Sarah was in the kitchen drinking a glass of water and looking out the patio door to the backyard. She heard his bare feet padding on the floor into the kitchen.
She continued to stare out of the door. "Well, good morning, stud," Sarah said in a monotone voice.
"Please don't talk so loud," Dean said, holding his head. "Or call me stud."
"Oh, what's wrong? Did someone have a little bit too much to drink?' She sounded condescending.
"I might have. I don't remember." He sat down at the table. Sarah put a bottle of Pedialyte in front of him.
"Drink."
"I am not a four-year-old." He pushed it away.
"Are you sure?" she asked. She pushed it forward. "Drink."
He snapped the bottle open and took a long drag of the purple liquid.
"Dean, I need to know, out of curiosity, what you said to Alicia last night?"
"Oh, I don't know. We talked a little," Dean.
"You talked a little? What did you say to her when you talked a little?"
"I told her she grew up pretty, which sounded stupid. I have zero game."
"OK, yeah, I agree you have zero game. What else did you tell her?" she asked.
"I told her I didn't mind doing what we were doing. I'm sure she thought I was under duress."
"Keep going."
"I said Harrison was a lucky guy, and I hope he treats her right," he said.
She motioned as if to say I know there's more. "AND..."
"I just want her to know that she was amazing and beautiful. I've always thought so, and if she were mine, I would treat her like a princess. Maybe I told her that if things were different, I alluded to the fact that I wouldn't mind being with her. But I mean, she's getting married, so..."
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND, DEAN EDWARD STAPLETON!"
"What? We had a fun time. I'm confused. Isn't that what you wanted?" he asked.
"Well, obviously, things between you were really fun," she said.
"Yeah. I mean, it was amazing. It was mind-blowing. She did this thing with her mouth... it was just--"
She cut him off. "OK, that's all. I don't need to know anymore."
"I thought Alicia told you she had a great time," he said.
"She didn't get into the details because when she started to, I said, great, I'm happy that you had a great time, but remember he's my brother. I didn't want to hear about it because, eww, gross, that's my brother."
"OK, that makes sense," he replied.
"Dean, you told me last night that if you could be with Alicia, you would be."
"OK, maybe I was just drunk talking," he said.
"Bean! She called off the wedding! She dumped Harrison less than eighteen hours of fucking around with you!"
"Oh snap."
"Oh snap? More like I'm going to snap your neck," she said, oddly calm.
"Well, I didn't mean for that to happen."
"I would hope not! Maybe you shouldn't have had completely mind-blowing awesome amazing sex with her," she said.
"First, I can't have bad sex unless she's bad at sex. And for being a virgin, she was not bad in the least. Second, you told me to Tink. You asked me to do it. I did that for you. You asked me to do it for you. I think the phrase, don't you love me? If you do, you'd do this for me." He was turning red in the face.
"I know."
"I know? I did it, and now that she's not marrying Harrison. That makes me a fucking homewrecker."
"You don't know if you are the homewrecker. Maybe she didn't want bad sex for the rest of her life," Sarah said.
"Yeah, 'cause that reasoning would make me feel a lot better." He rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. "I hope she didn't do this so she could start a relationship with me."
"Do you want to be with her?" she asked meekly.
"I can't be with someone who just called their wedding off forty-five minutes ago. I'm not that kind of person."
"No, you're just the kind of person who fucks a soon-to-be married woman. You're the kind of person who would sleep with his sister."
"I love you. I've already said you are my world, and you have been my world for as long as I can remember," he said. "I mean, you're going to break up with Eric anyway. Why do I need a girlfriend?"
She looked down at her feet.
"You are going to break up with Eric, right?"
Sarah knew she was not going to break up with Eric. She had already decided that. She knew she was being selfish, but she couldn't. They had so much history together, and she didn't think she could just cut the cord.
"Well... yeah... I guess."
"I'm sorry. I guess? I guess is not yes," he said.
"I planned on it, but you cried last night about being alone and not having anyone. I don't know, maybe you should go look for someone else. Maybe it should be Alicia. It sounded like you liked her. You did have so much amazing mind-blowing sex." There was a hint of jealousy in her tone.
Fucking Alicia, she thought and rolled her eyes.
"I do really like her. I like her just fine. I don't love her."
