Brian paid no attention to anything around him, he was deep in thought about Dani, Lauren and about how justified he felt all those years ago in letting her leave, thinking that she may have known about what happened, but hoping she didn't.  And wanting to shield her from all that pain and truth, to protect her from Lauren's wrath.  A wrath she was beginning to show again, and one he didn't know how to protect his best friend from, especially considering Dani wasn't talking to him, and since he didn't know what Lauren's ulterior motive was, but it frightened him, for Dani's sake.

    "So what's got you so down?" A voice asked, pulling him from his thought with a gentle hand on his shoulder.   She was staring at him,  at the  wispy half curls of his dark blond hair, at his face and his tightly clenched jaw, he had forgotten she was here.

    "Nothing." He said shrugging her touch away and flicking through the channels, oblivious to her.

    "Jesus Brian, I haven't seen you for over a week and this is how you treat me.  You haven't said a thing to me tonight."  She sighed, sitting back from him on the couch, tucking her legs to her chest.

    "I'm sorry Sofie, I'm just in a bad mood." He said without a glance to his current girlfriend, stopping on an old episode of Scooby-Doo  on the cartoon network.  He had been seeing her for a few months, they had met while he was in college through mutual friends and he was comfortable with her, at least for now.  She wasn't really his type, or at least that's what everyone told him, his penchant for blondes was the norm, but Sofie's black hair, cut into a stylish bob had thrown them all for a loop, but they warmed up to her; unlike most of the girls Brian dated  Sofie was nice.

    "Brian?" Sofie asked again.

    "What." He snapped.

    "I asked if you wanted to go out tonight." She said impatiently, snatching the remote from Brian's hand and flicking off the television, just before 'that dog and those pesky kids' solved the mystery.

    "Hey." He whined.

    "Not until I get an answer." She said folding her arms across her chest.

    "An answer about what?" Brian said getting up off the couch,  an overly irritated tone in his voice

    "Don't you listen to me at all?"  Brian shrugged, stepping into his small kitchen and perusing the fridge for anything that would distract him from Sofie.

    "What the hell has put you in this mood?"

    "People just keep shutting off Scooby-Doo and I never get to see if they solve the mystery." He laughed, attempting to crack a lame joke.  She wasn't impressed. "Well it's annoying." He said biting into a crisp green apple when he saw the look on her face.  Sofie sighed, smiling a little at his obvious attempt to avoid the subject, and his normal attempt at cracking a joke when he didn't want to be confronted about something.  A hundred thoughts ran through her mind about what had put him in this mood.

    "What's her name?" Sofie finally said, once Brian had returned to his seat and snatched back the remote, glancing an 'I told you so' look as the end credits of Scooby-doo rolled on the screen.

    "Velma." He said.

    "Not the cartoon....What's the name of the person who's got you acting this way with me."

    "Are you insinuating I'm cheating on you?"

    "Are you?"

    "I can't believe you're asking me this." He said shutting off the TV as 'Johnny Bravo' came on.  Tossing the remote down and turing towards Sofie.

    "Well?" She said with cynicism.

    "I'm not cheating on you, and I'm pissed that you think I am.   A lot of shit happened the other day and I'm stressed out about it okay.  Leave me the hell alone."

    "Do you want to talk about it?"

    "Not really."  He said, walking down the hall to his room, and throwing some things in a bag.

When he emerged Sofie looked at him curiously as he slung the bag over his shoulder and grabbed his car keys, heading for the front door.

    "Where are YOU going?" Sofie yelled.

    "I'm going to play ball, I need to think."

    "What about me." She whined.

    "What about you?" He said, leaving the house and walking briskly to his car, leaving Sofie appalled and bewildered on the couch, her jaw hung open, and her eyes wide in surprise.
 

    Brian plopped down in the drivers seat of his car, tossing his bag in the back and wanting to bash his head against the steering wheel.  He knew how mad Sofie was going to be with him, especially after this little incident, but he didn't care.  He didn't have time to tip-toe around her feelings like he always had to do, he had more important things on his mind.

Dani.

    He didn't even know how he'd begin to explain why he had done what he did, and how he'd ever get her to forgive him.  And the fact that Lauren was practically stalking him in order to keep his mouth shut didn't help, he was beginning to see how crazy Dani's sister was.  Brian wished he could blame the whole thing on Lauren, it would be so much easier that way, but he knew he had a part in it, a big one, and he was just as much to blame.

    He hadn't felt this much guilt over sleeping with Lauren since the year Dani had left for college.  At the time Brian had been positive she knew about what happened with her sister, although now that he thought back to that day; maybe I just wanted to believe she knew.  Not talking to her, and avoiding her for all those years was the only way he knew to escape the guilt.  It was easier not talking to her at all than being confronted about what happened with Lauren.  But she didn't know, he thought, new questions returning to his mind about why she left, no answers to be found.

    As he drove down the busy streets of Lexington, he shut off the stereo, not needing any more words to jumble around in his head with all the mixed up, guilt ridden, angry thoughts that were already there.    Every night since he had told Dani the truth had been plagued by bad dream after bad dream, always seeing  the look in Dani's eyes when he told her, or tried to tell her.  She was crushed, he thought, I knew she would be, I mean it was her sister.  You don't sleep with your best friends sister, he yelled at himself.   He would never intentionally hurt Dani, she was one of the only people he had in his life at the time that he totally trusted.  His repeated phone calls to her house had been met with hang-ups, from both Dani and Lauren.  The only time he got through was when Mr. or Mrs. Walker answered and they seemed clueless to the situation, always taking his message, and usually telling him to say 'hi' to is parents for them.
 

    "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, pounding his fists on the steering wheel as he pulled into the parking lot of the small outdoor basketball court he frequently played in.  He wanted his best friend back, but he knew he had to tell her the truth the other day, otherwise it would haunt him for the rest of his life, and Lauren would hold it over him forever.  Her constant threats after Dani first left had kept him from sending a letter, or an email or even calling her on the phone after he heard about one of her games.  Then the letters, emails and phone calls stopped, and so did Lauren's threats, he was finally convinced Dani hated him, and Lauren assured him that she did.  Why did I listen to Lauren?  I know how she is, even if no one else sees it, why did I believe anything she had to tell me?

    Brian got out of his car, grabbing his bag from the back seat and pulling the orange Spaulding basketball from within it.  Two young kids were playing at one end of the court, so he bounced his ball to the other end, tossing his stuff down and turning his hat backwards, the sun was low enough in the sky for him to see clearly and without glare.  He shot basket after basket, until the sun was so low in the horizon that half the sky was black and the other half shades of red and orange.  He was tired and sweating like a pig, but he didn't care, it was driving him crazy that he didn't know what to do.  He was usually quick to come up with a solution for any problem he had, but the best thing he had come up with tonight was to turn back time and never sleep with Lauren, and well that just wasn't going to cut it.    He stood and dribbled the ball for a few minutes, catching his breath, and suddenly being bathed in a blinding glow of light.  He shielded his eyes from the glare of headlights that shone on him, and held the ball under his arm as a shadowed figure walked towards him in the beams of light.

    "Hey." he said with a blinded grimace as he recognized the shadowy stranger.  "What are you doing here?"