Brittni. Brittni freaking Joshie; my best friend. She's in bed with my brother.

I may be a bit drunk, but I'm not fully incapable of distinguishing the fact that my best friend of over ten years is laying - half naked - in bed with my brother.

My seventeen year old brother.

"What the hell?" I screech, backing away from the duo. Brittni sits up and scrunches her eyebrows in worry.

"Nikki-"

"Don't!" I hold my hand up, trying to figure out how this could've happened.

Brittni is dating Nathan. Not my brother. She cheated on sweet Nathan!

"Oh my god," I gasp, placing a hand over my mouth in astonishment. "Oh. My. God."

"Let us explain," Jackson stands up and tries to grab my hand, but I'm too fast.

"Don't touch me," I snap. "This is sick."

I run out of the room after those words, and dismiss the calls from my best friend, brother and Colten. Speeding into my room, I slam the door behind me and lock it.

Now the tears come. I lean my back against the door and sink down to the floor, thoughts and mindfulness of betrayal fills my head.

All this time, my brother was going over to Brittni's everyday. That's the only reasonable explanation. Brittni has been ignoring me for my brother, and me - I just kissed his best friend.

This whole thing is a mess. None of this was meant to happen. I mean, Brittni is dating Nathan and messing around with my brother at the same time. She broke the code of best friends and now I don't know what to do.

The two people I cared for the most, have been lying to me. They've been sneaking around behind my back. And for what? Did they even think about asking me about this? Or telling me? Were they even going to if I hadn't found them tonight? I just don't know what's going on anymore, at all.

•••

I don't remember falling asleep last night, but when I wake up to the sun shining through my opened blinds, I groan in grogginess.

My ribs hurt from laying on the carpeted floor all night, but that doesn't even compare to the pounding in my head or the acidic taste in my mouth.

I sit up, looking down to realize I'm still in my clothes from last night, before I stand up completely.

My head kills, like twenty five people are playing the drums on my brain. Forgetting about this for a second, I grab my towel and head out towards the bathroom.

I take two Advil that are stored in the medicine cabinet before brushing my teeth and hopping into the shower.

As I'm washing my hair, memories of last night start flooding into my mind.

I kissed Dustin Capri. I kissed Colten Mathews. I danced on a table after getting buzzed. I saw Brittni in Jackson's bed. Wait a minute.

I saw Brittni in Jackson bed!

I nearly slip on the bathtub floor from the realization, but I catch myself. Of course, though, bad luck seems to want me today and I get shampoo in my eye.

"Shit," I hiss and bring my face under the water, trying to wash out the shampoo that is currently killing my eye.

After I get most of stinging sensation away from my poor eye, I start rinsing my hair with my eyes closed.

This is probably a bad idea, though, because the images of my brother and best friend in bed together flash before me.

Deciding to just screw it, I finish conditioning my hair and hop out of the tub, feeling way better than this morning.

I open the bathroom door and look both ways before heading to my room, gently closing the door behind me.

Changing into a pair of sweat pants and a tank top, I then put my hair up in a bun and decide whether I should go downstairs or not.

I would probably choose letting myself starve for the whole day if it wasn't for the fact I love food and need it.

So, I take a deep breath before walking out of my room, trying to remain casual when I stroll into the kitchen. Just my luck that everyone is in here.

The only good thing is that they cleaned the house, so I'm slightly less irritable.

"Good morning," Jackson greets, but I ignore him. It is definitely not a good morning. The hell is wrong with him?

I grab the bagels out of the fridge and put a pair into the toaster, trying to find something else too do while I'm waiting.

"Can we talk?" Brittni asks, seeming nervous. She should be, 'cause I'm about to blow up.

"Nope," I say dryly, occupying myself by spreading cream cheese on my meal.

I love bagels.

"I think we should," Jackson inputs.

"Well," I laugh humorlessly. "Obviously it's not a good idea then if you thought it was a thrill idea to hook up with my best friend."

"That's not even what happened," Brittni defends. Of course she would be trying to make excuses for herself.

"Really?" I question. "Because to me, it looks like you cheated on your boyfriend to get with my brother."

Brittni furrows her eyebrows in confusion before a guilty look takes place.

"They're not-"

"No," she shakes her head at Jackson. "You're right, I did, but that doesn't mean anything. Nathan just wasn't the right guy."

"And Jackson is?" I screech. "He sleeps with a new girl every week! How do you know this isn't what you guys are?"

"I don't," she looks at me. "But we love each other and that's what-"

"You're joking right?" I laugh sarcastically making Colten cringe in the corner and the couple look at me crazy. "You love each other? My brother actually loves somebody?"

