Dart and Dash - Mary Smith Page 0,25

for him, especially a home game. I kissed him as I carefully wrapped my arms around his neck. After as many hits he took, he was going to be sore.

“Hey Garnet,” Dash came up behind Dart when I released him.

I looked at Garnet and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’m heading home,” she barked out.

“I’ll go with you.” Dash quickly said.

“No,” I yelled. I didn’t know what it was, but my protective-sister-instinct took over, and I jumped in front of her. “I’m taking her home. Dart, I’ll text you later.” I grabbed Garnet’s hand with no resistance from her, and we walked home.

As we strolled down Sixth Avenue, the sun was still hot, and I could feel my shoulders becoming red. However, it didn’t matter, because I wanted to find out what was going on with Garnet. I thought I might know what the issue was.

“You like Dash, don’t you?”

Garnet looked down at the sidewalk.

“You do know that you can still talk to me? Remember all those nights that we talked late into the night?”

Garnet stopped, her stone expression returned when she raised her head. “Yeah I do, and then you ran off to college, and forgot about me.”

I gasped. “That’s not true, Garnet. You are my sister.”

She dropped her head and started walking at a faster pace.

“Stop,” I caught up with her. “Please, I’m begging for you to talk to me.”

“Fine,” she crossed her arms, removing her sunglasses. I could tell that she had been crying. “I don’t know if I like Dash or not, okay? One minute, he’s super nice to me, and the next he’s dragging me out of the party, and kissing me. Yes, he’s hot. I do like that part of him, but he’s sending all these mixed signals.”

I didn’t know what to say, because she had said that all in one breath, and I needed to process it.

“First, thank you for telling me. Second, that’s Dash. I mean, he never really stays with a girl more than a few nights. He’s a player.”

“Wow, thanks for that sound advice.” Garnet rolled her eyes, matching her sarcastic tone.

“Garnet,” I pleaded, hoping she wouldn’t shut down.

“I need a shower.”

As I watched my baby sister walk away, I knew I had to figure this out, before I lost her for good.

Chapter 17 – Dart

“Ha, I killed you, fucker.” Dash chuckled at the TV screen.

“I swear you cheated this game.” I tossed the Xbox controller onto the coffee table.

“You’re just mad because I’m better than you,” Dash teased. He turned off the gaming console and grabbed another beer from the fridge for us.

“Would you care to explain to me how, on a Saturday night, you’re home with me, and not out trying to get laid?”

Dash scratched the scruff around his chin. “I guess, I wanted to spend time with my twin brother.”

“God, you suck at lying.” I laughed at him. “Now, tell me the truth. Is it Garnet? Something happened?”

Dash didn’t open up right away. He never does. I sipped on my beer waiting for him.

“Okay,” he finally started. “I can’t get Garnet out of my head. She’s all I think about. When Tracy was over here, I thought about Garnet. When I try to sleep, she pops back into my head. I can’t even master–,”

“Whoa,” I stopped him before he continued the sentence. “I get the picture. So, what’s the problem then? I saw the way she looked at you tonight.”

Dash began to peel at the label on his bottle. “So, last night I saw her dancing with some loser, and I may have forced her to go home. Well, she didn’t stay there, and went back to the party. Needless to say, I made sure she stayed home the last time, and…” he paused.

I waited.

“I couldn’t stop looking at her and how beautiful she was. So, I kissed her.”

“You kissed Garnet?”

“Yep.”

“Then what happened?”

“I walked out,” he said casually.

“Wait, you kissed her, and then you just left?”

He nodded.

“Did you say anything to her? Have you talked to her since then?”

He shook his head.

“Was the kiss bad, or did you realize you didn’t like her anymore?”

“Oh, quite the opposite.” He chugged the beer. “The kiss was fucking awesome, and all I wanted to do with the rip her clothes off.” Dash slammed his empty beer down.

“You’re such a dumb ass.” I told him firmly.

“Hey,” he exclaimed.

“No, I’m not going to pity you.” I stood up. “You like her, you kissed her, but then you just left her standing there.