"Dean, you need to understand that I love Eric. I don't just like him. You know that we have a history," she said.
"I know you have history. You don't need to remind me," he said. "Sarah, what are you doing? You're killing me. God, don't do this!" He was close to begging.
"Come on, Dean, let's be serious. Don't you want to be in a relationship where you can hold hands, go to dinner, and kiss in public and not have to move to another planet?"
"I guess you do."
"I do, and I have. I like it, and I don't sleep alone every night."
"Let me see if I understand; you're breaking up with me?"
"Well, I mean, we never really were together. But if you want to argue about semantics, I guess I am."
"If I didn't sleep with Alicia, would we be having this conversation?" he asked. "If I didn't do you this favor, gave her this wedding gift, we wouldn't be at this juncture?"
"I don't know Dean. Maybe if you hadn't crumbled to the floor last night like a sandcastle hit by a wave and spilled your guts to me about how unhappy you are, we wouldn't be having this conversation," she said. "Let's call a spade a spade. Alicia broke up with Harrison for a reason, and who the hell are we kidding? I know that reason is you. I know you think she's beautiful. And you could do things with her you couldn't do with me because she's 6 foot tall with legs up to her ears."
"OK, just because she's tall, that's not a reason to be with her. I am sorry if I offended you," he said.
"Seriously? Then you never would have commented in the first place!"
"Please don't do this. How am I supposed to come home and see you and know what we did, how much I loved it, how much I love you?" Now, he was begging her.
"Bean, I'm your sister. This was never going to work. I know you hate the way it sounds, but this was fun. It was daring and taboo, and it was exciting.
"It was fun? You know, that's not the first time I've heard you say that. Fun for me was yesterday with Alicia. Being with you isn't fun. Being with you, it's amazing, outstanding, spectacular--"
"OK, you don't need to go through the entire thesaurus. I understand, but you need to understand---" She was cut off.
The pain in his chest was absolutely unbearable. "You know what? You need to go."
"OK, I still have the hotel room. I'm still going out tonight. Alicia is turning her Bachelorette party into a freedom party. I'll leave tomorrow."
"I don't give a flying fuck when you leave Sarah. Nor do I fucking care where you end up. When I said you need to go, I meant you need to get the hell out of my house. You need to get out of my life!" He was clenching his jaw and rolling his shoulders. He was pissed off.
Her eyes were beginning to burn. "Bean, how can you say that? I'm your baby sister. You said I am your world."
"You have destroyed my world. As far as you being my sister? No, my sister would never hurt me like this. My sister isn't this big of a bitch!" He regretted it as soon as it had flown from his mouth. He was so emotional he wasn't thinking straight.
She looked like someone had just knocked the wind out of her. Never in her life would she have imagined that he would ever call her a bitch. He hated that word. He hated any word that degredated a woman. Someone called her a bitch in high school. Dean broke his arm when they were at football practice. He said it needed to look like an accident.
"Well, your sister would also never sleep with you."
"You're right. You're now an ex-lover. I don't like seeing my ex-lovers. Tell Mom I have to work and can't come out for Easter. I'll be there for Mother's Day," he said. "I need a fucking drink."
He took off to the basement. She followed him.
"How can you drink this early in the day?" Sarah asked.
"Hair of the dog, Bug."
"Look, Bean, you can't do that. You can't do that to the family. All the families are getting together. We haven't all been together; I don't know, maybe in over a year."
"You know I'm sure I'll be missed for the first 8 minutes. Everyone will realize I'm not there and tell Mom how much they missed me, and they'll go about their day and eat their ham and their sauerkraut and their sausage. The world will carry on whether I'm there or not, whether you're in my life or not," he said, walking behind the bar.
He took down a bottle of whiskey that his Pop Pop had given him for graduation. It was the last thing he ever gave him. It was exceedingly rare and costly. He poured himself a hefty portion and downed it in one gulp.
"Bean, you can't be serious. This is a cruel joke," she said with tears streaming down her face.
"No, apparently, what we had was a cruel joke. What we had was special. None of my friends are as close to their brother or sister as we were. Even before all this happened, you were my best friend. It's a good thing you have Eric; he could be your best friend. Hey, maybe you can hang out more with Alicia. Her schedule just cleared up."
"You know she doesn't live near me; she lives out here."
