Gerard

Having my brother around was a huge improvement on the mood in my house. I was used to being alone and the quietness of my home never bothered me, but somehow, having a loud-mouthed companion was a welcome change. That day started out strangely with the equally-strange kid, but progressed to an exciting day due to my brother’s presence.
Mikey spent the whole afternoon fixing his room while I went out and shopped for groceries and take-out for lunch. I knew this kid didn’t have much money because he was a reckless spender, so I never expected him to help with the bills or other things. Besides, I was well-paid by Patrick, so living with my brother would be easy, at least money-wise.
The only thing that bothered me was the reason why he wanted to stay for the summer. I knew there was something deeper that he wasn’t telling me. For a change? Fuck, this kid loves our family home so much. There’s a real reason why he left and that’s what I needed to find out.

“Mikes you need to tell me why you’re staying,” I asked him before taking a huge gulp of my second can of soda. I was leaning on the door frame and trying to play it cool. I wanted him to open up naturally to me.

“I told you, I want change. This is the last summer before my last year in high school and I figured out I should try to stay away from home to adjust, you know? College will be here soon and I wanna make myself used to being alone. Or away from home,” he explained.

I watched him smooth out the creases in the bed sheet. His brows furrowed as he spoke. He didn’t even look at me and I could tell he was hiding something. I was about to ask him again when he turned and looked at me.

“I also want to… be close to you again, you know? It’s just, ever since you went away, I was always alone at home. I know you left years ago and what I’m saying is silly but, even though you’re really mean to me sometimes, I know you’ve got my back.”

His words were laced with sadness and I couldn’t help feeling a little sad too. The change in his emotions shocked me, but his words hit home. I knew I wasn’t being the best big brother to him ever since I left to live on my own. I understood what he was trying to say, so I walked towards him and hugged him. That kind of gesture normally felt awkward to me, but it didn’t then. My baby bro missed me, and I missed him too. What’s wrong with a hug? I’d hug the living shit out of this little punk if it made him happy.

“Try and fucking laugh, Mikey, I’ll break your weak-ass spine,” I told him as we hugged.

“I won’t, fake hair, even though you stink.” I broke out of the hug and slapped his shoulder. He laughed at me. I joined his laughter too and silently promised myself that I’d find out what was really bothering my baby brother.

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After a really late lunch, Mikey went to sleep. In all honesty, he impressed me once again as he managed to turn my small spare room to something beautiful just by arranging things smartly. That kid had a gift for design, he should study something art-related like I did.
Meanwhile, in my alone time, I was in my room facing my laptop and just blankly staring at the cursor blinking at me. I had planned to write, but nothing came up. I closed the laptop and lied down on my unmade bed. Gee, you gotta think fast for the story if you want to have a chance at it.
My mind just drifted to random places and I let it take me to worlds where life was different and I wasn’t living alone. Surely, by now, you’d think I’d have my life figured out. The truth is, I didn’t. Aside from my greatest dream of being a well-known writer, nothing else was clear for me. Fuck, I didn’t even know what to do after this plan of writing something worth publishing. The only thing I knew then was the drive to succeed. Aside from that, nothing.
Some days, when times were getting stressful as fuck, I’d think about the good things that could happen to me. Of course, that was a long list since I established myself as a dreamer but for some reason, it wasn’t that kind of day.
I lied on my bed thinking of random things when an object on my bedside table caught my attention.
It was the emo kid’s TMI book. I smiled, picked up the book, and read a few pages of it. It would have been so nice to get lost in the story right then, but I knew that wasn’t possible. The owner of the book kept popping into my mind with every page that I turned.
I’m the kind of guy who would normally brush off casual encounters with strangers like that. But that kid wasn’t just some stranger. He was… something. The way he averted his eyes while talking to me, and the way he blushed when he looked at me was interesting. As a writer, I have this ability to look at a person and see way beyond what other people can see of them. It was natural to make assumptions about him because of his actions, so I made one. He was attracted to me. It wasn’t difficult to come to that conclusion. He showed signs; not looking directly at me when talking, and when he did, he stared like I was something out of this world. The way he seemed to be so tense, and the blushing. Don’t even get me started with the blushing.
I wasn’t being an egoistic fuck and assuming that every person who looked at me would be attracted to me, but I knew one when I saw one. And that kid was no exception.
Suddenly, I felt the need to see him again. My mind kept telling me that something was up with that kid, and I wanted to find out. He seemed like a good person and at that point, making a friend wouldn’t hurt.
I decided I’d look for him the next day. It was a plan. Maybe something for my story would come up when I was out looking for him so I gave myself a break that day to just rest and let myself get lost in another world through his book.

Notes

I feel like no one's reading this anymore. Can you comment so I know? Thanks so much and take care ♥