still ill • michael gray

Chapter 6

I feel like I *should* have a playlist for this but there's only really a couple songs I listen to when I'm writing this. I guess one that really stands out to me and is just a pretty song is racing in the street by bruce springsteen. It's just kind of sad and sweet and goes along with the whole michael gray vibe in my opinion. The whole darkness on the edge of town album in general is pretty good. Except for adam raised a cain. That's song sucks ass. I also *should* cast Bea, but I really don't feel like it, maybe I'll go searching the faceclaims, but I'm not going out of my way to do it because I really don't feel like it's that relevant.

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My imprisonment has finally ended and I'm ready to go out and stretch my legs. My brother Jack and his girlfriend Harper have just arrived from Cambridge so they can travel up to the Hamptons with the whole family. I'm due to have lunch with them.

Jack is a terribly optimistic person. He's in his first year of law school at Harvard, and he thinks that as a lawyer he's going to save the world. Frankly, I think he should've been an artist. At twenty three he's four years older than me—the same age as Michael—but he doesn't act like it. My parents' babying of him when we were young has left him incredibly naive. It is strange thinking that him and Michael are both twenty three, because perhaps due to his upbringing, Michael seems ten years older. In recent years though, Jack has fallen out of favor with my father. I wouldn't doubt because he's finally caught onto his son's naivety. That's why he's staying in a hotel and not with the family in New York. I'm sure another reason could be that he wants to be alone with Harper.

Harper's a nice girl. She's going to the Radcliffe College, the women's portion of Harvard, to be a writer. How she got in is beyond me. Growing up to a wealthy tobacco farming family in the South, she didn't go to one of the fancy prep schools that the other girls at Radcliffe did. She got in on practically her writing ability alone. I think in a way Jack lives through her vicariously. She's becoming the artist that he never could be. They've been together for three years now, and everyone's shocked they haven't decided to get married yet. Jack's aforementioned naivety is more than likely the reason he hasn't proposed yet. She doesn't seem to mind though. They both have two years left of school, which puts her at only a year my senior, and while he's happy to take his time growing up, she's happy to wait for him.

In reality they're perfect for each other on the inside and out. Harper likes to mother people, and my brother likes to be mothered. She cooks for him every night, and she is a fantastic cook, does his laundry, takes care of him when he's hungover. She's downright gorgeous too, like any proper southern woman she puts heavy emphasis on her public appearance. Her bright blonde hair is always perfectly done without a single strand out of place, her perfectly outlined piercing blue eyes always stand out. It's only natural that my brother would be madly in love with her.

Michael will also be joining us for lunch, and I expect this meeting to go much smoother than the one with my father. This will be the first time I've seen him after the two weeks of being locked up. I couldn't be more excited to see him again.

I'm the first to arrive at the restaurant, and Michael arrives soon after. I smile at him warmly as he approaches the table. He leans down and kisses my temple before taking a seat next to me.

"How have the past two weeks been?" he asks softly, "Sorry I wasn't able to call a few nights, I was busy."

"I've missed having someone I can talk to and be brutally honest with," I murmur, "and I've missed just spending time with you. Sleeping alone really blows too."

He laces his fingers with mine, "Tell me about it."

"How bad was it?" My brows furrow in concern.