All In The Family

Fumbling with the zipper of my jeans I stumbled out of the supply closet, Tiffany trailing closely behind me. I took long, quick strides across the room, furiously smoothing out my clothes as I neared the bar. The closer I got to it, and the further I became from Tiffany, my eyes immediately caught sight of Ashley parked comfortably on a stool with a drink in hand. I took a deep breath and silently prayed that she didn't see me leave the supply closet with my ex girlfriend.

The closer I moved in towards my best friend the more her eyes narrowed, and with a slight glance over my shoulder I knew who she was directing the glare at.

"Ash, don't, not now" I begged, not liking the look on her face.

"Please tell me you didn't," it was clear my friend wasn't going to drop this, "I didn't," I said firmly, knowing perfectly well what she was getting at.

Finally her eyes drifted away from my ex long enough to study my face. This was a technique Ashley was very good at. She knew without a doubt that I was the world's worst liar-I simply couldn't tell a lie, ever. She could always immediately pick up on the signs I gave when I wasn't telling the truth, which by the look on her face now she knew I was; nothing had happened with Tiffany.

Downing the remainder of her drink, Ashley slammed the now empty glass onto the bar top and pushed off of the stool, "Well, then you won't mind if I nip this shit in the butt right now," after adjusting her corset I watched as my best friend sauntered over to my ex, paused, and placed her hands on her hips.

Tiffany looked a little less than thrilled, "Ashley," I observed from the sidelines quietly, straining to hear their conversation over the music.

Ashley jumped right in, "Of all the places in Dallas you could have gone tonight, you picked this one?" Ashley wasn't one to tip toe around things for anybody. She wasn't the type of person to pretend to like someone when she didn't, and it's no big secret or anything, Ashley disliked Tiffany with a passion.

A voice chiming in behind me caused me to stop eavesdropping in on the conversation before me, "Who is that?" I turned towards the voice and spotted Carrie sitting on a stool beside the empty one Ashley had been occupying moments ago. How the hell had I missed her before?

I tried to form words as my eyes not so subtly scanned her body, "Is that mine?" I asked, nodding down towards the black and red corset hugging her body. She glanced down momentarily before meeting my gaze, "Yeah, Ashley dressed me. I didn't exactly pack clothing for occasions like these this weekend. She said you wouldn't mind...you don't, do you?" she retorted, her face suddenly growing worried.

I smiled, "No no, I don't mind. It looks ugh...good on you," note to self: remind me to thank Ashley later and directly kill her after. She's definitely not helping my "situation" with Carrie.

I must've spaced out because Carrie wasn't sitting on the stool anymore she was now standing in front of me waving a hand, "Are you okay?"

I nodded, "Yeah yeah, I'm fine. I think I need a drink," which probably wasn't the best of ideas considering I had consumed quite a bit all night, but what the hell it couldn't hurt to have another, "Would you like something? It's on me," I told her, moving behind the bar.

Carrie glanced over her shoulder at Ashley and Tiffany who were now wrapping up their conversation. We both stood watching as Tiffany exited the bar and Ashley made her way over to us.

Lowering my head I went to making myself and Carrie a drink, "Kell, you can't keep drinking this way everytime something like this happens," Ashley said, lowering herself back onto her stool, "I understand breakfast was a bit...chaotic in a way this morning...but don't do this," she paused for a second, "And don't do this thing with Tiff again...I refuse to watch you suffer at that hands of that bitch all over. I don't know why she has such a pull on you, but you seriously need to learn to stay the hell away," she pointed a finger at me.

I slid a glass towards Carrie as she reclaimed her stool as well, "I appreciate your concern and everything, Ash, but you need to learn how to keep your nose out of other people's business," as I was retracting my hand I found my wrist being grasped by Ashley, "Give me her number, I know she gave it to you," she mumbled, completely ignoring anything I just said and turning my hand over and revealing Tiffany's digits in my palm.

Smiling to herself she picked up her napkin, rubbed it on the side of her glass for a bit of moisture and pressed it against my palm. In a matter of seconds I watched the numbers disappear as if they had never been there.

Smiling at me Ashley pushed her empty glass in my direction and took the drink I prepared for myself, "So now she shouldn't be a problem, right?" she quizzed, eyebrow raised.

I closed and opened my mouth, thinking before I spoke, "She wasn't a problem to begin with," I muttered, "Well, now we have nothing to worry about. She'll go back to L.A and find some other girl whose life she can ruin," Ashley spit on bitterly, taking a huge swig of my drink.

Shrugging I glanced over at Carrie, "Can I get another one of...whatever this was?" she asked, setting her glass onto the bar. I offered a smile and a short laugh, "Sure,"

*~*~*~*~*

"Are you sure she's a teacher?" I asked dumbfounded, staring up on the bar top where Carrie was dancing to "Pour Some Sugar On Me" with a couple other girls, "Yeah, you'd never guess that now right?" Ashley laughed, whistling loudly at Carrie, "She's drunk, we should probably get her down from there. My brother would kill me if he saw this,"

She nudged my shoulder, "Jase isn't here, he'll never know,"

I shook my head and laughed, "Where is he, I meant to ask earlier but I got so wrapped up in the Tiffany drama and forgot,"

"After you left this morning Tracey had to leave for some meeting or something and she was going to take Hailey to her moms house, but Jason just told her that Hail could stay the night tonight since your mom is throwing that big BBQ tomorrow and he'll just drop her off at Tracey's house tomorrow night. So he told me to take Carrie out tonight and make sure you were okay," aw, my brother was concerned about me, how sweet. And here I am fantasizing about the things I would like to do to and with his girlfriend.

