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Still no answer. Wendy sighed as she put down the phone. I wonder if something’s wrong. He hasn’t been around for days, hasn’t called either, even though I left him a few messages on his voicemail. I miss him. I don’t know how this happened, but I really miss him. She thought back to the night she had that terrible nightmare. Even though she was scared stiff, she enjoyed being so close to him. And for a moment she had thought he had too, but seeing him run off like that two days ago and not visiting her since, he probably hadn’t. She was still worried though. Kevin wasn’t the person to just stay away for no reason. She reached for the phone again, and dialed his number for the third time that day.


~~In Kevin’s bedroom~~

Kevin was wondering how Wendy was doing. Since the fight he had with Brian, he spent most of his time in the bedroom, thinking of her. He hadn’t left the house, trying to avoid everyday life. He even wanted to avoid daylight, keeping his curtains shut. She called him several times, but he never answered. He wanted to, but still never did, too afraid of what she might say. Brian had probably told her by now, and he didn’t want to listen to her yelling at him, even though she had every right to be furious. He made a promise, but he couldn’t keep it, which made him feel like a nobody.
He just couldn’t get her out of his head. Everytime he closed his eyes, he saw her beautiful face. He longed for her to be next to him, so he could hold her like he did the night she had that terrible nightmare. He really hoped she hadn’t had any since that night. Stacey had spoken the truth in his nightmare. He killed her, and he never ever wanted Wendy to get hurt again, even if this meant that he could no longer be her friend, or what else they could’ve become, possibly even lovers. He could not let that happen, even though he wanted to love her, caress her, kiss her, hold her hand, help her in every way he could, be there for her.
I want to hold and soothe her when she remembers, he thought.
Oh no! Brian told me that she remembers, didn’t he?
”She remembers, Kev. She..”
“Shut it Brian.”

“Owh my God.” Kevin cringed and held onto a pillow, trying to find some comfort for his aching body.
I didn’t give him the chance to tell me what it is that she remembers exactly. Maybe she remembers only minor details, but then Brian wouldn’t tell me that she needed me there. He wouldn’t say something like that for no reason or if she was only remembering small insignificant things. Please, don’t let her remember the rape. He thought back to the messages she had left him on his cell. She didn’t say a word about it, she never spoke about herself. All she wanted to know was if I am allright. I need to know. I can handle not speaking to her ever again, I just have to know if she’s okay.

Kevin rolled over and reached for his cell, when it started to ring again, which made him almost jump to the ceiling . He looked at the display and saw that Wendy was on the other end. He wanted to answer it, but froze, not able to move a muscle, because he heard Stacey’s voice in his head repeating the same sentence over and over again. ”Leave her alone, Kevin. LEAVE HER ALONE!”

About thirty seconds later, the ringing stopped, shortly after he received a text message, saying that he had a message on his voicemail. Kevin reached for his phone with mixed feelings. On one hand he was happy that he could hear her voice again, on the other hand he didn’t want too, because it would definitely not cause his feelings for her to fade away, which was absolutely necessary. Still, he checked his voicemail, as if he was forced to do so.

Kev? It’s me. Again. I hope you’re doing okay. I just wish you would return my phone call, if only to tell me that you’re allright. I’m worried about you, Kev. I don’t understand what made you run off two days ago. I’m not angry with you or anything. I just want to know what’s wrong. We need to talk, Kev. I don’t know, I don’t want to make you feel guilty about not coming over or anything, but I need you. I remember, Kev, I remember everything. Call me, okay? Please, I..”
Then Kevin heard a soft knock on the door, followed by his cousin’s voice. ”Hey sunshine! We need to talk about Kevin.” Kevin listened carefully, maybe his cousin said something else before she had finished her message. ”Allright, Bri. I..” All of a sudden Kevin heard a loud beep in his ear. That always happened when people left long messages, they only had a certain amount of time to do so. Kevin closed his cell and was mad at himself for not going by earlier. Brian hadn’t told her anything yet, and now that he would, he really couldn’t go see her. She remembers everything, he sighed with fear. Kevin didn’t realize though that it was possible that she just thought she remembered everything and that the guys had not told her about the rape.

