Page 66 of I Blame the Alcohol

“Anyways, with the exception of your sex life try and keep me in the loop moving forward. You can come to me for anything.”

“I know. Thank you, Mo.”

“Don’t thank me. You know what you’re signing up for with my sister.” He winks, tossing me a picture-perfect apple from the bowl on the kitchen counter.

“Hurry up and eat. I want to kick your ass playing one-on-one again.”

I catch the apple, the green surface shiny enough to show my smiling reflection.

“Whatever, old man. You only won because I was taking it easy on you.”

Mo raises a disbelieving eyebrow and I give my middle finger.

Stella

The bedroom door opens just in time for the foam bullet to hit my brother right between the eyes.

Bullseye.

From my precarious location, I see Mo do a sweep of the room, looking for my hiding spot. His eyes linger on my usual spot by his closet when I let another shot fly.

Pop!Another head shot to my kill score.

Mo quickly zeroes in on my position with a smirk before walking over and holding out his hand for a weapon.

“Nuh uh. This is an ambush. You don’t get to retaliate.” I fire off another shot, but he dodges it, jumping onto the bed and snagging the toy gun from my hands.

“Hey!”

Shimmying along Mo’s upper bedpost, I swing my legs over the side and throw myself onto the thick navy comforter below. By the time I sit up, Mo has reloaded and is firing shot after shot at me.

I roll along the mattress, foam bullets pelting my back along the way. My feet hit the floor and I dash towards my brother, throwing all my weight against his legs. Mo stumbles and I sweep his legs out from under him, knocking his large frame to the ground.

We wrestle for the toy gun until we are both covered in carpet burns and Mo stands up in victory.

“I win!” Mo grins at me, his chest heaving with exertion.

“But did you see that tackle I made?”

“That was super sweet. My back didn’t appreciate it, though.”

I wheeze out a laugh, walking over to give my big brother a hug. Mo wraps his arms around me, his signature cologne filling my senses.

“You okay, Stel?”

“He makes me happy, Mo. Happier than I’ve been in a long time.”

Mo sighs, releasing his hold, “That’s not what I’m asking.”

His gaze searches mine and it finally dawns on me what he’s asking.

“I’m hovering around okay. I’ve been missing mom a lot recently. Starting university without her just feels wrong.” My tear ducts start to burn as I think about all the events my mother will never get to hear about.

All the people she will never get to meet.

“I know it’s hard.” Mo stares at me sadly, his eyes dry as the day he told me my mother was never coming home.

There have always been inequalities between my father’s expectations of Mo and me, but thanks to my chromosomes, I managed to skip the lessons on masculinity. My brother and his shrivelled-up tear ducts were not so lucky.

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