Page 10 of The Wrong Brother

I motion Mina to the bed farthest away from our mothers. We move down before we start talking.

“I agree with them but wasn’t this whole thing their idea to begin with? I’m not crazy, right? We definitely heard them, when we were teenagers, talking about the oldest getting married and how cute the babies would be because of how beautiful Catherine was?”

“For sure! I would have used those exact same phrases to recount it! I don’t understand how they can be so surprised and confused by them dating like they didn’t set things in motion.”

“None of this makes sense—not their surprise or our siblings dating.” I sigh, trying not to think about it. “Fuck it. There’s nothing we can do. Might as well get back to work.”

We’ve been working at weeding and tilling established beds for a couple of hours when I hear a car pull up. I stand, stretching my tight back muscles, and see Catherine launching herself out of Griffin’s car, covered in mud. She does a weird reach around and shimmy move, pulling her bra out of her dress and tossing it on the fence before standing, fully dressed, under our outside shower. What the hell? I cannot even begin to put together a scenario that ends with this outcome. The moms and Mina stand up too, eyeing the ruckus in the street. My mom heads over, stopping to talk to Griffin before going over to Catherine and walking her back to the house she grew up in. Auntie has already headed inside, probably to find her a change of clothes.

“Do you have any idea what they’re up to?”

Mina shakes her head. “I can’t even imagine what kind of date results in this.”

I gesture toward my brother. “You’re welcome to give it a shot. I’m feeling inclined to give him some space. He looks growly.” Griffin strips down to his underwear, carefully spraying off his clothes and shoes before standing under the water himself. Mina crosses the street towards him and I stride behind her, veering off to go inside the house to wash my hands and get some water before they make their way inside too. I needn’t have worried, neither of them even notice me, even though they walk right passed me more than once. There’s some serious sexual tension and I feel like a creepy voyeur being here unseen. I go back outside and give them space. Standing out in the yard, leaning against the rock wall with my face bent up towards the sky, is for sure preferable to whatever is happening inside. The sun is warm on my skin and the breeze is refreshing. I like the quiet but after a while, when they still haven’t come out, I feel compelled to go and see if Catherine is okay.

I let myself in and Catherine is sitting in a dining room chair while Mina braids her hair. She must have crossed the street while I had my eyes closed. And didn’t say anything.Ignore the sad feels.

“Rafferty? I, uh, didn’t know you were here.”

“Mina didn’t tell you? We came up here to help the moms with some gardening today. A little ‘ohana bonding on Prince Kuhio Day. What are you doing here?”

“I had to shower and nurse my wounded pride after a muddy disaster.”

I think she’s going to explain what she means but then Griffin comes in the front door and we go through all the initial exchanges again.

“What’s this I hear about a muddy disaster?” I ask my brother, tilting my head to one side and causing my curtain of hair to fall over my shoulder. It’s getting on my nerves today but I broke the only hairband I had on me.

“We went on a hike. It was your idea!” Griffin looks annoyed but he can’t possibly be as annoyed as I am. At least he went on a date with Catherine.

“When you texted me you were talking about taking the Empress?”

“Well, yeah. I took your advice, we went to Pu’u Ma’eli’eli.”

“You’re an idiot,” I groan. “When are you going to give it up already?” I mutter under my breath. None of us would be in this situation if that idiot would just admit to himself that he wants Mina. It’s so obvious. Even now, while complaining about the “date” going wrong, his body is turned toward Mina and he directs all of his words toward her. And Catherine? She hasn’t looked at him once. I have to know if Catherine responds to me or if I’ve just been building it up in my head because I want so badly for it to be true. Fuck, I want her to be different with me than with him. It’s eating me up inside.

Watching Mina braid Catherine’s hair gives me an idea. An excellent one, if I do say so myself. Ok, a pushy one. Maybe a slightly underhanded one. But we won’t know until we try and I am desperate to test the waters after recent interactions. I walk over, lift Catherine from the chair, take her spot, and sit her on my lap. The anxiety squeezing my chest relaxes its grip and I have to stop myself from audibly sighing.

“Do mine, Meens. It’s too warm to have my hair hanging down my neck.”

