My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 11

JOSH’S P.O.V.

These kids are lucky most of the parents here are at the fucking bar tonight because they’re hardly being subtle about what they’re doing. At least when we did initiation there was an element of espionage to the whole thing.

The music has been pumping for hours but it’s finally dying down. I promised myself I didn’t care what they were up to but I still did a drive by through the fourth floor just to make sure everyone was safe before my video chat with Liam. He seemed okay with Heather at Steve’s but he didn’t want to stay the night there alone, so he’s sleeping over Al’s instead.

He likes being in their house, I think it makes him feel safe to be surrounded by a strong family. The only place he’s ever felt safe otherwise is with me, sometimes I question why Chrissy even insisted on keeping him. Her mothering instincts are non existent and it’s him that suffers.

I finally managed to get the WiFi boosted to hit this room and after answering the hundred emails I should be ignoring on my week off, I set up Netflix and got ready to settle in. That girl Zoe’s aunt popped by earlier and said she’d make sure all the kids made it back to their own rooms so I was free to just chill.

The film is buffering again but I wasn’t really watching it anyway, flipping through insta and seeing the photos my mum put up from her latest adventure with her sister. The guy with his arm around her in the last one is younger than me and I shudder thinking of what she’s up to right now.

Not that she’ll have any problems telling me all about it when she calls next, since divorcing my father her personal share boundaries have dramatically decreased. She’s happy though, and that’s all I want for her. After so many years sacrificing her life to make everyone else around her more secure, she deserves it.

I spot a photo of Tara and Cole, the first photo she’s posted since May forced her to get with the times and set up an account.

Clicking on her profile I see she’s only got about ten followers, me included. It’s funny, she probably doesn’t even know how to work it. Tara has to be ten years younger than Cole but he’s still better with technology than she is.

I glance through the list of names until I stop at one.

‘TheBetterThompsonBrother’

Can’t imagine Jayce was too impressed with that choice.

I’m not sure why I haven’t looked him up before, I should have. I’m not a massive social media guy but I should’ve checked in on him long before now.

Starting to scroll through his photos, I didn’t realise how adventurous his life is now. There’s ones of him and that boy Eli cliff jumping somewhere off the coast, snowboarding like pros and of course a shit load of them playing ball.

I try not to focus on the ones of him with no top on for too long, but fuck me.. that guy is definitely not fucking around in the gym.

Scrolling back is like watching him grow in reverse, I hadn’t realised how long I’d been staring at his photos until I came to the last one, the first one he ever posted and the one most closely resembling the kid I remember. It’s one from Jayce and Aleah’s wedding, a throw back considering the account was only set up like two years ago. It feels like yesterday we were all there.

It’s one of the professional shots the photographer took but I don’t think it’s one I’ve seen before. He isn’t looking at the camera but he’s smiling widely at something just outside of shot. The caption at the bottom makes my smile grow to match the one I see here.

‘Back when I was cute.’

Yeah, he was. He was so fucking innocent, so gentle. It’s a complete contradiction to the man he’s become. Now he’s so strong, the people around him clearly respect the guy but he’s still got that kind nature too. He’s still Milo, he’s just.. different.