Christian was coming down the stairs of the Cambridge home, heading to the den. Suddenly the front door burst open, and an angry, red-faced Kristyn stormed in, slamming the door shut behind her with a loud thud. She was breathing a little hard, and looked anything but happy.
"Hey, Kristyn," Christian said. "How's it going?"
"Shut up!" Kristyn snapped curtly.
Christian looked taken aback. "Huh? What's up with you? Why are you in a bad mood?" He looked at her in a puzzled manner.
Kristyn glared at him. "Just shut up! I don't want to talk about it, okay?? Just....just leave me alone." With that, Kristyn pushed past her brother, and hurried up the stairs to her room.
Christian winced as he heard Kristyn slam her bedroom door shut with a deafening bang. He stood there at the foot of the stairs for a moment, completely confused about his sister's attitude.
Geez, what's eating her? The least she could do is fill me in on what's going on, Christian thought. He thought about it for another brief moment, before he finally shrugged, and made his way over to the den.
Dante and Mac were sitting on the floor in the den playing a videogame. Their eyes were furrowed in concentration on the television screen, as their nimble fingers furiously jabbed buttons deftly. Christian entered the den, and crossed over to them.
"Hey, guys. Do you know--" Christian started.
"Shut up, shut up!" Mac said sharply, as he continued staring at the televsion screen and punching buttons with his fingers.
Christian made a face at Mac, even though Mac was too busy concentrating on the videogame to notice. "You guys, really. Seriously, this is kind of important. Will you listen already??"
Dante looked up at Christian. "What's up?"
"Okay, I think there is something going on with--" Christian began.
"If you guys are gonna talk and be a distraction, then leave!" Mac snapped. "You're ruining my focus here. I can't concentrate with you talking like this."
Christian glared at Mac. "Well, fine! I'll go somewhere else, then. You won't have any other distractions!"
"Good!" Mac shot back.
Christian rolled his eyes. "Ugghhh....whatever. Come on, Dant; this is important."
"Okay." Dante stood up and followed Christian out of the den and into the living room.
"So, what's up?" Dante asked. "What's going on?"
Christian gave Dante a serious look. "Okay, I think there is something really up with Kristyn."
"Kristyn?" Dante immediately looked concerned. "What is it? What's going on with her?"
"Okay, get this. Like, just a few minutes ago, she came barging in through the front door, looking really pissed off," Christian confessed. "So I asked her what's wrong, but she wouldn't tell me, and she just gave me this nasty attitude before going up to her room." He shrugged. "There's something bugging her, but she wouldn't tell me."
Dante frowned. "Wow," he muttered. He shook his head. "I'm going to go find out what's bothering her." He turned, and started heading out of the living room, but Christian quickly grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop.
"No, wait. If she wouldn't tell me what's going on, what makes you think she'd tell you?" Christian pointed out. "I don't think she's ready to talk right now. It's probably best if we just give her some space and let her cool off a bit before we go find out what's wrong."
Dante looked reluctant. He stood in silence for a moment to think it over. Finally, he slowly nodded.
"Fine. Yeah, I guess you're right. We should just leave her alone for now. Hopefully a little later, she'll come to us and tell us what's been bothering her. And if not, we'll just go and ask later, I guess," Dante decided.
Christian nodded. "Yeah. Good idea." He frowned slightly. "But, wait a sec. What do you think could've happened that would make her so angry?"
Dante scratched his head. "I don't know," he mused. "Last I heard, she went out to the library--"
Just then, the ringing of the doorbell interrupted Dante. Dante and Christian looked at each other.
"Who could that be?" Dante wondered. He looked at Christian. "Were you expecting someone?"
"Uh, no," Christian said. "Were you?"
Dante shook his head. "Not that I know of."
The ringing of the doorbell again echoed through the living room, causing Dante to jump. He glanced at Christian and shrugged.
"I guess we're about to find out," Dante murmured, as he started to make his way over toward the front door, with Christian following closely behind him. Dante grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door open, and found Josh standing awkwardly at the front door.
