Good morning and Happy Hump Day ! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.
Last week, we saw Ethan and his sister get into an argument over her announcement that she has been seeing her ex. She storms off and Ethan and Vinny decide to walk Benny, where Ethan reveals why he is so upset. See what's going on in this week's chapter of Rose and Thorne 6. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
That certainly explained a lot—Sarah’s question and
Ethan’s reaction. I couldn’t help but feel the venom in her words was
unwarranted. Ethan was the most selfless person I knew. Of course he was
thinking of her, not himself. She was overreacting, probably because he’d dared
to question her judgement. But isn’t that what siblings did? Especially twins?
At least I assumed so, based on the stories I’d heard. I had no such experience
myself, never having had a sibling. Maybe
that was also why Sarah kept the information from him for as long as she did,
knowing what he would say.
And then he’d gone and said it, so I could hardly
fault her for being a little upset. Such a difficult situation. I’m glad I
didn’t have to choose between them. My loyalty was to Ethan, naturally. Always
would be. And yes, I might be just a little prejudiced.
I squeezed Ethan’s hand reassuringly to let him know
I was there for him. “Want to talk about it?” I offered, ready to back down if
he indicated the subject was too painful.
Ethan sighed. “I said I would never keep anything
from you, and I meant it, Vin. It’s just hard to know where to start. The three
of us practically grew up together, Sarah and James and me. We were all the
same age, went to the same school. James
lived next door to us, as cliché as that sounds, and his family attended my
dad’s church. In a small town like ours, that practically guarantees we’d end
up as playmates. But it was more than that, you know?”
Benny had spotted an insect on the sidewalk, some
kind of beetle I think, and had stopped to bat at it curiously. To his chagrin,
he seemed unable to provoke any sort of a reaction from the bug, which
proceeded to curl up and ignore him. We stopped our perambulation momentarily.
I slid my arm around Ethan’s waist and laid my head on his shoulder before
replying honestly, “Not really. I didn’t have any childhood friends.”
“I’m sorry, babe, I didn’t mean—“
I stemmed his words with a quick kiss. “It’s okay,
just go on.”
He kissed me back and then continued. “I thought the
world of James. I mean, he was funny and smart and brave and cute—“
I picked my head up at that. “Cute?”
Ethan chuckled at my comment. “Not like that. I
didn’t even know I liked boys back then. But I wasn’t blind. And I knew that
girls liked him.”
“You mean, girls like your sister?”
“No, other girls. I honestly didn’t see it coming
with her. I mean, she never said anything about it, so I guess I assumed she
thought of him like he was another brother.”
“A better brother than Joe,” I responded without
thinking, then could have kicked myself for being so insensitive. Ethan
couldn’t help that his older brother was a dick any more than he could help
that his father was a homophobic tyrant. At least the man was trying, I had to
give him that, unlike his namesake. “Sorry, I didn’t—”
“It’s okay, you’re right. James was like the brother
I wished I had. We spent nights at each other’s houses, got up to the usual kid
stuff. Nothing too horrible. We shot off fireworks on the Fourth of July. Went
trick-or-treating together on Halloween. My mom made costumes for Sarah and me
and they were awesome.”
“Your mom is awesome,” I interjected. My comment
brought a bigger smile to Ethan’s handsome face.
“Yeah, she sure is.”
“So, when did they hook up?” I asked. His smile
disappeared, replaced by a thoughtful look.
“When I was away at college, I think. I’m not sure because
they were hiding their relationship.”
“Didn’t they go to college?”
Ethan shook his head. “Sarah took classes at the
community college. James went to work at his dad’s feed store. I don’t know if
my absence was the catalyst that brought them together or if I was just
incredibly blind to some kind of attraction between them even before that. I
didn’t find out about them until my senior year. And, to be honest, I thought
it was great. My best friend, my sister. They were so happy, how could I
object?”
He fell silent and I kept quiet, waiting. The story
didn’t sound bad so far, but something ugly must be just ahead, in my
estimation.
“Vinny, do you remember the Easter after we became
us, when I went back to Georgia for a week?”
How could I forget? I’d missed him terribly, and only
endured our separation by the skin of my teeth. That and the phone calls in the
middle of the night. But I’d understood he had a family he needed to see and
never questioned his reasons for going. I was a big boy. I could handle his absence.
I nodded to answer his question.
“Sarah found out she was pregnant and she told James
and he left town. Just like that. Without a word. They never even got into a
fight. He left her high and dry and of course she was devastated. I had to be
with her.”
Of course I understood even better now his reasons
for leaving me, even temporarily. I’d been fine, played video games and watched
old movies. Ethan had been so apologetic when he returned. Naturally, I let him
make it up to me… many times. But I’d never been angry. And any irritation I
might have felt disappeared at the sight of his forlorn expression, as if he
was afraid I’d leave him. I understood that expression a little better now.
I hugged him tightly, making sure we still had a
firm grip on Benny’s leash. “Of course you did. And I understand your anger
now. But she’s a big girl now, we just have to stay strong for her. That’s all
we can do.”
to be continued
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