Page 10 of Dear Brother's Best Friend
“How do you know this?”
Hayden waves off my question like this is common knowledge. If it was, how thick am I that I had to find out in a letter she wrote me?
“I found this on the floor in the hallway,” he pulls the yellow letter from Cassidy out of his back pocket.
There's a tiny gasp from the closet, and I know instantly from Hayden's dark expression that he knows just who is in there.
“Cassidy?” he asks, his tone sounding just like his dad’s when he was about to tear into us when we were kids. Cassidy doesn’t respond. “Cassidy, I know you’re in there. Come out now.”
She slips out from behind the door in her tiny sleep shorts and a tank top that makes it very clear that she's not wearing a bra.
Hayden lunges for me, and I dive out of bed and run to position myself behind Cassidy. I know it's a coward's move, but I don't have a leg to stand on here. I can't fight back. I’m in the wrong.
“Hayden stop,” Cassidy holds up her hands to block him.
"Move, Cassidy. I am going to kill him."
“No,” she snaps back and grabs the letter still in his hand. She looks down at the writing on the front and murmurs the name Lucy in such an exasperated way that Desi would have been proud. “Why are you reading mail that isn’t addressed to you.”
Now it’s Hayden’s turn to look abashed.
"As I said, I found it on the floor in the hallway."
She holds up the letter, so my name is facing out at him. "And there was a way for you to find out who this belonged to without opening up the letter?"
“I didn’t think—”
"That's right. You didn't think. You just opened it anyway!" She yells at him but then turns toward me. “And you! When did you get this?”
“The day I arrived,” I say softly, knowing there is no right answer in this scenario.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I guess I thought you sent it.”
“I’m confused,” Hayden tries to interrupt. “Did you or didn’t you send the letter?”
"I didn't, but my soon-to-be ex-best friend did."
“How do you know it was her?” I ask.
She holds up the envelope. “Lucy has a very distinct writing style. I’d know it anywhere.”
“We are getting off track here,” Hayden interrupts again. “What you do in here with Dylan?”
Cassidy laughs humorously. “Don’t try and delude yourself into thinking what you found in here is anything other than what it looks like. Dylan and I are sleeping together.”
Hayden lunges for me again, but Cassidy is quicker. She pushes him back.
“Stop acting like I need your protection. I’m not a little kid. I’m a grown woman.”
“He’s taking advantage of your feelings for him.”
"No, I'm not," I say. “I’m in love with her too.”
Both Hayden and Cassidy stop and look at me.
“You what?” Hayden asks at the same time Cassidy asks, “You do?”
