Chapter 7
Bucky's apartment is the polar opposite of Steves. Steves apartment is pristine. It's beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Everything has a place. It's much like a museum.
Bucky lives on the third floor of a small, historic building that was turned into an apartment complex. Even though the building is small, the apartment still feels private as there are only three apartments per floor. Bucky gave me the history of the building as he lead me up the glossy, wooden stairs. My eyes widened as soon as he held the door open for me. It was so cozy. Soft blankets draped across the back of the brown leather couch. The lights were warm on the brick walls. He even had some paintings hung throughout, all of landscapes.
I had to stop myself from immediately walking over and wrapping myself into a burrito with all of the fuzzy looking baskets.
"I know it's not as impressive as Steves, but it's home," he spoke, pulling me from my trance.
"It's perfect, Bucky. It's you." We made eye contact for only a moment before I looked down, trying to hide the growing blush on my cheeks. "I can't believe you're always hanging out at my brothers when you have a place like this."
"Well, usually we take turns hosting but we wanted to wait for you to acclimate before dragging you over here," he admitted. I nodded my head in shame, embarrassed that it had taken nearly two weeks for me to be able to leave the apartment. He lead me over to the couch before urging me to sit down. He handed me the TV remote and then dashed into the kitchen, returning with two bottles of water and a bag of grapes.
"Thank you for being so kind. I know it must be annoying to have to babysit Steves kid sister." I forced out a chuckle as I wrapped my arms around myself. I'm sure it hasn't been necessarily convenient for him and Steve to have me barreling back into their lives.
"Hey, don't you think like that. We love having you back." His voice was stern and his eyebrows were furrowed as he made sure to look me in the eyes. "Besides, I never got to know you too well when we were younger. Joseph sure didn't make it easy for you to come see Sarah and Steve."
"He and mom didn't get along," I murmured, trying to push the memories of my father screaming at my mother on the phone into the back of my mind. It was terrible, hearing her sob as she begged him to let her see me. "You said you have a cat? Where is she?"
Bucky watched me carefully, apparently that topic change wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. I forced myself to maintain eye contact, to give some kind of semblance that I wasn't falling apart on the inside. Finally, he broke the eye contact and reached into the drawer of the end table beside his seat. He pulled out a bag, shaking it only once, before I heard little feet scrambling towards the living room.
"You wanna give her some treats?" He asked, laughing. A pure white fur ball had catapulted itself onto the couch, meowing and licking its teeth as it stared at the bag in his hands.
"Can I?" I giggled as he handed the bag to me, the cat following it like a shadow.
Bucky watched as I gave Alpine her treats, claiming I was spoiling her as I gave her a couple extra. She was just too cute! She deserves all of the treats in the world. I lost track of time as she curled into my lap and Bucky put on a movie. Alpine purred louder than a chainsaw but slept through the occasional laughs that escaped me as I watched the movie. I'm not sure what the title was, but I did recognize Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as the leads.
The movie was reaching its end when we heard the front door open. I sank deeper into the couch as both Bucky and I leaned over to see who was walking in. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see my older brother with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, guys. I was hoping I would find you here," he said quietly, shuffling towards us. I hate how uncomfortable he looks. This is his best friends home, and he feels out of place because of me. I quickly moved my feet before patting the spot next to me on the couch. He smiled widely and was beside me in a moment, pushing Bucky's face as he walked by.
"How'd everything go?" Bucky asked, throwing a grape into his mouth.
"Not well, he isn't happy" Steve eyed me, watching for any reactions to his words. "Also, I got you a new phone, Dandi." He slid a phone from his pocket into my hand.
"You didn't have to do that," I looked at the shiny, new device. I turned it on, finding that he had moved all of of my contacts over, well, almost all.
"He wasn't gonna leave you alone. I wanted you to have a device that you could use and he wouldn't be able to reach you on." He explained. "I was also thinking you could let Nat go through your old one. She would only go through the things he said to you. I promise that I didn't go through anything, but I did see some pretty aggressive messages come through when I was looking for his number."
I only hummed in response, not quite ready to tackle that right now. The room went silent for a moment as I explored my new phone. It's much nicer than my old one. There's no cracks in the screen and the device didn't even lag as I switched screens.
"There's one more thing I need to ask you, after that we can stop talking about it for the night. Okay?"
"Okay," I agreed, still staring at my phone. My thumbs slid to the app store and I began looking for my favorite games and media apps.
"How does Brock know dad?"
My body froze, my muscles tensed. In a single sentence I felt all of the energy leave the room, making the air feel static. Alpine chirped suddenly, burrowing herself into my stomach. I placed my shaky hands on top of her soft fur and tried to control my breathing. I looked up at Steve and Bucky, my eyes darting between them.
"What do you mean?" My voice was thick as I tried to hold the tears at bay.
"He mentioned something about breaking a deal with dad? We need to know what that's about. Dad is the last person we wanna drag into this." He explained softly.
"I don't want to talk about this." I gritted my teeth, pushing myself further into the corner of the couch. In my peripheral I see Bucky slide onto the floor before moving in front of me. He grabbed Steve by the elbow, pulling him to sit next to him.
"Everything gonna be okay, Dandi," Bucky said the words quietly, "I know the memories might be scary, but we need to know so we can continue to keep you safe."
"I said, I don't want to talk about this." The tears started to fall, making me feel even weaker. "I don't want to. Not with you. Not right now. I want to finish the movie."
How was I supposed to tell them? How could they ever understand? Joseph wasn't a good father but he was still my father. How do I tell Steve that it was our very own father that got me into this situation in the first place?
"Dandi, it's very likely dad could be reaching out within a few a days. It will help if I already know what the issue is going to be about."
I took a deep shaky breath, only able to say one thing on the subject.
"Dad has a gambling issue," I whispered.