Page 123 of Meet Me at the Metro

32

STEPBROTHERS

E L L I E

My heart is thundering in my chest as I so quickly identify the person standing within the threshold of the dining room.

Connor.

Connor is Theo’s step-brother.

My palms go sweaty at the revelation, but I do my best to maintain an unbothered composure because I can feel Theo’s eyes pinned on me, and I have absolutely no idea how to go about this.

Thoughts swirl through my mind in a raging whirlwind.

How have I gone these past few months being around the two of them and not pieced all of this together?

My gaze locks onto Connor’s dark brown eyes for a beat too long, and my stomach twists into furious knots. As a tense silence settles over the room, I find myself comparing him and Kimberley’s features. With every second that passes, I find their undeniable similarities growing more and more evident. I swallow the lump that’s suddenly formed in my throat and force myself to blink, and finally look away.

Theo’s hand squeezes mine.I hate how my heart begins to race at the gesture and how I can’t seem to bring myself to look him in the eye right now.

Kimberley must notice the recognition in Connor’s and my eyes because she motions a manicured finger between us. “You two… know each other?”

Theo straightens beside me—back stiffening.

“Uhh, y-yeah,” Connor timidly answers. “We do.”

His eyes search mine for permission to explain our acquaintance further, but I’m too riddled with anxiety about how Theo is going to take me being best friends with his estranged brother to find it in me to say or do anythingat all.

How do I make Theo believe I truly had no inkling of this bizarre coincidence between the three of us?

“Ellie’s the one I’ve been giving piano lessons to.”

Theo coughs on his glass of wine beside me.

Connor gives him a wary look. “We’ve,umm—become really good friends.”

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Piano lessons?”Theo looks me dead in the eyes, and my whole mouth goes dry.

His wine glass meets the table with a forceful thud,and Connor tentatively shifts in the doorway. I can feel both of the brothers’ eyes boring into me as if I have an answer for either one of them.

“What a pleasant coincidence,” Kimberley says, either completely oblivious to the tension brewing inside the house or simply uninterested in it. She pats the seat beside her for Connor to take. “Well, come on then. Join us, will you?”

“I-I’m actually not that hungry, Mum.”

“Don’t be rude, Conn. Join us. We were just talking about the spring production.”

Connor nods tersely and sits beside his mom, careful not to look Theo directly in the eye as he does so.

Beside me, Theo’s glaring down at the plate in front of him as if it’s spoken as an insult.

A suffocating silence blankets the room for several agonizing moments before Connor clears his throat and attempts to converse casually. “You find a good monologue to audition with yet?”

“Not yet,” I answer, my voice strained. “I’ve got it narrowed down to three, though.”

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