The Second Choice
Wanda finally pulled away from Evan’s firm, soothing lips. Looking up into his concerned eyes, she smiled. Somehow, she knew they would get through this. Evan was strong. He would pull them through. He said he loved her…and now she realized how much she loved him. How much she needed him.
"I love you so much," Evan told her in a husky voice. He enveloped her in a tight hug. It was like she was protected when she was near him. "I’ll always take care of you," he whispered in her ear.
And she knew he would. He would always fight her battles and shelter her from the rest of the world. With him…she would never have to be alone. And no one would ever take him away. He didn’t have a father to put before her and he wasn’t in need of her help. Suddenly, Pietro seemed much further away.
Wanda sighed in Evan’s arms. Well, she supposed Evan could explain to Pietro what was happening. He was her brother. He would understand. After all, Pietro had always wanted her to be happy. Relaxing, she sank deeper into his arms.
Evan suddenly stiffened. Wanda jerked in surprise and looked up at him. Evan was staring at something behind her. Or someone. Oh God, no. Wanda’s heart stopped and started in a tumult of fear as she realized WHO exactly was standing behind them. She could feel his icy eyes already digging into her back.
She had a fleeting desire to stay protected inside Evan’s arms forever. But she knew she had to face her brother. Shaking, Wanda turned around slowly, with absolutely no desire to see.
"Pietro," she managed to say weakly. She could barely stand and was clutching onto Evan for support. Pietro was standing less than five feet away. His fists were clenched and his chest heaved with barely restrained anger. Wanda looked fearfully into her brother’s eyes. He always had scary eyes, and they were horrible to see now. She found she couldn’t look and averted her gaze to the ground.
"Look, it’s not as bad as it seems." She could hear Evan talking. Wanda was thankful because she didn’t think she could talk to Pietro without throwing up.
"Not as bad as it seems? What the fuck are you doing with her then, Daniels? I told you my sister was off limits to goddamn bastards like you."
"Listen, she didn’t do anything wrong here, okay? Just back off."
"I see my sister kissing-, kissing YOU, and you think I’m just gonna fucking back off? I ought to rip your mother fucking brains out!" Pietro shouted that last statement out and Wanda shuddered.
Evan quickly brought her closer to him, as though to protect her. "You’re scaring Wanda! Look man, just calm down. We can talk about this calmly, okay? I swear to God that I’m not playing you. It just happened. Let me just talk you through it. I’m not trying to hurt her."
Pietro sneered. "What, you trying to protect her? Think she’s in need of some rescuing or shit! She doesn’t need you."
"I love her, Pietro!"
Wanda and Pietro both stopped cold. Pietro froze, then swallowed. "You WHAT?"
Evan gulped. He hadn’t meant for it to come out this way. "I love her, Pietro. Listen, my feelings for her are real. I’m not with her to get you or anything. I’m not going to hurt her. I-," Evan forced himself to swallow his own pride as he said the next words. "I know I’m not the same for her like you are, but I love Wanda. I can’t stop it, and she loves me too."
Pietro turned on Wanda. "You LOVE this bastard?" Wanda cringed away from Pietro’s accusation.
Meanwhile, Evan was saying, "Look, she doesn’t have to answer you right now. You’re scaring her."
Pietro scoffed. "I think I know when my own sister is scared, Evan. If Wanda really loves you, she shouldn’t be scared to say it to my face." He turned back to Wanda. "So, you love this guy? You been keeping this from me for, what-, how long, weeks, months?"
She couldn’t contain it any longer and started to cry. "Pietro, I-, I didn’t mean to-, to-," She broke off as she started sobbing. Evan hugged her tighter.
Pietro stopped cold. "So you DID love him." The words were said coldly and with no sympathy.
Wanda forced herself to look at him. "I’m sorry," she croaked out. She searched his eyes for the love, the sympathy, that always encompassed his eyes. He was supposed to understand. He should have been glad that she was happy. Why wasn’t he being her big brother? "Pietro?" Her watery eyes searched his for his meltdown. For tears to come into his own eyes and he would collapse and hug her and they would all cry together. He would tell her that it was okay to be with Evan. He just wanted her to be happy.
Pietro just slowly backed away from her. "After everything I did, after everything I thought I-, I fucking proved to you, and you go behind my back with him. God, you-, you and all of them. You’re just as bad as they were. You’re not any GODDAMN DIFFERENT!"
"I’m so sorry!" Wanda cried.
Evan shouted, "Look, just CALM DOWN, Pietro. You don’t need to scare her, all right? It was my fault, it wasn’t hers. You don’t need to yell at her. You can yell at me or beat me up if you want, just don’t yell at her. She’s your sister, Pietro. She loves you."
For a moment, Wanda thought that Pietro would just cold-bloodedly kill the other boy in a rage. However, he managed to get a hold on his emotions. He always did have ice veins in that sense. Like father, like son, they always kept a handle on their emotions. Pietro smiled. "Fine, fine." He turned to look at Wanda. "You really love me, Wanda? You want to prove that you’re loyal? Well, guess what, you’re going to have to choose between him or me. You can decide." He crossed his arms and looked emotionlessly down at her.
"Um, um," Wanda faltered at the two decisions placed before her. Pietro or Evan? She couldn’t choose! She needed them both. She dug closer into Evan. Why couldn’t it just disappear? She hadn’t wanted to make this choice. They were supposed to make it easy for her.
"Look, you can’t make her choose like that!" Evan yelled at Pietro.
"Just shut the fuck up and let her decide, Daniels." He didn’t take his eyes off his sister.
"Pietro, I-, I can’t." Wanda whispered.
He stared down at her. "So you’re choosing him over me?"
Wanda couldn’t answer as she started to cry again. She wasn’t choosing either one. She couldn’t make the choice. She didn’t want to make the choice. She was never good at making choices…
"Fine." Pietro said tightly. His eyes were unreadable. "You don’t have to say it, I know what you’re choosing. Just don’t look me in the face ever again. And don’t come where I have to see you either." And with that, he turned around and stalked away.
"Pi-, Pietro!!!" Wanda half-screamed and half-sobbed. He didn’t even stop. "No, no, I don’t mean it like that, Pietro!!!" She broke down and would have collapsed if Evan had not captured her. "I-, I didn’t mean it like that." She sobbed as Evan hugged her tightly.
"Shh." He tightened his arms around her as he tried to muffle her sobs. He couldn’t stop tears from coming to his own eyes as he listened to Wanda cry. She didn’t deserve this kind of pain. He looked through watery eyes at Pietro’s retreating figure. He never even looked back. I thought he loved her. Evan nestled his head into Wanda’s back and hugged her closer. "Shh," he whispered into her ear as his own tears lapped at his words. "It’s all right, Wanda, I love you. Shh…"