Now Mina is brushing my hair and Catherine is on my lap, my arms around her waist. She smells clean and sweet. Griffin looks more annoyed and I can’t even be bothered to care because Catherine feels too nice in my arms. She leans back into me, just slightly, but it’s enough to give me hope. Surely that means she’s comfortable with me. She’s doing that thing again where she absentmindedly strokes my forearm while her attention is elsewhere. Maybe I should feel guilty about doing this in front of my idiot brother, but I don’t. He needs to get a clue already. He is the wrong brother for Catherine. Or she’s the wrong sister for him. Either way, it still equals Griffin being a stubborn dumbass, even if I never get to be part of the equation.

“Why amIthe idiot, Raff? You’re the one that told me to hike,” he grumbles at me.

“Sure, but you didn’t give me any context. I never would have told you to go on a muddy two-and-a-half-mile hike if I had known you were intending to go with Catherine. That’s a terrible plan. If you had been more clear about what you were wanting, I would have told you to take Catherine to a beach—somewhere that she could surf for a bit and then curl up with a book. Even if I did pick a hike, I wouldn’t have done that one, not with all the rain.” I swear, it’s like he has never noticed a single thing about her! I don’t think she even likes hiking.

“I didn’t know it had been rainy!” Griffin runs his fingers through his damp, dark hair, a sure sign of frustration. Mr. Mad Musser.

Catherine stands up, shoots me her usual sweet smile, and starts pacing with her mug of tea in hand. They never did finish explaining what exactly happened on this disastrous date. I know it makes me a terrible brother, but I have my fingers crossed that this means the end of the forced dating relationship. Mina finishes braiding my hair and I ruffle hers. The vibe in here is strange and we take our leave, going back out to the garden, while our siblings leave in Griffin’s car.

I don’t want to think about Catherine and Griffin together. I don’t want to think about Griffin at all. My body is busy but my mind is remembering the feeling of Catherine in my lap. The exaggerated curve of her hips and her waist under my arms. The way she rested her hands on my forearms, unconsciously caressing my skin. Her soft floral scent and the warmth of her body. I could lose hours thinking about the way Catherine looks and feels and smells. I’ve already lost countless hours of my life thinking about how sweet she is and how good it feels to be around her. She’s always been the kindest, most naturally thoughtful person I’ve ever known. I understood that Catherine was different from other girls before I was old enough to drive.

* * *

At 14, Catherine is starting to look more like a woman and less like a little girl. At 13, I’m nothing worth noticing. Griffin, on the other hand, is about to turn 15 and is suddenly getting noticed a lot. He’s not a jerk about it but what guy wouldn’t like girls paying attention to him? In fact, he’s the reason we’re headed to a pool party. Joy, a new girl at school who lives in Laie, invited Griffin to her house for her birthday. Catherine was invited as well since Joy invited all the girls from their class. Her family is Mormon—if the fact that they live in Laie and have a house nice enough to have a pool didn’t give it away—so when Joy’s mom found out Catherine and Griffin had siblings at the same school, she included us. I don’t even care that it was a pity invite, I’m excited to be swimming in a pool. I can tell Griffin is nervous about the new level of attention he’s getting and he’s distracted because of it. I won’t be able to count on him as someone to hang out with. At least Mina will be there. I know we’ll have fun no matter what else is going on.

The party is full of people here I’ve never seen before. There are a ton of Mormons in Laie since it’s so close to the Hawai‘i campus of BYU and there’s a big church or temple or whatever they call it. I’m guessing the unfamiliar faces are their church friends. There are also familiar faces from school, but no one I’m interested in saying more than hello to. I snag beach loungers to sit next to each other and Mina gets us drinks from the cooler nearby. The older kids are congregated in smaller groups, pretty much entirely segregated by gender. Most of the girls are showing off their suits while pretending they’re not trying to get the attention of the guys. Catherine looks pretty in a blue one-piece with her hair hanging down her back. There are definitely guys looking at her but she’s busy talking and doesn’t notice. Her group is standing close enough to us to hear their conversation, even without trying to. There’s a girl I recognize from the bus standing next to Catherine. She’s in shorts and a tank top and she’s twisting her fingers, eyes darting around to the other groups.

“I don’t know how I missed that this is a pool party! I wish my mom hadn’t already left. I’d rather go home than be singled out as the embarrassing girl without a swimsuit! Catherine, what am I going to do? Do you think I could maybe convince someone’s parents to give me a ride home?”

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