Page 23 of Letters to Lily

“You know, step in with this chick and take over with this other dude’s baggage?”

“I’m going to introduce you to her one day, and talking to her for like five minutes will be enough to make you understand.”

“She’s all that, huh?”

“Yeah, but just remember that I was there first.” He winked in my direction as I pulled into the diner.

“No problem there, man. I’m nursing my own broken heart still.”

“Hearing all these sad sack stories, I’m thinking maybe I should stop drinking the water around here.”

I laughed at my brother’s assessment. “Maybe that’s what it is. Bottled water it is from now on.” We walked into the diner and settled into a booth along the windowed wall looking out towards the university campus. “Man, I missed school. Never thought I’d say that shit, but I will be glad to get back to it in a couple weeks.”

“Yeah, I bet. I can’t imagine taking a semester off and trying to get in the swing of things again. What’s your major anyway?”

“I’m a dual major, actually. Business and art.”

“Is one your fall back?”

“Nah, I am hoping to start a tattoo studio after graduation. I already have a lot of the equipment, and hell, I’ve given half the student body here tattoos over the years. Started with it in high school a bit and kept right on. The art side is my passion, obviously. I wanted to learn all about being able to run a successful business though; because once I open a studio, I want it to fly. Actually, I want to be able to one day open up a chain of them across the country where I can run the business, but be able to travel and go do guest spots in any of the studios I wish.”

“That sounds like a lofty damn goal, man.”

“Yeah, it is, but I refuse to see it as out of my reach. I have plans for the future. My girl has always wanted to travel. She takes these amazing pictures, and I wanted to be able to get her to as many places as possible.” I stop cold at the mention of Sasha again. “That, of course, was before everything went to shit on me. Now, I still have the same goals, just one person short in the original plan.”

“Damn man.” Brad looks hurt for me as the waitress strolls up in the perfect moment to distract from the emotions that I can’t seem to get out of my head or my heart. It didn’t escape me that I had just referred to Sasha as my girl in the present tense. Some days there was no denying that moving on wasn’t even beginning to happen for me.

“What’s it going to be guys?” Our perky blond waitress asked while blatantly checking the both of us out.

“I’ll just grab the burger special and a sweet tea,” Brad says as he flips his menu to the end of the table. The waitress nods, and seeing that I’m not quite ready she strikes up conversation with him to give me a minute.

“Aren’t you always in here with that pregnant girl, the one that’s always bent over her diary or whatever?” The question seemed harmless enough, but her tone was definitely saying something else.

“Yeah, I am.” His admission was quick and to the point. There was also no missing his tone. It was the one that said back off, because if you say the wrong thing in the wrong way this will not end well for you.

“Oh, I thought I recognized you was all. She’s in here a lot more than you are, so I wasn’t sure.”

“Mm hmm,” was his only response as they both turned to look in my direction.

“I’ll just have the same thing he’s getting,” I decided since I hadn’t been able to really focus on the menu.

“Sure thing, hot stuff.” With that she took our discarded menus and sashayed off with hips swinging.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty sure her tone was more to do with feeling out which one of us was available,” I told Brad which brought grins to both of our faces.

“Yeah, I figured as much. She had that hungry look in her eyes. Then again, might just be a slow day and she’s bored.”

“Nah, we’re fine specimens. She just couldn’t decide. Give her a minute, tell her you’re single, and she’ll probably be asking how we feel about a threesome.”

The tips of Brad’s ears and his cheeks actually flushed with a tinge of red as his embarrassment grew. “Damn man, I just…” He shook his head. “Okay, this is a little weird for me. I’m sitting across from a dude who is, no kidding, my long-lost brother who I haven’t seen since before I can remember. The image of us in a bedroom with that chick together all sweaty and shit…” he chuckled. “Yeah, not one I needed in my head today, or ever.”

I laughed right along with him. “Look at it this way, we’re breaking the ice in really well and getting all that awkward shit out of the way. See, I’ve already checked a few things off my list. One,” I raised a finger in the air. “If I decide to try to get over my broken heart one day, you’re clearly not competition, because you have your ready-made family waiting on you.” He huffed out a laugh on that one as our waitress brought over our sweet teas and set them down. She lingered a little too long, but when neither of us acknowledged her she finally moved on. “Two, and I’m thankful to say this one, I don’t need to worry about you wanting to get naked in the same room with me. That’s a good thing, brother or not.” This time he choked on the sip of sweet tea he’d just attempted to drink. “And three is that we seem to have the same sense of humor at least, so I’m thinking we’ll be able to build an easy friendship.”

Brad and I spent the next 15 minutes scarfing down our burgers and fries, and then two hours telling stories about what growing up was like for each of us. “Why in the hell did you end up here in North Carolina?”

“Two reasons. The first being that Northbrook offered me an athletic scholarship. I’m a running back on the football team. That was the other reason I needed to meet later in the day. I had practice this morning.” That made sense, because he was definitely in great shape. “The second was because I wanted to track you down. Last time we heard from my dad, our dad, he mentioned to my mom that you were getting ready to start college here.”

“Wait, did you transfer, or what?”

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