My Sister's Boyfriend

My Sister's Boyfriend Was a Thrill-Seeker

He’d say, “Let’s try something different,” and next thing you know, my sister was getting her ears gauged.

It wasn’t long before her ears got infected, and she was in excruciating pain.

For her own safety, I told our parents about it, and she finally cut ties with that dude.

But instead of thanking me, she held a grudge. One night, while I was sleeping, she straight-up suffocated me with a pillow.

I blinked, and suddenly, I was back in time, right when my sister was bouncing around the idea of getting her ears pierced.

01

My sister was staring in the mirror, fiddling with her earlobe, a hint of doubt in her eyes.

“Hey, Lily, what do you think about me getting my ears gauged?”

I rushed over, plastering a big smile on my face.

“Oh my god, totally! That'd be so cool, sis!”

“You’d be turning heads everywhere you go! And your boyfriend would probably be, like, even more obsessed with you.”

No sooner had the words left my mouth, then she was already blushing and covering her face.

She batted her eyelashes a few times, then leaned in, whispering, “I kind of thought so too.”

Watching her beam like that, I knew my gamble was paying off.

My sister kept preening in front of the mirror for a long time, before practically skipping out the door.

Only once her shadow disappeared did I relax, collapsing onto the couch.

Last time, she asked me the exact same thing, and I'd freaked out.

“Sis, what if it gets infected and starts bleeding? That’s gonna be bad!”

“And what’s worse, you could cause damage, maybe even puncture your eardrum.”

I kept rattling off all the possible consequences, hoping she’d ditch the whole idea.

But I never even noticed her annoyed expression.

She pushed past me, “You don’t know anything, it’s called being fashionable.”

“Besides, it’ll really make Brad happy.”

That stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Um, what did you just say?”

She just stormed out, mumbling, “Just mind your own business.”

Thinking about it now, I couldn’t help but laugh.

All she wanted was my approval. When I said something that went against what she already wanted, she completely shut me out.

And all I did was worry about her safety, the dumbass I was.

Looking at the picture on the coffee table, a picture of my sister and me, I couldn't help but think about how her ears looked that night, all inflamed and oozing while she cried her eyes out in bed.

This time around, if I hadn’t intervened, her situation would’ve been even worse.

When evening rolled around, my sister came swaggering in.

She pointed straight to her ears as soon as she entered.

“I did it! What do you think?”

I jumped up, practically running to her, faking as much awe as I could muster.

“Sis! You're so brave! It looks amazing!”

“If I wasn’t such a scaredy-cat, I’d totally get mine done too.”

My sister scoffed, “You’re such a dork, you’d never understand.”

Then she pulled out her phone and snapped a pic, sending it right away to Brad....