4This is for my brother; though he will probably never read this. He's the one person who truly understands me – who tries to protect me from everything. Love you.
"Hey," the girl looked up at me in surprise.
"Umm, hi?" She replied.
"My name's Alyssa but you can call me Lissy. I was wondering if you would like to dance with me and my friends – you looked a bit lonely sitting here by yourself." A group of my friends and I were at a social. We had been dancing and mucking around for a while when I noticed a girl sitting in the corner by herself. Her hands were folded in her lap, where her eyes were mainly directed. She looked lonely and shy. A year ago that would have been me; too shy to even dance in public let alone introduce myself to someone. I couldn't leave her there by herself.
She looked around her, almost seeming shocked that anyone would notice her. She smiled shyly and shook her head, "My name's Sally. Thankyou but I'm ok."
"Well if you change your mind you know which group I'm in - just come find me."
She nodded again and I left. I thought for a second then grinned; Sally was probably too shy to dance with a group of people she doesn't know but if a guy asked to dance with her one-on-one I was almost positive she would say yes. And I knew the perfect guy.
"Oh, Charlie-boy."
He turned to look at me and dramatically sighed, "What now Lissy-Lou?"
I twirled my hair with my finger. "There may or may not be a very pretty girl sitting down who is too shy to dance with my group so I was thinking maybe she could dance ... with a guy perhaps?"
Charlie smiled and patted my head, "Are you up to your do-good schemes again? Which girl?"
I pointed her out and he grinned. "You're right she's very pretty."
"So you'll ask her to dance?"
He rolled his eyes, "Last time I give into these retched schemes."
"Who are you and what do you think you are doing trying to set Sally up with a random boy?!"
I held my hand out and shook his firmly, "I'm Alyssa but you can call me Lissy and as for the 'random' he happens to be one of my most trusted friends. I wouldn't let her dance with just anyone. Who are you?"
"I'm her brother." He replied shortly with a scowl on his face. "And I don't appreciate you setting her up with people."
"I already knew you were her brother, I was asking for your name." I decided I would leave his second statement for now.
He looked confused, "How? She doesn't tend to acknowledge me."
I smiled, this boy obviously knew nothing, "I know because you were giving Charlie the same look my brothers giving you know."
He looked around, "I can't see anyone looking at us."
I smiled, "You don't notice a lot of things do you? Do you know the reason your sister doesn't acknowledge you?"
"...because I embarrass her?"
"How?"
"I don't know!"
"You're crowding her; stopping her from living."
He glared, "Are you saying it's a bad thing I am protective?"
"Not at all, I'm just saying you should give her a chance to live!"
"She does live! The fact that she's shy is the reason she doesn't have that many friends!"
"So it's not the fact that you watch over her and glare at every guy that comes near? Don't you want to her gain some confidence? To live her own life and be happy?"
"Of course I do! But I don't want her to get hurt!"
"Part of life is getting hurt and learning from it. Let her do what she wants to do."
"Why do you care so much anyway?"
"Because my brother did the same thing to me and while I love him for trying to protect me I realised I needed to live my own life – not the life he wanted for me."
"The same brother that's here?"
"Yep, the same brother who no matter what still glares at any guy I talk to or dance with."
He sighed, "I'll try but I'm not promising anything though."
I smiled, "It's the first step. Want to dance?"
He smiled and nodded.