"Yes," Jackson looks at me hesitantly. "We do. I do."

I bite my lip and nod, then without thinking much, I pick up my glass and throw it at the wall a few feet from my best friend.

"Nikki!" My brother shouts, looking at the broken glass. Colten has stood up, and is waiting for the right time to jump in if things get out of hand.

"You're out of your minds!" I shout. "How could you do this to me?"

"We didn't do it on purpose," Jackson glares at me.

"Oh so I'm supposed to believe 'it just happened'?" I wave my hand in the air. "I'm not stupid, Jackson, I know you had every say in this."

"Can you stop being a bitch for five seconds and listen?" Jackson yells, the veins in his neck popping out.

"Okay," Colten eyes Jackson. "Enough."

"I'm not done," he growls.

"No?" He raises and eyebrow. "But I am. Obviously, you need to give it time."

I take a deep breath and internally thank Colten for breaking us up. Who knows what I would've said if he hadn't.

Colten and Jackson practically have a staring contest before my brother sighs and moves away.

"Whatever," he grumbles lowly and heads towards they stairs. It doesn't take Brittni long to follow after him, casting me one last sad glance before heading up the stairs.

I swallow hard and look down at the floor. I hear a door shut up stairs and safely say it's Jackson's.

"Hey," Colten calls softly, lifting my chin up with his fingers. "Relax."

I flick my eyes back and forth in his, where they hold so much sincerity it hurts me.

"I just can't believe they would do this," my voice cracks at the end, giving Colten the perfect opportunity to wrap his arms around my shoulders. I bury my face into his chest and grip his shirt.

I try to stop crying, but soothing gestures have always made it hard to do so. I let the tears blur my vision, while listening to the steady heartbeat of Colten.

"I'm sorry," he whispers into my hair, making me cry harder. "I'm so sorry."

I could tell from the moment Nikki ran out of Jackson's room yesterday that betrayal cut deep into her. Just by the devastated look in her eyes I could tell that the wound was deep and now I know I'm right.

As I bury my nose into her hair and pull her close, I gently hear the soft sniffles coming from her and it breaks my heart.

I told Jackson it was wrong, I told him that the first time he slept with Brittni. Of course, no one listens to me and this happens. I get that Jackson and Brittni love each other, they have for a while, they just didn't know it, but they also should've talked to Nikki about it.

This does involve her.

You should be talking, mister-best-friends-little-sister-kisser. Well shit. I sound like such a hypocrite. What is wrong with-

"Wait," Nikki pulls away, wiping her tears away.

I wanted to do that.

"What?" I ask, trying to pull her back to me, but she moves away. "Nikki?"

"You knew?" She chokes out. Uh-oh. "You knew about them and you didn't tell me?"

My eyes widen and my mouth opens and closes like a fish. I can't figure out what to say.

"Wow," she dryly chuckles, turning to leave.

I'm quicker and grab her forearm, pulling her back to me. She tries to fight me, but I hold her hands behind her back.

"Let go of me," she seethes through gritted teeth.

"I know you're angry," I calmly say. "But it wasn't my place to tell you. I wanted to - God did I want to, but I couldn't."

She still glares at me, but she's stopped trying to fight her way away from me.

"He said he would, he would make it right, but you found out before he could," I explain. "Please believe me."

Suddenly, she jerks away from me and backs away.

"It doesn't matter," she shakes her head. "I didn't expect you to anyway. We're not friends."

I flinch as if her words physically hurt me, and in a way they did. I don't know what I expected after kissing her last night, but it wasn't this. I thought we could move past all my years of tormenting her. I guess not.

She storms up the stairs, leaving me to grieve in my own way.

Jackson is just fucking up everybody's lives!

I make my way up to my best friends room and don't knock before bursting in.

Jackson is pacing across the floor while Brittni is curled up into a ball on his bed, looking clearly upset.

"What happened?" He asks once he notices me. I close the door, and lean against it with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Nothing," I say, vaguely. The glimpse of hope in both Brittni and Jackson's face is taken away after that word.

"What am I supposed to-"

"Leave her alone," I state in hostile.

"I can just leave-"

"You said that about Brittni and look what happened," I snap.

"He's right," Brittni states quietly. "It'll only make things worse if we try to talk to her so soon."

Jackson clenches his jaw, not liking the idea.

"Fuck," he curses. "Fine."

I nod, looking down at the ground.

"I'll be surprised if she ever talks to me again," Brittni mumbles, making me look at her.

"Same," Jackson sighs and goes to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I wish we would've done things differently," she says and looks out the window.

You and me both.

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