𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 | 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞

⁰² | The brother talk

ɢᴜʏ ɢᴇʀᴍᴀɪɴᴇ

𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆

𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓, 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 changed. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you, too, G," my older brother, Eric, says.

The door hits my back while I'm frozen in place. His hair was a shade darker than mine and there was a glob of ketchup on his chin. My mom tells me how I remind her of Dad, but Eric is a spitting image of him as a teenager. I think I'm jealous of him for that. Actually, I think I'm jealous of a lot of Eric.

I move across from him at the kitchen island. "What are you doing here?" I repeat.

He shrugs. "I'm staying with you guys for a little while."

"Why?"

"What's with the interrogation?"

"Aren't you, like, 30?"

"I'm 25, dipshit."

"I just don't get why you're staying here."

"My apartment flooded," he finally answers. "And mom called me, anyways."

"She called you? Why?"

Eric patted the seat next to him. I hesitate to take the offer, but when I do, I find that our knees crash into each other. "How's the girlfriend?"

I watch the time on the stove change. I know my brother, and he isn't asking because he cares. My eyebrows twitch together. There's a simple answer. "She's fine."

"Last time we talked, you told me that you guys broke up."

"Well, that was last time. And this is this time. We're back together."

He nods slowly as if he isn't fully convinced. "When was that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, a few months ago maybe."

"You don't sound very happy about it, G," Eric observes, taking a quick swing of water.

"Sorry that I'm not jumping with joy," I shrug. "It's just normal. Nothing is exciting about it. Everything is just...well, it's fine."

"Fine?" he repeats. "Relationships are not supposed to be the most boring thing in the world you know that, right?"

I twist the ring on my finger. It's become a habit. "I never said it was boring. She makes me feel good. Being with Connie is easy. It's like...safe. There are no risks. Just how it should be."

"Wasn't she the one who cheated on you?"

Way to sugarcoat it, Eric. "That was a long time ago."

"Why would you get back together with her?"

"Because we were immature 13-year-olds. Neither of us knew what a real relationship looked like."

"And now you do?"

I glared at him for a long moment. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because you're 15 and a miserable little asshole," Eric says in that tone of voice that means I'm saying what everyone else is thinking so I don't have to be nice. "And I know mom wants to give you the benefit of the doubt and call it puberty-"

"Can we not talk about puberty?" I cut him off.

He continues like he didn't even hear me. "And she also told me that Mae moved to California--with Thomas."

I stare back at him. My throat is dry and I feel my palms start to sweat. A sudden sting hits my chest and my heart falls. Talking about it with Eric hurts more than talking about it with the Ducks. They don't know the person she was when she was seven. But Eric does. He knew her like she was his sister. He knew the people we both were before all of this. He knows how important we are to one another.  "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to say how you feel."

"She left two years ago. I'm not really feeling anything."

Eric shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. If there's one thing he's good at, it's getting stressed over nothing--all I did was answer the questions he asked. "You're so full of shit, kid. When I was 15, I was having the best time of my goddamn life! I was out with my friends. I was playing football and hitting on cute girls at the mall. I wasn't doing this whole moping around thing!"

"When you were 15, you had a dad and a best friend."

And I think that's all I really had to say to get my point across.

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a/n - I've been trying to write this chapter for almost two weeks and it was the most motivation-sucking thing ever. I feel like Guy is living in this grey area where he isn't happy but isn't sad either. The months passing by was the only thing that felt right.