trust fund in a few months, when I turn eighteen, right?" My throat constricts. My clueless parents; they are more toxic to me than I ever thought. "After I graduate and move to England, you'll be lucky if you get a call once a year for Christmas from me."
Neither of them replies, so I leave the room, fighting tears. I just have to bear this until I turn eighteen. The trust fund was set up by
my grandfather and will give me complete freedom. My parents might try to control my every move until I turn eighteen, but ultimately, there is nothing they can do to cut my wings.
***
Back in my room, I pace around until I calm down, and then call the only person in my family I can count on: James. He picks up right away, as usual.
“Hey,” he says, his voice muffled.
“Ooops, you were asleep. Sorry. I can call you later at a better time—”
“There is no bad time for my little sister to call.”
Warmth fills me and I climb on my bed, pulling my knees to my chest.
“What do you want to talk about?” James asks.
I gulp, realizing I haven’t properly thought this through. James does encourage me to go out with boys, but there hasn’t been one in my life until now.
“Err...so you know that new guy at school I told you about...” My voice fades as I try to come up with a good way to break the ice on this topic.
“Dani!” His voice is strong, the sleepiness from before completely gone. “Did you have sex?”
I groan. Leave it to my brother to break the ice with a hammer. Thor’s hammer.
“No, James. You know me.”
“Well, just checking. Hormones beat neurons most of the time.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I tell him.
“Sorry. I’m listening. What did you want to talk about?”
I fiddle with a pillow for a few seconds before I find the courage to utter the next words. “I...well, he spent the night here yesterday. But don’t tell Mom and Dad.”
“Define spent the night,” James says. I swear he speaks through gritted teeth.
“We didn’t do anything except kiss, James. I thought we covered that.”
“No, we covered sex. That’s fourth base. There are still two and three—”
“Okay, okay,” I say hastily. “I don’t need the talk. We only kissed.”
James speaks after a few seconds. “I can’t believe my little sister is going out with someone. I’m happy for you, and also extremely freaked out.”
“You’re my brother. Of course you are.”
“What do you need?”
“The thing is,” I say, “he’s more...experienced, and I think he might want more soon. I’m not sure how soon is too soon, or how to handle this,” I finish lamely.