Brian Pushes For Peace

While the others were having near fights with each other, Brian was in Anna and Eric's room thinking. The teen wasn't a stranger to things getting intense and wild, he'd been in fights over girls, and even had girls fight over him, it wasn't that weird. However, the one thing Brian hadn't planned on was the week of fun with his friends turning into a volcanic eruption of hate and betrayal. Brian didn't want that, hell, he was going to do his best to prevent it from happening. He finished stuffing Mindy's stuff into the girl's bag and turned around to face Anna and Eric.

The young blonde was silently waiting for Brian to clear out, she didn't want to tell Eric about what Zoey and Kenny had done the other night with an audience. She felt that Eric deserved to know what happened, but also wanted to spin it in a way that wouldn't put a bad name on the pair, as odd as that sounded. For some reason, Anna couldn't fault either of the teens, was having sex such a big deal? Was it any different from professing your love to a different woman than who you were dating? Anna wasn't innocent, she did things that weren't right but that didn't make her a terrible person, and she assumed that was the same exact case with Zoey and Kenny. Even if Kenny had been making rounds to different girls, he didn't suddenly become some bad guy.

If she was honest, it was almost expected once Kenny got involved with Nicole. Anna loved Nicole to ****; there was very little she wouldn't do for the girl and knew Nicole felt the same way towards her. However, she knew what her friend was like with guys, fast, loose, distant, and very, very, shallow. Kenny was probably the nicest guy she ever hooked up with, but that didn't mean he was going to be treated any different. The more Anna thought about it, the more she started to feel a little sorry for Kenny.

With a small shake of her head, Anna cleared her mind of both Kenny and Nicole, raising a brow to Brian who approached her, "Hey, so, I know you guys are probably feeling awkward and just want to be alone with each other, I totally get that," The teen stated while glancing between the two, "But, I think it's in everyone's best interest if we pull together and all have dinner. We can clear the air a bit more, and try and stop the...fucking war that's brewing, you know?"

Anna turned towards Eric with an unsure expression, though the black haired teen tilted his head and let out a small understanding nod, "I guess so...I mean, I was trying to smooth things over with Zoey earlier today, and you're right, I wouldn't want a fight to break out,"

"Great, great, Anna, you in?" Brian smiled as he looked over at the blonde,

"Um..." Anna hummed as she thought about things for just a moment, "Sure, but I just need to talk to Eric quickly,"

"Awesome, you two talk about whatever you need to, and then head on down to the kitchen, I'll start gathering the others," Brian said in relief as he picked up Mindy's bag and slipped out, making a pit stop at his new room to drop off the bag before going on a quick hunt for the others.

With Brian now gone, Anna wet her lips and looked at Eric, "What's up, Anna? Everything okay?" Eric asked with just a ping of nervousness in his voice,

"Yeah, it's nothing with us...um, you want to sit down? I'm not sure if you'll like this," Eric's eyes slightly widened and he slowly took a seat at the edge of their bed,

"I'm lost...if it's not about us, then what happened?" Eric asked as he scratched the back of his head,

"It's about Zoey," Anna replied with a small sigh, "Eric, I've heard that...that, Zoey and Kenny...we're together the night we got lost outside in that storm," Eric's brow slightly raised, "And I mean...you know, together as in...being more than stuck in the same place together. They were..."

"They had sex," Eric said for the girl who couldn't bring herself to say it outright,

"Yes, that's what I heard," Anna nodded. The pair were silent for a long minute, Eric simply looking down at the floor as he took it all in, "Are you okay? I know that must hurt..."

"No..." Eric softly sighed while shaking his head, "It doesn't hurt, because...I had already made the plan to break up with her. From a point of view, yeah, it's a shitty thing for them to do that while she was technically with me, but that's all it really was, a technicality." Eric explained as he crossed his arms, "I mean, I don't think it would have changed my feelings at all if she had done it before or after, I had already moved on to you," Eric shrugged, "And if she wanted to do that, whatever, that's her call,"

"So you're not mad? Not upset about it?" Anna asked with genuine surprise,

"I'd only be upset if I had feelings for her, Anna," Eric easily replied as he walked towards the girl and leaned down, deeply planting a kiss on her lips, "And, like I said, you're the only one I've ever wanted. Let Zoey be happy with Kenny or whoever she wants to be happy with, I'm happy here, with you." Anna warmly smiled back at Eric, "Want to go down to dinner now?" The blonde nodded back and took Eric's hand as he led her out of their room.

Meanwhile, Brian had been making fast work of pulling the others together for dinner. He first asked, or rather told, his sister that they were gathering for dinner, which in turn also told Nicole who was in the same room. He then calmly let Zoey know about the idea, trying to make it more like a gentle invitation, which the girl readily accepted. As he headed back towards the stairs he passed by Mindy who he merely said the word, "Dinner?" and the girl nodded in agreement. As the pair headed back down to the first floor, Brian looked over to the Asian, "How'd things go?"

"Really good," Mindy replied with a full smile, "I worked out some stuff between me, JJ, and Kenny. He's still not one-hundred percent, but I think he just needs time for that,"

"Think Ken will be open for dinner with the rest of us?" Brian asked with a small inflection in his voice,

"Yeah, I can convince him," Mindy nodded while moving past Brian and slipping back into the kitchen.

With that done, Brian scratched his head, wondering where JJ and Kailyn had gotten to, though the question answered itself as he heard some muffled conversation coming from the den. Brian moved towards the door but froze as he heard JJ groan, "Seriously, though, Kai...why'd you have to fuck my best friend?" The blonde's eyes grew, and he swallowed hard,

"Y-You know?" Kailyn stammered back,

"Yeah, I do, and I don't understand it completely, like, why? Is there any real reason you had to hook up with my friend?" JJ asked with a near wince, "It's weird, and it sorta bugs me,"

"Why? It's not that big of a deal," Kailyn weakly argued, "It's between us what happened, not you..." She pointed out,

"I know that, but...you're my sister, and I don't think my friends should be with you. There are millions of different guys and girls out there for the two of you to pick from," JJ replied, "So why'd it have to be, Ken?"

Brian's eyes bugged out for a minute, "No fucking way, Kai, too?" Brian muttered under his breath, though his heart finally stopped thumping against his chest,

"It was just a moment that went too far, I was trying to comfort him, you've seen how upset he's been," Kailyn defended, "And why not? Do you not trust Kenny? If we had decided to take it past that one time, would you disapprove?" JJ let out a slow exhale, "Honestly, if you don't believe Kenny is good enough for me, then why are you even friends with him?"

"I'm not saying that," JJ groaned, "Ken's a good guy, I know, but it makes it weird...sorta," He shrugged, "Honestly, that's all I'm gonna say on it. You're a grown woman; I can't really make you do and not do things, I just wanted to hear your side of things. That, and see if Ken was being honest about it being a one-time thing,"

"Which it is," Kailyn assured him, "Now can we drop this? You have no idea how weird it is to talk to my little brother about a guy I had sex with,"

"Well, think about how it feels for me to know my friend had sex with my big sister," JJ scoffed back just as Brian entered the room,

"Hey, glad you're both here, we're all having dinner together, come on," Brian quickly said before spinning around and walking out of the room,

"Oh...okay," JJ mumbled as he watched his friend leave, "Huh, what got into him?"

"Let's just go eat," Kailyn dismissed as she led JJ to the kitchen where the others were all gathers.