Page 17 of Brighton

Jon eventually says his goodbyes with a meaningful pause at Elias, before shaking hands with Exton. “Still on for tomorrow, Ex?”

“Sure thing. See you at nine.”

By round number three or four—I’ve lost count—the real stories are coming to the fore. The ones that had been kept secret.

“She busted me with a Playboy.” Layton confesses. “The magazine, not a model.”

“Not sure you needed to clarify that one.” Braxton’s sarcasm is thick and obvious.

Layton whips his head to our oldest brother before launching a half-eaten celery stick right at his face. Brax tries to dodge it, but takes it on the chin before it falls to the floor. Luna lumbers over to swipe it.

“Shut up,” Layton retorts. “I was fifteen. Do you know the kind of talk I got from that?”

“I do,” Pop laughs. “Tell them what she did. It was classic Emilia.” He pauses, swallowing hard, and the mood goes serious for a moment before Layton continues.

“She.. God, this is so embarrassing. She sat next to me on my bed and opened the magazine and studied each picture. With every one, she turned and looked at me, asking me what I thought of the girl. Did I think she was pretty? Did my thoughts of her include her being intelligent? What was her strongest subject in school? What did I think of her pose? Why did I like it?”

I sit, horrified, but impressed at my mom’s chutzpah.

Braxton and Exton look appalled but neither can hide their snickers at Layton. Pop barks a laugh.

“It was horrible. You have no idea. And then… Then— I can’t even.” He looks around, and I swear his face blushes. “Then she said… She said Playboy was around when she was that age and she could’ve posed. Would I have looked at that?”

Eli shifts uncomfortably as if he doesn’t know how to react.

“That’s my girl,” Pop says, lifting his glass in a silent toast. “She said you were so red and were so uncomfortable that she figured she made an impression. But she went on further just to make a point. She named all the girls and gave them a backstory, just to watch you squirm.”

Layton looks indignant. “She did that for fun? Just to embarrass me?”

“You didn’t bring another dirty magazine into her house, did you now?”

Braxton holds his stomach he’s laughing so hard.

“Think that’s funny, do you, Brax? Wanna tell them about her finding your condoms?”

Brax groans and throws back the contents of his cup. “Need a refill. Anyone? No? Just me then…” He rushes the words out as he gets up to head to the kitchen, but Pop doesn’t let him off the hook.

“She asked him to explain how they worked.”

The whole room groans. But it’s Eli who hollers into the kitchen, “You’ve never told me this story. What did you say, Brax?”

“I told her I didn’t know.”

“And she said?” Pop prompts, egging him on.

Braxton walks back into the room, practically reliving the conversation if his posture and dipped chin are anything to go by. “She said she could hardly believe that since I had a box of twelve and there were only nine left.”

“How’d she know that?” Exton asks.

A groan escapes my eldest brother. “Because she counted them.”

Pop laughs out loud as my brothers let out a collective groan.

“Then she said if I didn’t know what they did or how they worked, she would explain it to me.”

“Boner killer,” Layton mumbles under his breath.

“Seriously,” Braxton grumbles back.

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