CHAPTER 8: Broken Bro Code

"Don't tell Louie."

The voice of that "one more girl left" echoed in my head, flashbacking to the night that we hooked up. "Don't tell Louie."

I intended to keep this secret from Lou, as per what the girl requested, until the time was right... or until I was ready to die. But with the current twist of events, that promise seemed as fragile - and as ready to be broken as a porcelain doll tipping over a ledge.

"Who?" Louie questioned.

I smiled nervously, trying to find the right words and courage to say them. You don't know how many times I've prayed for Louie not to find out about this. And now, I'm the one who has to tell him.

At my lack of a reply, Louie repeated his question, "Who? Trevor, who's the other girl?"

"Okay," I stalled. "First, I need you to promise that you won't get mad."

His eyebrows furrowed and it was getting obvious that he already had an idea who the other girl was. "Tell me."

"Promise first."

"Trevor!" he warned, his mood completely changing.

"Alright! It's Sage!" I blurted out.

At the mention of her name, Sage came rushing back to the dressing room. "What?" the actress asked, as she walked through the door. She eyed both me and Louie, completely clueless to the current situation.

"Sage?" Louie questioned, pointing at her.

"Yes!" I repLIED, digging myself into a ditch that I could probably just bury myself in at the moment.

"What about Sage?" Sage questioned, referring to herself in third person, in a very confused and panicked tone.

"You slept with him?" Louie asked her, pointing at me.

Her eyes bulged out of their sockets. "What?" Sage exclaimed. "No!"

Louie turned back to me, catching my lie, but I wasn't about to give up. "Yes, she did!" I contradicted. When Sage's eyes met with mine, I urged her to go along with it, but she didn't seem to catch my drift. She was just frantic as she turned back to Louie.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I am so confused. I have never slept with Trevor," she murmured almost to herself. "What the hell is this about?"

God! It was so easy for her to go along with Louie's bullshit earlier; what the hell happened?

Louie chuckled but it wouldn't take a genius to know that he considered none of this funny. He didn't answer Sage's question, instead he turned to me. "Who's the other girl, Trev?"

"Other girl?" asked a completely oblivious and dazed Sage.

"Fess up, you fucking liar," Louie ordered, stalking closer and closer to me.

I backed away from him. "I think you already know," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. Hell, yes, I was scared! I haven't seen Louie that mad since the Golden State Warriors lost the NBA championships.

"Say it," he challenged. "Come on, I wanna hear it from you."

"I told you," I tried one more time. "It's Sage!"

"No, it's not me!" Sage cried. Oh, God! This would have been a lot easier if this blonde imp weren't here.

It came to a point that both of them were shouting at me. Sage, trying to clear up the fact that we never slept together; and Louie, trying to get me to confess my crimes against the bro code.

"Alright!" I boomed, causing both of them to shut up. I took a deep breath. "The Sage thing was a lie. I'm sorry I involved you in this, Dewirth," I said to Sage. I turned to Louie and finally told the truth.

"The other girl is London."

The room went silent. I was waiting for Louie to react but I got nothing.

No reply.

No reply.

No reply.

Still no reply.

Oh, look. His eye twitched.

"Louie?" I asked, though I could barely speak.

His face remained in shock until he answered me. "London? London Steffenson? London Steffenson as in my sister, London Steffenson?!"

"Yes. B-but, look, she was the one who wanted to do it. She said she wasn't looking for anything serious; just a fling. And I was being a good friend. And there is no tension whatsoever between us now, it's just like I didn't even swipe away her V-card at all," I defended.

After hearing myself say that, I mentally did a facepalm because I could've left out some minor details in there. Man, I should really learn the art of shutting up.

"You-You swiped my little sister's V-card?!" he asked, trying to make his tone as calm as possible. But by the way his nostrils were flaring up and his eyes were saying "bloody massacre", I knew that he really wanted to strangle me.

"Yes," I reluctantly blurted out. "I'm really sor--"

BAM! Whatever heartfelt apology that was about to leave my mouth was shoved right back in by Louie's sucker punch.

"Fuck!" we both exclaimed.

See? Even at times like these, we still manage to be synchronized.

In spite of the pain throbbing in my bruising nose, I looked over at Louie who also looked like he was in pain. He was shaking his right hand.

"I think I broke it," he winced while still shaking his hand.

"Oh, yeah?" I asked, though my voice came out nasally since I was pressing my muzzle. "Well, great! That makes your hand and my nose."

Louie retracted his fist again, ready to pounce once more. If it weren't for Sage jumping in, we would have a reenactment of the very first time we met. 

"Stop it!" she chided, trying with all her might to keep Louie away from me. "You guys are not trashing this dressing room!"

"He fucked my sister!" Louie yelled.

"You broke my nose!" I yelled back.

You be the judge of which crime was more aggravating.

"And you're both assholes!" Sage screeched, making both of us pipe down.

She sighed, and looked back at both of us. "I've known you guys since freshman year. You're the best friends in campus! You don't fight."

"Yeah, well, that was before his Big Ben visited London!" Louie spat.

That would have been one hell of a creepy yet boosting compliment, if I didn't just get sucker punched in the face by a basketball varsity.

"Look, I'm sorry about that, okay?" I said.

He shook his head. "Does the Bro Code mean squat to you, Trevor?" he said.

"I already explained everything to you; London wanted it. And I've already apologized, what more do you want?" I said. "I'm sorry!"

He shook his head. "Well, 'sorry' doesn't mend my sister's hymen which you broke!"

With that, he stormed out, leaving me with Sage. The girl in the dark wig was looking at me through judgy eyes.

"What?!" I questioned, getting annoyed by her stare.

"You know," she said, "you could be a real jerk sometimes, Jettison."

Sage was beginning to walk away when I said, "Wait."

She paused and turned around.

"I'm sorry," I said. "And thank you for stopping him." It was a dick move trying involve her in this mess.

"Don't mention it," she said. "And by the way, you're bleeding."

I looked down on my palm and saw blood. I touched the bottom of my nose and yep. I was bleeding.