"You know what? You're right. Maybe I could become best friends with Alicia. She wants to be close friends with me," he said, taking another gulp.
"This isn't happening," she said.
"Oh no, this is happening. This is happening, and you're not going to get your way. I don't care what you say. I don't care what happens after you leave this house. Nothing on God's green earth would make me want to be near you, which would make me forgive you. I don't care what it is. You're lucky if I come to your funeral."
"Oh my God, Bean, how can you say that? That's the cruelest thing ever said to me."
"You think that was cruel? Well, buckle up, Buttercup. I wish Mom and Dad never met. I wish I'd never walked into that hospital room. I wish that nurse never told me you were my little sister. I wish I had never introduced you to Eric. I wish we never had that day in the pool house or any of the other dozens of places we ended up fucking each other. I wish I never took your virginity. I wish Allison never broke up with me, even if she was a gold-digging bitch. I wish I had never slept with Alicia, and I sure as hell wish I had never fallen in love with you. Now I wish you weren't here, and guess what? I'm about to get my wish. I'm about to get my way for once. Do you have any shit here? Get everything you've ever left here, get it out of my house, and then get yourself out."
"Bean, you don't mean this. I know you don't," she said with staggered breath and tear-stained cheeks.
Seeing her like that killed him, but he needed to do this. He had to stand his ground. She was correct; it was time to get a life.
He took a different bottle and filled his glass with ice and whiskey.
"You know where the door is. I don't care if it hits your ass on the way out," his words were like venom to her.
She realized that she had made a mistake. This was the last thing she could ever have imagined to happen. The things he said. It was the most horrible thing that had ever happened between them. She wished she had just kept her mouth shut.
"Alright, Bean. I'm going. I love you."
"If you say so. Drive safe." He gulped down the whiskey.
Sarah had been gone for about an hour. Dean was pretty intoxicated. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
The other line rang a couple of times.
"Hello?"
"Heeeeyyy Alicia," he said.
"Dean? Is that you?"
"Yeah. I just wanted to see if you were alright. Sarah told me about the wedding. Are you OK?"
"Awe. You are so sweet. I'm fine. I'm upset because I hurt Harrison. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't live with bad sex for the rest of my life."
"I need to ask you something."
"What?" she asked.
"You didn't call the wedding off because of me? Because of what happened with us yesterday, did you?"
"Do you want me to say yes or no?"
"I want you to tell me the truth. I need to know," he said.
"Did you mean what you said yesterday? That you would be with me if the situation were different?"
"I didn't say it for you to cancel your wedding to be with me. Yes, I like you. Yes, yesterday was amazing, but..."
"But you didn't mean it?"
"Just tell me you didn't do it because of me. I don't want to be a homewrecker."
"You opened my eyes. You made me realize I didn't want to be with Harrison for the rest of my life. And the sex with you was unforgettable. It was more amazing than I thought it would be. Thank you for doing that for me," she said.
"It was good, wasn't it?"
"Yes. I never realized how much I was missing."
"Would you like to do it again sometime?"
"Umm. Wow. I don't know what to say."
"Say yes. Sarah told me that you are having a freedom party tonight," Dean said.
"I am."
"How about you come by after you are done tonight?"
"Dean, are you drunk?" she asked.
"I may have had a couple of drinks. But that doesn't mean I don't know what I am asking."
"It will be late. I am sure we will end up closing down the bar."
"I don't care. I need to be with you again," he said. "After yesterday, I am craving you."
"The feeling is mutual. If you're sure, I would love to again and again and again."
"I am so happy to hear that. I'll leave the garage door open. You know where the bedroom is."
"I can't wait. I'll be there," she said, sounding excited.
"Be good. Don't do anyone I wouldn't do."
"You mean don't do anything I wouldn't do?"
"Yeah, that too," he said.
"You're so bad, Dean."
"Bad, naughty, I'll be whatever you want me to be."
"Just be ready for me. All of me."
A wide grin invaded his face. "Oh, and Alicia."
"Yes."
"Leave your panties at home."
She smiled wide. "Okay. If it's what you want."
"One less thing to take off," he said.
"Can we do that one thing we did last night?"
"Which one? We did so many."
"Exactly. I'll see you later. Wait up," she said.
"Bye, Alicia."
"By Dean."