You Again | Editing

Chapter 1

“Have you spoken to your father yet?” Nan asks me over breakfast, her aquamarine eyes alight with a hopeful glint. Pop sits across her, staring at me, awaiting my response. 

I wish I had better news for them, I really do. But, unfortunately, their son is living up to his name and being a total dick to me. So I shake my head weakly and tear my gaze away from theirs. 

“What about Luke or Jason?” Pop persists, and I shake my head again, keeping my eyes locked on my bowl of Captain Crunch. 

“Well, Leon, you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need to,” Nan reminds me, extending an arm and placing her hand on my shoulder, giving it a firm, reassuring squeeze. 

I nod to acknowledge what she said, and finish off my cereal, then head to my new bedroom past the dining room and down the hall.

Moving into my grandparents’ spare bedroom after a hard day’s worth of work wasn’t on my to-do list last night, but it happened. And now I’m here, living in my grandparents’ house, reliving the last couple of years of constant teasing and immature comments as I step through a pair of jeans.

It started when I was seventeen. Dad had taken me and the twins (my older brothers, Jason and Luke) out for a camping slash fishing trip. The trip started off great; we laughed over dumb shit, caught a decent amount of fish, and reflected over our past trips and other memories we shared together over campfires.

As the end of our trip started to near, Dad decided to direct the conversation to more serious matters, like wearing protection and reminding us all to get routine testing. One thing led to another, and eventually, everyone was sharing what their first time was like and who it was with. Everyone except for me. Because I was and still am a virgin in every sense of the word; I’ve never kissed, touched, made love, or had a girlfriend. 

Naïvely, I told my Dad and brothers that, and I’ve regretted it every day since. 

They’ve disrespected me by making my personal decision a mockery, they’ve ignored my requests to stop making jokes about it, and they’ve even went as far as questioning my sexuality. 

For the longest time, I ignored them. I thought they would eventually get tired of joking about it or that they’d run out of jokes to tell. As time went on, and I realized that the teasing wasn’t going to stop unless I spoke up, I told them that I found their jokes offensive and asked them to stop. 

It didn’t work.

And I was the one left feeling hurt and disrespected. 

But last night? My brothers took it too far and I lost my shit.

“Hey Leon, come here for a sec,” Jason called from the next room, his voice bouncing off the walls of the barren two-story home we’ve been renovating in preparation for our father to lease. Me, my Dad and brothers are licensed contractors and flip houses together for a living.