"Josh!" Dante looked surprised. "Hey." He turned back to Christian. "It's just Josh."
"Oh, hey, Josh! What's up, man?" Christian greeted Josh enthusiastically. He reached out and slapped Josh a five.
Josh grinned. "Hey guys. Uhh....anyhow, um, is your sister home, by any chance?"
Christian looked confused. "Huh? Our sister??" He looked at Josh bemusedly. "Which one? We have five."
Josh shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Uhhh....Kristyn," he said nervously.
"Kristyn??" Christian repeated. His smile collapsed. He looked at Josh suspiciously. "Why? What do you want with her???"
Josh's face turned slightly red; he looked perturbed. "Uhhhh....well, I, uhh...."
"Yeah? You what?? Go on," Christian prodded, crossing his arms across his chest, and giving Josh a distrusting look.
Dante nudged Christian. "Hey, lay off him," he scolded Christian in a whisper. He turned back to Josh. "Yeah, Kristyn's here. She just came back a few minutes ago, as a matter of fact." He looked at Josh. "You want to see her?"
"Umm, actually, yeah," Josh admitted. "Do you think I could, uh, come in, and talk to her, maybe?"
Dante nodded. "Come in." He moved aside from the front door, and pulled Christian over to the side as well, making room for Josh to enter.
Dante closed the door, and turned to look at Josh. "You know, she's actually kind of upset right now. She's not really talking to anyone, and--"
"Yeah, that's right!" Christian interjected. "She really doesn't want to see anyone right now. Maybe you should try back another time--"
"I just really need to talk to her," Josh blurted out. "It's just....it's really important." He looked from Dante to Christian; a pleading look on his face. "Please."
Dante nodded. "Sure, no problem. I understand. I'll try to get her to see you. Wait in the living room for a sec, okay?"
Josh nodded. "Okay. Thanks a lot." He turned, and headed into the living room.
As soon as Josh was out of earshot, Dante glanced around before grabbing Christian and pulling him aside.
"Hey! What gives?!" Christian cried.
Dante frowned at Christian. "Will you just give Josh a break?? Why are you getting on his back, anyway? He's your friend too, isn't he? He's done nothing wrong."
"So what? The heck with that. And besides, you don't know that he didn't do something wrong. Maybe he did do something wrong." Christian's eyes narrowed. "It's possible. Why else would he come over here like this?"
Dante sighed. "Yeah, but he looks worried and concerned. I don't think he did anything wrong."
Christian made a face. "You don't know that for sure."
"Well, you don't either!" Dante shot back.
Christian rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, whatever. I don't know."
Dante raised his eyebrows. "Exactly. Now go keep him company while I go talk to Kristyn." With that, Dante turned and headed up the stairs. He made his way down the upstairs hall, stopping at Kristyn's tightly shut bedroom door. Slowly, he raised his hand and knocked.
"Go away," Kristyn called through the door.
"Kris, there's someone here to see you," Dante said.
"Go away," Kristyn repeated. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to see anyone."
Dante sighed. "Kristyn, come on. You can't shut yourself in there forever. Sooner or later, you're going to have to come out and talk to someone, so right now is as good a time as any. There's no time like the present. So, come on out, will you?"
"No," came Kristyn's firm, stubborn response.
Dante sighed again. "Kristyn, there's someone waiting to see you downstairs. Do you want to see them or not??"
"Not," came Kristyn's flat, laconic reply.
Dante threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Kristyn, do you want me to go down there and tell that person to go home and try back another time, even though that person made the time and effort to come see you now??!" he exclaimed exasperatedly.
There was silence for a moment. Dante waited, listening carefully for any sounds.
Suddenly, the door pulled open and Kristyn glared at Dante. She folded her arms across her chest, but didn't say a word.
Dante smiled. "So, will you see the person waiting for you?"
Kristyn gave Dante a cold look. "Who is it?" she asked tersely.
"You'll find out if you come downstairs," Dante replied mysteriously.
