The Space Between Us

Chapter 16 ~ Brother

---Holly's POV---

River was home from practice by 5:30 p.m., and he cooked a great pasta with noodles that I had bought at the grocery store. We used the leftover chicken, and he made a flavorful sauce. He liked cooking but was also good at it, not that I ever doubted him.

We worked on Professor Kindler's project after scarfing down the food. I brought out my tablet, and he had his laptop for research. I had to teach him about Photoshop and some other basic tools, but he got the hang of the technology faster than I'd thought.

We talked through designs and what company to choose. Then I made a few mock-up poster designs, and he tried to help with his own input. His ideas were trash, but I listened anyway to make him feel good.

After an hour, I called it quits because I had other homework to do.

"I do too," he said. "We can... both work here."

"Okay," I said, nodding. I hoped he didn't notice the blush growing on my face.

And so, River and I worked on homework for another two hours at the dining table together. We didn't really speak at all, but I was happy with this. We'd come a long way from when we first met.

I glanced at River. He was a jerk in the beginning, and he fit the image of an arrogant soccer player that I had in my head. But now, he made me feel bad for judging him too quickly. I didn't know him well enough yet; there must've been something to make him not trust me.

My phone buzzed. And then it buzzed again, and again. I was getting a phone call. I looked at my phone screen.

Not just any phone call - a Facetime request from my brother.

Oh, dear.

"Can you leave for a second?" I said in a panic, standing up as though a bolt of electricity shot through my body.

"What?" River also stood up, completely bewildered.

Poor thing. He had no clue what I was doing, but he let me push him into his bedroom. I shut the door behind him.

"Stay!" I shouted. "And be quiet! Uh, please!"

I answered the call.

"Aiden!" I said with a huge smile on my face.

"Holly!" my brother said, matching my energy. He seemed to be in a car, the windows heavily tinted. "It's been a while! How are you doing?"

"I'm good," I replied, the smile still on my face. I hadn't seen Aiden in nearly a year, and these Facetime calls were as close as I could get to him. They made me so happy. "Want to see my new apartment?"

"That's why I called!" Aiden said.

I gave him a quick tour of the living room and kitchen and my room. I fed him the same lie that I told Alice and James that the other closed door was a closet.

"And that's it," I said.

"It looks great!" Aiden exclaimed. "I can't wait to see the mess that it'll become after a year of school."

"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes as he laughed on the other end. "Just wait; I'll keep it clean."

"Sure, sure."

I took a second to study him. His blonde hair, the same shade as mine, was neat and swept to the side. It had gotten longer since I last saw him. He had some bags under his eyes, but his eyes were still shining the same bright blue as mine.

I heard a creak and whipped around. River was opening his door slowly.

I ran over and slammed it shut. I heard River make a noise and stumble backward into his room.

Aiden frowned. "What was that?"

"Uh... my friend is here."

"Oh! Can I meet-"

"NO!" I shouted. Aiden tilted his head. "She's in the bathroom right now! She has some gas problems, so... she might be in there a while..."

"I see."

"A-anyway, how are you?" I said, desperate to change the subject.

"Lots of work recently, but it'll be worth it soon," Aiden explained. "Have you watched the new Radical movie yet?"

"Yes!" I said, nodding excitedly. "It was so good!"

"You didn't get confused?"

"I mean... a bit, but..."

Aiden laughed, and I did, too.

We geeked out over the movie, I talked about some of my classes, and then he had to go. We said our goodbyes and hung up. The call was much too short, as always, especially when I realized I had talked for a lot of it. I felt immediately guilty that I hadn't let him speak as much as I had.

I hear the creak of the door again.

"Geez, what was that for?" said River, rubbing his head.

"Sorry, my brother was calling me, and I didn't want him to see you," I said.

"You're scared of telling your family that you live with a boy, huh?" River smirked.

"Hey, I'm protecting you from them!" I exclaimed. "You don't want my brother to know."

"I believe you," said River with a shake of his head. He was grinning, though. It was nice to see. "Do you need the shower now?" he asked.

"Go ahead," I told him with a wave of my hand.

He grabbed his shower stuff and went inside the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. I went back on my phone and saw some texts from Alice and James in our group chat.

Alice: We should go to the soccer game this Saturday! It's their first home game of the season

James: I'd love to. What time?

Alice: Starts at 5pm

Alice: Holly, you in?

I sighed. I guess there was no avoiding going to the game. The three of us had attended the soccer games fairly regularly in the past, but this time was different. This time, I was living with the star player...

I texted back: Sounds good

Contemplating whether I should apologize, I finally gave in and went back into my messages.

To Aiden, I sent: I'm sorry for talking so much about myself on our FT call. Next time, interrupt me!!

Almost immediately, to my surprise, I got a text back from Aiden that read, don't worry! I called you so that I could hear from you. I can always tell you about my boring stuff later. stay safe, have fun, and I'll hopefully see you soon!

Thinking of myself as the luckiest sister on the planet, I smiled into my phone as I replied.

Then I threw my phone into the couch and tried not to think about the game weekend.