Anti-Stepbrother

I started laughing. Maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe it was wrong, but it began to bubble up inside me, and I couldn’t stop. The joke was on me, but it was on him, too. He didn’t think people knew. Everyone knew!

“What?”

I shook my head, still laughing. My shoulders started to shake. “Nothing. It’s—” More laughter. “Nothing. I’m sorry.”

But I couldn’t stop, and he glared at me, anger evident in his eyes.

After a few more beats, I was able to calm myself. “Is this what you did in high school? Do you really think you’re not going to get caught? You don’t realize everyone already knows?”

“What do you mean?”

“You date a girl, then at the five-month mark, you get bored. You start looking around for a new girl. Then you date both girls, thinking the girlfriend won’t know, but she always does. It’s always a nasty break-up. Everyone knew about it at school—”

“They did?”

“Yeah. And I’m sure you thought you were in love with them too, just like Maggie now. But Kevin, are you serious? People know. You brought her to the restaurant.”

“I don’t have another girlfriend now. And this town is big enough. I didn’t think it’d matter if she came to dinner or not.”

“Whatever. But she’s got a boyfriend. He went to your frat house the other night, looking for her. He knew she would be with you. Your fraternity brothers and I are the only reasons you didn’t get caught. How much longer do you think this will last? I mean, be realistic.”

He scratched his head again and shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re going to be more careful.”

I thought I’d take a stab at this. “You’re going to be together in her room and not yours?”

I thought he’d laugh and give me a more detailed plan of action. I thought he’d say, Oh, no, and proceed from there. He didn’t.

There was silence instead, and I had a second realization for this evening. The stepbrother I had loved, or thought I’d loved, for so long was a moron. There was no other way to explain his stupidity.

“Are you serious?” I asked. “That’s your plan? Instead of hanging out in your room, where Marcus actually wouldn’t have a reason to drop by, you’re going to hang out in her room, where he does have a reason to go. Because, you know, it’s his girlfriend’s room.”

“No.” Kevin shook his head, taking another step backward. “I mean, of course that’s not our plan. But Caden’s at my place. He lives there too.”

I snored. “You think Caden’s going to hang out in your room?”

Kevin didn’t reply right away. He seemed to mull things over before he asked, “What do you mean by that?”

I wanted to smack myself in the forehead. “He covered for you that night. He didn’t let Marcus inside.”

“He didn’t know—”

I cut in. “He knew. Trust me, he knew.”

“What do you mean?”

“I—”

No. I wasn’t doing this. I wasn’t going to explain that Caden had caught me, or questioned me, or given me a ride home from Marcus’ party. That was none of Kevin’s business, and even though it stung to admit it, he and Maggie weren’t my business either—except for the fact that I had COVERED FOR HIM! Okay. Breathe, Summer. Breathe. Calm down.

I counted down from ten to one, then tuned him out. If he said something during my calming time, it fell on deaf ears.

He was driving me nuts.

My feelings were still there, buried deep in my chest, but my God, I was learning how exasperating he could be at the same time. I couldn’t wait until those feelings were gone. I had a feeling I’d be looking at life in a new way.

Deep breath. Calming thoughts. Think Zen. Buddha. Boring-ass music. Yoga. Anything to lower your heart rate.

“You okay?”

“What?” I refocused and saw he was watching my hands. I looked down. I’d been fanning myself. “Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.”

He glanced behind him. “You know, it’s weird talking to you about this.”

“You don’t say.” No sarcasm there. Not one bit.

He nodded. “Listen, in case you run into Maggie or Marcus again, he’s not a bad guy. I don’t want you to think that, because he and his brother are popular on campus.” He lifted a shoulder. “Not that I’m not, but I’m not in their league. You don’t have to hate the guy or anything. I know you’re in my camp.”

I stifled a groan.

He continued as if he hadn’t heard me. “You know what I mean.” He peered at me, blinking a few times. “You’re going into sports medicine?”

My head moved back an inch. “You know my major?” Or my soon-to-be/I was hoping to declare major.

I lifted a hand to my chest. I’d talked to him about that graduation night. I hadn’t realized he’d actually been listening. He’d seemed focused on removing my shirt.

“My mom told me.”

“Oh.”

There was that then.

“Marcus is sports medicine too. You’re probably going to see him.”

That clicked.

He smiled for the first time tonight. “I don’t want to make things awkward for you.”

Awkward. For me. “How thoughtful of you.”

His smile grew, and he finally crossed to where I sat on the steps. ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">