A Little Something Different

October (Sam - Gabe's brother)

Sam- Gabe’s brother

I’m about to leave the student center when I notice Gabe hiding in the corner in the back, almost out of sight behind the stairs. Our mom keeps bugging me to keep an eye on him, even though I keep telling her that he’s fine.

I sit down opposite him. “I didn’t even realize there were seats back here.”

He doesn’t seem to notice, so I knock on the table and he startles, pulling out his ear buds and looking over at me.

“Hey,” he says. “I didn’t hear you.”

“Shocker.  I was just saying that I didn’t even know there were seats back here.”

He looks around like he had no idea where he was sitting. “I think they must have added them recently. I like it though. Out of the way.”

I nod. “How’s it going?”

“Alright.”

“What are you up to?”

“I’m supposed to meet up with my creative writing critique partner.”

“Are you working with that chick Lea?”

“Nah, with the most annoying girl in the world. I wish it was Lea.” And from the face he’s making I believe him. Unfortunately, the older brother in me rears its ugly head.

“So you do like her!”

He rolls his eyes.

“Have you talked to her yet?”

“No.”

“I talked to her the other day.”

That gets his attention. “What? What did you say to her Sam?”

“Nothing, I swear!” I hold up my hands in surrender.

He glares at me. “You promise you weren’t an ass?”

“Promise.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

We’ve come to a stalemate, but I decide proceed anyway.

“You should talk to her. She’s nice.”

He shrugs.

“Come on man, why not?”

“You know why,” he says. And I do know why, but it seems to me that all of his issues are kind of dumb and I’m allowed to think that because I’m his brother. “Let’s talk about something else, anything else.”

“How’s the life of an academic residence mentor, or whatever word salad title you have?”

“It's not easy. I had this girl come see me crying the other night about her calc class. I've never taken calc, pre-calc was more than enough for me. So I kind of had no advice to give her.”

“That's tough.”

“It is. I feel kind of bad for the kids because they kind of got me by default you know? If I hadn't lost my scholarship they would have someone more useful.”

“I'm pretty sure the school wouldn't have given you this title if they thought you were useless.”

“And I'm pretty sure the school gave me the position because they felt bad for me.”

“But still,” I say, trying to grasp for something, anything, to pull him out of this spiral of self-pity that I can sense brewing. “You have a single.”

He chuckles at that. “Very true.”

“Having a single sounds kind of amazing.”

He looks at me with his eyebrows raised.

“It’s been a long three years of Casey farting in his sleep.”

Gabe laughs at that.

“Want to give me a swipe to the dining hall?” I ask, realizing that I haven’t eaten in like a thousand years and that I have no food in my house.

“Nah, I have to meet up with the most annoying girl in the world, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right. How did you get stuck with the most annoying girl in the world?”

He wrinkles his nose. “She asked me to work with her and I had no idea how to say no. I was so shocked that it wasn’t Lea asking that I fell into some kind of fugue state.”

“Why is she so annoying?”

“Well, for starters, she thinks Portugal is in South America.”

I shake my head and laugh.

“That’s tough dude,” I say.

“Life is tough sometimes,” he says, like a wise old man.

“It is, but,” I stop myself. I look at him, at the way he has books spread all over the table and the crease of concentration in his forehead. “It doesn’t have to be as hard as you make it. And I know you hate when I say it and I might just be … pissing into the wind and I don’t want to start a fight, but you could like, let other people help you with stuff sometimes.”

He stares at me and for a second I think he might cry.

“I know,” he says finally.

“Good, as long as you know.”

“I really do. That’s why I started seeing a therapist.”

“Good for you,” I say, a little surprised. But I knew that my parents had been encouraging him to do just that. Before we can make this a Hallmark moment, I catch sight of a girl whose smile is so broad it has to be fake.

“I’m going to guess that’s your partner,” I say, gesturing with my chin.

“Yes,” he says, shoulders deflating. “Unfortunately.”

I rush out of there then with just a quick wave over my shoulder. I’m not in the mood to meet the most annoying girl on earth.