Valerie

5 - Thomas

After dropping Marcus off, I reluctantly drive to one of my family's penthouses, in the Upper East Side. A steady flow of raindrops fall from the sky, blanketing the busy streets in darkness. I look up to the building. Every week was the same. I dreaded going, waited in my car for 10 minutes, ignoring the honks and beeps behind me before understanding that there was no way to escape these dinners.

This week was no different. I cleared the girl that had been constantly in my thoughts this past week from my mind and stepped out of my car. Before my foot could even hit the pavement, Daniel, the squeaky and nervous doorman rushed to take the car keys from my hand.

"Welcome home, Mister Verner." He said, passing the keys to another man dressed in uniform. Daniel was around fifty and had been working here for as long as I could remember. Despite this, he still didn't call me Thomas or act with any less nervousness around me. "It's been too long, sir." 

Not long enough is what I wanted to say but instead I settled on, "Yes, it has. Is my whole family here?" By that I meant my parents and my brother, not my sister. 

Daniel hesitated. "Your mother and John are here." He gave me a look. Of course my brother wasn't here.

Just as I was about to open the door to the lobby, I heard a familiar voice say, "Thomas!" My brother stumbled over to where I was standing. As soon as he came over, I could smell the stench of alcohol seeping out of him. He was drunk. As per usual for my brother, Henry. 

"Thomaaaaasss." He hiccupped then slapped me on the back. I grimaced from the impact. "Here for Mummy and Step-Daddy?" He sneered.

"You are too." I pointed out, preparing myself with having to drag him in with my own bare hands. Again. 

"Tooouche." He slurred, laughing. 

"It's touché." I grumbled, putting his arm over my shoulder. As we made our way to the door, I assessed the situation. 

My brother was drunk a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. He was three years older than me but acted nothing like it. I was the mature one, the serious one. He was the laid-back one. It was ridiculous. It had always been that way though. My brother never took anything seriously, even when we were kids. I was known for hating everyone and he was known for loving everyone and everything. Unfortunately, this loving extended to alcohol and drugs. After all, he had the money for it. Out of everyone on Earth, I am probably the least push-over out there but when it came to my brother, it was completely different.

And when it came to one girl. It was true. Valerie had constantly been on my mind since we first met. It was terrifying. And nothing scared me. I had never much paid attention to women. Every now and again, they would get a small glance from me, we'd fuck, and I'd part ways, making it clear of my intentions. I hadn't given Valerie a glance, I'd given her a double-take. Maybe even triple. This was bad. Very bad.

Especially considering that she hates me. The one girl I have genuine interest in hates me. The worst part was, I kind of liked it. It was refreshing to have the roles reversed. 

Drawing myself back to the present, I took a long look at my brother. I smelled the alcohol on his breath, but I realised that after about half an hour, he would be decent enough to be seen. After doing this so many times, it became second nature to me. 

As we walked into the lobby, I swerved to the left, taking him with me, to the bathrooms. I motioned for one of the security guys to stand by and he did. 

"Hey, hey, hey where are we going?!" Henry demanded. 

"We're just going to sit down for a bit." I pushed him onto one of the chairs in the overly decorated bathroom.