"Come up here, Kell!" Carrie shouted, causing me to glance back up at the bar again. I laughed when I spotted her sandwhiched in between two girls, "She's calling for you," Ashley nudged my shoulder, "Yeah, and I'm not of the sober mind right now so it's probably not wise to go up there," I replied honestly.

Ashley took hold of my shoulders and turned me towards her, "Dude, you totally like her," God is it that obvious?

I shook my head, "No, I don't. I would never do that to Jason," I told her, shrugging her hands from my shoulders, "Your eye totally just twitched, you're lying. Oh my god you have the hots for your brothers girlfriend," I shook my head again and pinched the bridge of my nose, "I'm not stupid enough to act on whatever it is I'm feeling about her. Jason is my brother and Carrie is...just a girl. I can keep my feelings in check,"

"Okay. Besides, she's probably not into girls anyways, right?" Ashley quizzed, the both of us turning towards the bar top where Carrie was still dancing closely with two other women, "Right," I breathed out, "We should probably get her down from there, the one on the right looks like she's ready to pounce on her," Ashley laughed and together we moved towards the bar to bar to retrieve one drunk Carrie.

*~*~*~*~*

"I can take you to get your car later tomorrow, okay? You two take some aspirin and get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning," I nodded and slowly ejected myself out of Ashley's car before moving to the back of it and pulling the door open to help Carrie out.

Leaning down to level myself with the car, I hooked my arm under Carrie's and pulled her closer to my body as I hoisted her up, "Thanks for the ride Ash, I'll see you in the morning," with my free arm I pushed the door shut and carefully began walking up the driveway.

"Pour some sugar on meeeee," I smiled at the sound of Carrie's off key singing, "Shh, everyone is probably asleep, we need to be quiet," She giggled and starting sshing herself, "Okay I'll be...very quiet," she slirred out as I fought with unlocking the door.

I led us into the house and waited until my eyes adjusted to the lack of lighting before I moved quietly towards the stairs, "Kell?" Shit.

Holding Carrie still I turned towards my brother and found him sitting up on the couch, the light beside him coming on, "Is she drunk?"

"Shh, we can't wake anybody up," Carrie whispered, placing a finger to her lips.

Jason pushed up from the couch and made his way towards us, "You got her drunk?" his eyebrows furrowed together, "I didn't get her drunk, she's a big girl, Jase,"

"You're a bartender, don't you know when to stop giving drinks out," his voice was harsh, "She only had like two drinks, maybe she's more of a light weight than she thought. Don't worry about it, she'll be fine. She just needs to sleep it off, she'll be your perfect little Carrie in the morning," I turned, Carrie still securely in my arms, and made a move towards the stairs again.

"Please make sure she isn't too hungover in the morning...tomorrow is um, kind of important. And I really need to talk to you in the morning, I wanted to talk to you earlier, but you left out kind of abruptly,"

I stopped at the foot of the stairs, "She'll be good as new by tomorrow, and I'll find you in the morning to talk. I promise I won't take off again," we shared a quiet laugh and finally I assisted Carrie and myself up the stairs.

Reaching my bedroom I managed to get us inside quietly, shutting the door securely behind us, "Alright, lets get you in bed," I murmured, leading her towards my bed in the darkness.

Gently I lowered her into a sitting position on my bed and watched her struggle to keep herself up, "I'm good, I promise," she said quietly. I turned away from her for a moment to retrieve a big shirt for her to wear to sleep. When I turned back towards her I couldn't help but laugh. Obviously she had lost the battle with keeping herself up on the bed because she was now laying flat against the mattress.

"Hey, I'm gonna help you up okay?" she made an incoherent sound in response and slowly I pulled her back up almost losing my balance and partially fell into her, "Sorry," I whispered, my mouth suddenly lingering too close to hers, "I'm gonna help you get out of your clothes...but I need to know if that's okay before I do..." I told her, pulling back so that my mouth wasn't close to hers anymore. Keep your feelings in check Kelly.

She nodded, "That's fine,"

I leaned in closer again, snaking my arms around her back slowly to unhook the back of her corset. I watched it loosen up more and more on her body as I released each clasp on the back. I took a deep breath before I peeled it away from her skin, forcing my eyes from glancing down, "We'd be even," her voice pulled me out of my thoughts and caused me to look down into her eyes, "Huh?" I breathed out, I hadn't even realized I had stopped breathing.

"We'd be even. I've seen you partially naked, it'd only be fair right?" she asked.

I offered a smile, "It would be far from fair," I replied, lifting the shirt over her head and tugging it down, still preventing my eyes from wandering, "You can kick out of your pants by yourself I think. I'm just gonna slip into the bathroom and change real fast," I pushed away from her and stalked off to my bathroom.

A couple minutes later I emerged from the bathroom and found Carrie bundled up beneath the covers. Silently I made my way towards the bed and lowered myself down beside her.

"Carrie..." I whispered, shifting my head towards her, "Yeah?" she whispered back in response, "The other night...you were uh...you were flirting with me right?"

She was quiet for a moment, "If I had known you were his sister..."

"And if I weren't? Do you hit on people often like that, or were you just indulging me?"

I heard her sigh, "I definitely don't do that often...I don't know what I was doing," she replied softly, finally turning her head so that she was looking at me too.

I nodded at her, "Okay," I said.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked, "Shoot," I told her, "That girl...who was she?" I think you know perfectly well who she was, "She was someone I used to date, that's all,"

"What happened?" definitely not having that deep of a conversation with you right now, "I think we should go to sleep. How are you feeling right now? You think you need some aspirin?"

She shook her head, "No, I'll be fine. Goodnight," she offered a quick smile before rolling onto her other side, her back now facing me.

"Night,"