”I need you..”
After hearing her say that with a slightly trembling voice, his body now ached even more. He needed her too, but after Brian had finished telling her what he had said, she would hate him, that’s for sure. That was exactly what he had wanted a few days earlier, for her to hate him, but now he wasn’t so sure. It was just too late now. There was no way back.

Kevin rolled over on his back, staring at the ceiling, his eyes filling up with tears again. She needed him, and he could not be there for her, because in a few minutes, she would despise him. And there was nothing he could or would do to change that. It was too dangerous. He loved her, but for her own protection, he could not go anywhere near her. He rolled on his left side, covered his face with his hands, trying not to think of Wendy, trying not to think of anything. A deep, loud and horrifying cry suddenly came out, filled with sadness and grieve for the loss of his friendship with her, the loss of his cousin and the loss of his other three friends. It physically hurt, as he cried this time. A whole lot of old sorrow surfaced and this was hurting him so bad that he flinched in pain. The last time he had felt this miserable, was the day he lost his wife. The day she died, because of him.

Brian didn’t want to tell her, even though he knew he had to. She had already asked them why Kevin wasn’t with them when they visited, but they told her that he just needed time for himself. And until now, she believed them. Leighanne stayed home with Baylee, because the sitter couldn’t make it. They hadn’t heard from Phoebe for a few days, and Wendy didn’t seem bothered by it, so they decided not to call her. Suzie was probably on the airport by now, she had a plane to catch and would arrive the next day. The other guys were waiting in the hallway, also scared of her reaction. They had again offered to be there with him when he told her, but he declined. A.J. was pacing up and down the hallway, while Nick was biting his nails. Howie just sat there, all sorts of thoughts running through his mind. When Brian finally found the courage to enter the room, he saw she was on the phone and could guess who she was trying to reach by the worried look on her face. He waited by the door until she got off the phone, then sat down on her bed and sighed.

“So what did you want to tell me about Kev, Bri?”
Brian didn’t know how to start. He was so scared she’d shut all of them out when he told her what Kevin said, he could not find the words to explain all of this to her. He just stared at his hands, not able to look her in the eye.
“Bri? Please tell me that he’s okay. You’re scaring me!”
“He’s fine, I guess.” He still didn’t look at her, too nervous and to scared of what would happen.
“Brian!! Look at me and tell me what’s on your mind. What’s wrong?” Wendy was getting even more worried by now. It was not like Kevin to act the way he had, but the way Brian was acting it looked like something was terribly wrong. And the fact that he couldn’t look her in the eye was really, really bad.

Brian finally looked at her, seeing she was scared. She probably thought Kevin was in the hospital or something. Well, if it wasn’t for Howie who talked them out of paying Kev a visit, he probably would have been. Brian still couldn’t believe his cousin had said all those things about Wendy. Those things were so far from the truth, and even though Brian told him that he was dead to him, that also was far from the truth. He kept thinking about the fight and wondering why his cousin acted so cold and distant. But after going over all of it for over a dozen times, he just couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation and this strengthened him in his decision to break the family bond. But still, he missed him.

“Brian! This is freaking me out, come on tell me.”
Finally Brian snapped back into reality and gently pulled his best friend into a hug, which confused her even more. “I’m so sorry, Wendy. I’m so sorry. Please don’t be mad at the rest of us.” Wendy didn’t understand where this was going, and the hug didn’t provide any comfort, it made her even more anxious of what Brian was about to tell her. After a minute or so, Brian let go and held her hands in his and sighed.

“Kevin and I had a fight a couple of days ago, two days after he ran off on you.”
“But why? What was it about? Please don’t tell me that you literally fought?!”
“No, we didn’t. Please hear me out, and please don’t shut me out. Me and the other guys are nothing like him.”
“Brian, please just tell me what happened.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise, now tell me!”
Brian knew there was no way back now, sighed again and began to tell her about the fight, keeping a close eye on her so he could anticipate her every move. “Kevin didn’t return my phone calls, so I went over to his place to check on him. I asked him why he didn’t return them and why he didn’t call you either...” Brian wasn’t sure how to tell her this. In his mind he had tried to prepare this conversation, but now he had no idea how to break the news to her. “And?” she asked. “What did he say?”
“He said he.. he no longer cares..”
“He said what?” Wendy asked her best friend with a soft voice, as tears welled up in her eyes.
“He said he no longer cares for you. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” Brian held her tightly in his arms, feeling her body tremble. “I don’t understand either. I really don’t. I asked him for an explanation, but I never got one.”
“Are you sure he said this? That it isn’t a misunderstanding?”
“I’m sure, sunshine. I’m so sorry.”

