Just Friends

54

⊱𝙻𝚎𝚟𝚒⊰

Here's the thing about relationships.

If something isn't done properly—even the smallest thing—someone can feel neglected. Unappreciated. Frustrated and confused.

Usually, what fixes this is communicating through the issue and going along a plan that is made to prevent said issue from arising once more.

Bryce and Charlie don't know how to communicate.

I don't know if it would've mattered anyway. Maybe it would've. But we'll never know.

I stand in the doorway helplessly as I stare down at my brother on the ground against the opposite wall. His knees are to his chest and his head is dropped down on his arms.

He almost looks like a child, sat there as he cries to himself. And it looks a little too familiar.

I don't like it.

His room sparkles with multicolored glitter. In his drawers, across the carpet, on his bed, the closet, his dresser, everywhere. Which is why he's in my room. And will be until I can get every spec of glitter out of his goddamned room.

I knew there was something wrong about it all. The way she grinned at the ring. The way she wouldn't quite smile at him.

She said she wanted to hurt him as bad as he did her. And she's succeeded. I should've listened to her when she told me.

A soft hand lands on the spot between my shoulder blades. I can't bring myself to look to my right.

"All of her things are gone." Tess whispers. Her hand starts to rub back and forth against my back as if I'm the one she left with a simple Fuck you, asshole text.

I step away from Tess wordlessly. She doesn't say anything, lingering in the doorway while I step over to Bryce.

I walk up to his left side and kneel down with him. It's what I did when he was ten and came home crying about something a classmate said about our dad, and it's what I do now. Because I don't know what else to do. I don't know what to tell him.

There's a harsh truth to this all. It's hard to explain to a ten year old that his classmate wasn't fully wrong. Our dad isn't here. And how can I give him coping skills when I didn't have any myself?

It's hard to tell him there's a reason for this. What she did. She was still hurting from what he'd done to her, and I can't say I blame her for leaving. And I can't tell him I'm mad at her too because that's not really fair.

So, what is there to say to him?

I take a breath as I shift to sit crisscross beside him with my back against the wall. I tilt my head back against the wall and look at Tess who still stands there for me.

At least Charlie waited for a second nurse to be hired. That doesn't make what's happened okay, but my mom is covered. At least she cared enough to do that.

I think I'm biased with my anger towards her then. At least partially.

She led him on. Made him think everything was going to be okay. And, apparently, was with him. I think that's what I hate the most about it all.

I don't care to think about that part of my brother's life, but I can't stop thinking about the concept. The fact that she'd been with him, fully aware that she was leading him on and planned on crushing him in the near future. There's something more vulnerable about that. It's something I don't want for my brother.

Not to mention the damn wedding. She stayed engaged with him for weeks, smiled as he talked about getting the venue she said she wanted. Giggling when he promised her whatever she so much as smiled at.