Kristyn's eyes narrowed. She glared at Dante again, but remained quiet. She was silent for a moment, before she finally sighed and pushed past Dante, making her way down the hallway toward the staircase. Dante quickly followed behind.
Kristyn trudged down the stairs, with Dante at her heels, and stalked into the living room. Her eyes widened with surprise as they fell on the two people in the room.
Josh was sitting on the couch talking with Christian, who was seated in an armchair. He glanced up and his eyes met Kristyn's. Josh quickly stood up, holding his gaze on Kristyn, not taking his eyes off of hers.
For a moment, Kristyn's cold scowl seemed to falter slightly, but her face quickly held a stoic expression. She raised her eyebrows and gave Josh a blank look.
"H-hi, Kristyn," Josh said a little nervously. "How are you doing?"
Kristyn didn't say anything. She continued to give Josh an expressionless look.
Josh looked around at Christian and Dante. "Uhh, could you guys give us a minute?"
Christian frowned. "What? Hey, this is our house, you know. We can stay wherever we--"
"Fine. Stay here then. We'll go outside," Kristyn said abruptly. She turned on her heel and stalked over toward the front door. Josh quickly took off after her.
As the front door slammed shut, Dante looked at Christian, rolled his eyes, and shook his head. He reached over and gave Christian a small shove.
"What??! What did I do? What'd I say??" Christian gave Dante a perplexed look.
Dante rolled his eyes again and just shook his head. "I don't know why you do what you do sometimes."
Meanwhile, Kristyn walked down the front porch, crossing over to the other side while keeping her back to Josh. She reached the end of the porch, and remained standing there, staring off into space.
Josh stood uncomfortably, standing several feet behind Kristyn. He looked down at the ground, then glanced back up at her, although Kristyn continued to keep her back facing him. He sighed.
"Look, Kristyn, we....we really need to talk," Josh began.
When Kristyn still did not say anything, Josh decided to continue anyway.
"You have to believe me -- I really did not want those guys to hurt you like that. I was completely appalled by the way they treated you. It-it was totally wrong of them to do that, and I should have tried to stop them before things got so out of hand." Josh shook his head grimly. "That was my fault. I should have done something about it sooner, instead of waiting till the last minute. I feel really terrible about this whole thing, and....and I know I hurt you, and that's the worst feeling in my heart right now -- th-that I hurt a really nice girl. I really don't like seeing you like this. I'm....I'm just so sorry." He hung his head, lowering his eyes to the ground again. "I-I know I really don't deserve it, but I'm really hoping that you can find it in your heart to....forgive me."
Kristyn slowly looked up and stared straight forward, her back still turned to Josh. She couldn't believe what she just heard -- possibly the sweetest, most touching, sincere monologue she ever heard. And it was quite clear that Josh was terribly sorry and that he desperately sought her forgiveness.
I'm being too hard on him, Kristyn realized. I'm giving him the cold shoulder when all he's been trying to do is make things better, and to get along with me. What have I been doing? I've been totally brushing him off, while he's been trying so hard for things to be good between us!
Slowly, Kristyn turned around and faced Josh. Josh was staring at her, his eyes gazing at her in a rueful expression. She stared back at him, their eyes locking.
Kristyn started to make her way slowly over toward Josh, crossing across the front porch. Josh remained standing fixed where he was, still looking at Kristyn.
Kristyn stopped in front of Josh and looked into his eyes. Josh stared back into her eyes.
"That was really profound," Kristyn said softly. "It was very....sweet." She studied his face. "I'm impressed."
Josh looked at her hopefully. "So....does this mean you forgive me?"
Kristyn smiled. "How could anyone not after hearing that speech? It was really amazing."
Josh slowly stepped closer to Kristyn, closing the small gap between them. However, Kristyn didn't move. Her feet felt as though they were glued to the ground. Finally, Josh gently wrapped his arms around Kristyn, embracing her in a hug. Kristyn hugged him back. She rested her head against his shoulder, as he continued to hold her in the warm embrace.
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