𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐲

Chapter 78

— Chapter 78 —
The Fool

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E L L I O T

I stepped out into the night air to overhear the sounds of quiet sniffling.

"Oh, you know how they are," a voice chuckled weakly from behind the corner of the walkway. It was Mariella, sitting to the left of the stairwell, a phone pressed up to her ear. She had a crumpled tissue in her spare hand. "Barely a day in and they're already at each other's throats."

I stopped a few paces beside her, leaning awkwardly against the wall. I didn't want to interrupt her call, but I'd come too far to go back into the apartment now.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she replied, to a voice I couldn't hear. She wasn't fine though—not really. Her eyelids were red, puffy, glistening with the residue of fallen tears. "How's Emma? Hope she didn't drive you too crazy today."

She must be talking to her husband.

Mariella managed a small smile. "Okay. Did you remember to give her goodnight kisses from me?" An answer of some kind, then, "Alright, alright. I love you too. Bye."

She tucked her phone back in her pocket and sighed, forehead falling to her knees. Strands of her dark hair were gently tousled by a passing breeze.

My footsteps must've been too heavy as I approached her at that moment. "I want to be alone, Noah," she grumbled.

"Um... not Noah."

Sitting up at the sound of my voice, Mariella pushed the hair out of her face and let her gaze narrow in my direction. Her expression didn't harbor any resentment. At least none that I could decipher.

"Oh," she uttered. "It's you."

I scratched the back of my neck. "Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Her fingers delved into the pocket of her sweatpants and emerged with a small packet of cigarettes. She picked one out of the box, burnt up the end with a lighter, sucked in a breath of smoke and left the packet to sit by her foot.

"I'm fine," said Mariella. "Sorry you had to see that nightmare of a dinner."

I took that as my cue to sit, shifting to occupy the empty space beside her on the set of stairs. "Believe it or not—not the worst dinner I've been to."

"Really?"

"I didn't have any siblings, so after my mom died, my dad was the only other person at the table. Most of our family dinners ended up with cutlery being thrown across the table. Usually at my head." I almost laughed at my own candor. But Mariella didn't seem to share in the comedic nature of what I was saying, her blank stare compelling me to hear the weight of my own words. "Uh, sorry. That was really dark. I don't know why I said that."

She waved a hand. "No, no—it's fine. I suppose I find it comforting to know that my family isn't the only disaster out there."

"Those two," I asked, "have they always been like that?"

She exhaled smoke, thankfully in the opposite direction of where I was sitting. "I suppose it only gets worse the longer they're apart. Noah's always been protective of Jasper, and Jasper really looked up to his brother, but... I don't know anymore. I think their age difference coupled with the long distance really chewed holes into their relationship. I thought bringing Jasper along would help fix that, but I see now that maybe I was wrong."

"I'm sure that's not true. They might have their differences, but that's normal between brothers, isn't it?" As if you would know, a little voice belittled me. "I never had one myself, but... it's obvious to me that they both just want the best for each other. Sure, their way of communicating could probably use a little work, but... baby steps."