Page 15 of The Wrong Brother

Now that I’ve decided to talk to her I’m anxious to do so. I grab my longboard and skate to her apartment building. There’s no answer to the knocks on her door. I’m debating whether I should wait here or go get some breakfast when my brother steps out of the elevator with Mina on his back. They’re both laughing and relaxed, at least until they see me. Then only Mina is smiling and Griffin looks like someone is force-choking him.

“Morning, Meens. What are you two up to? I texted but you didn’t respond so I thought I’d just stop by.” I smile, wondering what exactly had them laughing piggy-back in the hallway like a couple of kids, and look down at Mina. I’m confronted with nipples in a thin t-shirt. “Are you not wearing a bra?”

She unlocks her door while Griff makes a weird choking sound. ”None of your business, asshole. Stop looking at my tits!”

“I wasn’t trying to! They’re right there!”

Mina turns and looks at my older brother who is still standing in the middle of the hallway, frozen. She looks back at me, then at Griffin again and I can see the fury building. She calls his name a couple of times and he doesn’t respond at all. I get an angry stare that I don’t take personally before she yells “fuck this” and angrily enters her apartment with a loud slam of her door. Clearly, some shit has gone down and I unintentionally stepped into the middle of it. I’m going to need to figure out what’s happening, least of all because I wanted to talk to my best friend about my situation. I glance at my brother who at least has the decency to look shocked instead of merely frozen.

“Stay here, asshat. I’ll deal with you in a minute.” I pull out my key and let myself in. I think breaking our rules is called for in this instance.

“Mina!” I call from the doorway. “Are you ok? Did you maybe put a bra on in that last 30 seconds, for the sake of my delicate eyes?” I hear muffled noise from the bedroom. I’ll pretend that was her giving me permission to come in. I know Mina well enough to know she isn’t likely to be crying. Sure enough, I poke my head into her bedroom and she’s screaming into a pillow. “That’s thoughtful. I bet your neighbors appreciate your foresight.”

She pulls her face out of the pillow, glaring at me. “What are you doing in here?”

“I wanted to make sure you were alright. I don’t know what I stumbled on, but all that was missing was some flashy telenovela camerawork to heighten the drama. What did he do?”

She falls back onto the bed, throwing the pillow angrily across the room. “I’m as angry with myself as I am with him! Maybe more!”

“Ok, what did you do then? Do I need to punch you both? I can be an equal opportunity puncher, no judgment, just fists.”

“We had sex.”

“WHAT?!”

“Don’t yell, Raff. There’s another pillow if you need one. Think of the neighbors.” At least she’s calmed down enough to joke.

“You had sex with Griffin and you didn’t even text me?” I drop back on the bed next to her.

“My phone is dead. And I didn’t want any outside influences ruining the perfect bubble. Clearly, I was right to be worried about that.”

“How did this even happen?”

“Long story short: Catherine dumped him, he got super drunk, and Alex the waiter called me to come to get him. I walked him home and he yelled at me, I yelled back, then he kissed me and we had sex. A lot. Like, I imagine, if you hadn’t been here, we’d be having sex again right now.”

“Too much, Meens! Is this a good thing? A bad thing? Where are we at right now concerning the state of the thing?”

She groans, pulling another pillow over her face and punching it before turning her face to talk to me from underneath. “I don’t know! If you had asked me five minutes ago I would have said it was good. I felt seen and appreciated. He chose me!” She frowns. “Well, sort of. Maybe only by default. I don’t know, I was avoiding thinking about that part. Mostly because we are AMAZING together.” I must grimace because she apologizes before continuing. “Right. Internal editing engaged. You don’t want to hear about the sexing of your brother. But then he saw you and it was like he was embarrassed to be seen with me. Or like reality came crashing in and he remembered I’m a mistake. I thought we had a real connection; that it was special. I’m not anyone’s dirty little secret, Raff! Fuck that.”

“Will you be ok here by yourself?”

“I’m fine. Just angry.”

I press a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry. I’m going to check on him. Find out what is going on in that head of his. Plug your phone in and for the love of all that is good in the world, at least consider putting on a bra!”

I find Griffin in the hallway, slumped down against the wall, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He looks at me, his face reflecting the chaos that must be going on in his head.

“What the fuck, Griff?” I kick his leg and then plop down next to him.

“I don’t know,” he shakes his head in confusion. “I just… I don’t know.”

“Why did you act like that? Why did you go from laughing and carrying Mina to her door to imitating a statue in the hallway?”

“I said I don’t know! Fuck! I saw you and I fucking froze. Like my brain started short-circuiting and my body stopped working.”

Maybe it’s disingenuous, but I decide not to tell him that I know he and Mina slept together.

“I’m not going to lecture you or talk you through this whole thing. I don’t have the time or energy to hold everyone’s fucking hands today. YouhurtMina. You need to figure your shit out.”

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