My teeth bit into my tongue as I leaned over and painted my toes, body contorted at odd angles so I could reach. A pretty indigo blue purple spread in gloppiness over my toe nails and I nearly dropped the bottle in surprise at a knock on the door.

"Oh come on." I hissed and sat up, blowing a strand of hair from my face. "Come in."

In shuffled Jay, his cheeks dusted red and his eyes glued to his shoes.

He and I had been at odds since he snooped on my special moment with Cole. "What do you want?" I grumbled and twisted the cap back onto the bottle.

"I just... ugh. I just wanna say I'm sorry..."

"Finally. Took you long enough. Keep going, I'm listening." A roll of my eyes, and I gently blew on my toes to dry them.

He shuffled his feet, clearly put off by my sass. "Uh okay... I know we shouldn't have been snooping, but we were curious, okay? I just want to protect you..."

Aww.

I set down my nail polish bottle and looked him in the eyes. His glass blue eyes shone with tears, and my resolve melted. "But you know he wouldn't hurt me. Do you trust him?"

A simple nod from Jay and I continued. "I know you're only looking out for me, but I'm a big girl Jay. I can make my own choices in life. And if I wanted you to know right away that we were... official.. then we would've told you. It's not like we're ashamed of it we just want it to be..."

"Special?" He put in for me, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Yeah, special!" I smiled and nodded. In a quick movement, I pushed myself off the bed and stood before him. "I want you to trust me on this."

He took a rugged breath in and looked me over, wary. "Okay." He muttered after a while and cracked a small smile.

It must've been contagious, because I smiled too.

"But can I at least threaten to beat him up if he hurts you?"

I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Pft. You think you can take on the master of earth? Go on, buddy. Tell me how that goes." I giggled and shook my head.

"Oh I can take him on!" Jay quipped, back to his happy and bubbly self. He punched and kicked at the air, as if he had some cool moves to show off. I just snickered and rolled my eyes, happy to have my Jay back.

"Hey Jay?" Tilting my head to the side, I stopped him mid kick.

"Yeah?" He turned back to me and met my eyes.

"You're a really good big brother."