Wendy couldn’t believe Kevin had actually spoken those words. He was the one that stayed with her for a few nights, even the night she remembered. And now, he no longer cares? She trusted him, she would’ve even trusted him with her life, and now that trust was shattered into a million pieces. Now she understood why Brian had made her promise she wouldn’t shut him and the others out. Brian let go of her for a moment, then wiped away her tears, meanwhile trying to think of something to say.
“Have you or the others talked to him since?”
Brian shook his head. “I..I told him that he’s no longer family. That.. that to me he no longer exists. And the others agreed with me on that.”
Wendy was stunned. “But he’s your cousin, one of your closest friends. You can’t tell him that!”
“I can and I did. He said the same thing about you, one of his closest friends.”
He saw Wendy cringe when he said those words and was immediately sorry. “I’m sorry..But you’re my best friend and I cannot be around him when he’s treating you like this. You’re more important to me, Wendy.”
“But Brian, he’s family. I’m ‘only’ a friend. I don’t want to keep you two from seeing each other.”
“You didn’t do that, sunshine. He was the one who did this. He is the one who’s acting like an asshole, and he is the one who broke our bond with his idiotic behavior. Please, don’t feel guilty, alright?” Brian asked her as he lifted her chin with his fingerm gently forcing her to look at him. “I’ll try.” Wendy was still in shock about the whole situation and probably the biggest blow was yet to come.
“Look, the others are waiting in the hallway. Is it okay with you if they come on in for a minute?”
She nodded her head, but as Brian got up and walked to the door, she called him back to her bed.
“Brian, please just hold me for another minute or so.”
“Sure sweetheart. Don’t tell Leighanne though, she might get jealous.” Brian tried to make her smile, but she didn’t. She was not even close to smiling and he couldn’t blame her. Brian sat down again, put his arms around her and held her tight as she softly sobbed with her head resting on his chest, feeling insignificant and unimportant, because the one person she had felt the closest with, next to Brian, had decided she was no longer worthy of his attention.

After about ten minutes, Brian heard someone open the door and turned his head to see who it was. A.J. was peeking around the corner, worried sick about his sunshine. Brian had been in there for over forty minutes and he decided he could no longer stand not knowing what was going on in room 358. Brian nodded and so he walked in, immediately followed by Nick and Howie. After they saw Brian holding her as she cried, they glanched at each other, knowing this wasn’t easy on her. They all needed to be there for her, help her through this and make sure she knew that they were not going to abandone her like Kevin had. A.J. sat down on her left side, rubbing her back as she was still holding Brian. She didn’t even turn around to see who was sitting there. Nick put one hand on Brian’s shoulder, the other on hers, letting them know he wasn’t going anywhere. Howie kissed Wendy on her head, whispering “I’m sorry, baby.” Not another word was spoken after that.

~~Earlier~~

She saw him go in and his presence irritated her. Maybe because he was always trying to be funny and obviously wasn’t, maybe because he reminded her of his cousin, who still hadn’t visited that bitch. On the one hand that was a good thing, because it meant that he definitely has no feelings for her, but on the other hand, she herself never got a chance to see him either. As she turned the corner, she saw the others as well, sitting there in the hallway, but again Kevin wasn’t there. She had had it with this nonsense. If Kevin doesn’t come over by himself, she just had to force him by hurting precious Ms. Hamilton. That would probably give him a wake-up call and then she would ask him out. Even though she thought it should be the other way around, she knew that Kevin would not ask her out. Maybe her beautiful appearance was too intimidating or something.
She would have to do it today, because Wendy’s transfer to Hope was scheduled for the following day. Debra got her keys and started walking towards the storage room where they kept all the medicine. Before going in, she checked the hallway to see if anyone was there, but it was empty, and so she unlocked the door and stepped in, knowing exactly what to look for.