Bruce's pov:
I fidgeted. Why the hell am I even here?
I knocked on the door, hearing footsteps come from behind the door.
It swung open and instead of the mom I was expecting to see there was him. Vance.
"Bruce!" He said confused. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked. Was he angry at me? He's definitely glaring at me. "Vance I wanted to talk" I blurted out because I didn't know how to start this conversation. "Oh my god Bruce" vance sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Please Vance!"
"Go home Bruce" Vance snapped. I felt hurt. Was I right? I am right! I felt like crying. He doesn't want to be my friend.
"Oh, um see yeah vance" I muttered lowering my head. Don't cry don't cry. I heard Vance sigh as I began to walk away. I don't know what he said after that but I had to get away because I could feel the tears start to fall.
I would never forgive myself if I let vance Hopper see me cry... Again.
I kicked at the rocks on the side walk instead. Stupid Vance! Why does he have to be like this!?
I was angry for some reason. And sad. Because the tears wouldn't stop falling. "Stupid" I told myself.
"Bruce!" I voice snapped at me, I turned around to see Vance. What is he doing here? "Oh my god" Vance sighed, grabbing the sweater sleeve. "You wanna talk right?" Vance asked. What is he doing.
I began to walk away but Vance grabbed my arm. "What the hell Vance!?" I snapped pushing his arms. "What do you want to talk about?" Vance asked again. I frowned. "Why have you been such a jerk?" I asked him. I feel like crying again.
Vance sighed rubbing his vance. "It wasn't intentional Bruce" he frowned. Bullshit. "It's just, uh it's been weird for me lately" Vance said awkwardly swinging his arms. I eyed him. "So why have you been ignoring me?" I asked, he shook his head instantly. "I haven't!"
I glared at him and he seemed to go shy. "I'm sorry" he apologized. I glared at him but he didn't look up from the ground. "You should be!" I snapped, turning to walk away. "Where are you going!?" He asked, walking after me.
"Home" I told him harshly. "And you should to"
After a while I didn't hear his footsteps behind me and when I turned to look behind me he was gone. That thats a good thing. Well it's supposed to be but my heart hurts for some reason.
And I walked the rest of the walk home in silence.
My sister was waiting on the porch when I got home, she had a yellow candle lit that she held tightly. "Why do you have that?" I asked her, standing on the steps to the porch. "Are you sad?" She asked me. Does she know!?
"No of course not!" I said, waving her off. "Then you have no use for the candle" she shrugged. I looked at her for a solid minute. "So why do you have the candle?" I finally asked. "why do you think" she answered Rolling her eyes.
"Well what the hell does that candle do!?" I asked. Annie rolled her eyes again. "The yellow means happiness, I'm letting good vibes come because I'm sad" Annie explained to me. I mad a "oh" sound.
"Why are you sad?" I asked her, she shrugged. "Just one of those days y'know" she whispered. I nodded in understandment. "How much longer you gonna sit there?" I asked her. "Till the candle burns out" she told me. I nodded heading to the door. "You got a long while then" I told her. "I'ma be inside, stay on the porch" I told her, she nodded.
"Oh mom isn't here by the way" Annie called before I shut the door, I gave Annie a thumbs up, before shutting the screen door and taking off my shoes.
I headed upstairs to my room, taking my vape out of my back pocket and taking a hit. I closed my room door and opened the window half way, the cool breeze soon poured in. It was nice.
I laid in my bed for a while, I didn't know how long before a knock sounded on my door. "Who is it?" I grumbled rubbing my face. "Annie?" I heard her voice say, slowly opening my door.
"Oh!" She said when she came in. "It smells good" she smiled, I held up my vape and she shook her head. "I prefer perfume" she joked. "Shut up you dork" I laughed and so did she. She came to the edge of my bed before fidgeting with the blankets.
"Hey Bruce can I ask you something?" She said quietly. I sat up wondering what she wanted. "Yeah what is it?" I asked her. "Was papa a good person?" She asked me, I froze.
Annie had never met our dad, and she never would get too.
I nodded slowly. "Of course Annie, he was a very good person" I told her. "But he got sick" she said, cutting me off. I nodded again. "Why didn't the doctors help him?" She asked me. Why was she asking these questions. "The doctors couldn't help the sickness like dad had, and he got really sad" I frowned. Annie sniffled and I could see the tears fall from her face. "Annie-?"
"I don't want to die" she sobbed. I instantly pulled her into a hug. "What are you talking about?" I asked her as she cried intoemy shirt. "I'm sick like dad!" She wailed. "I don't want to be sick or sad, I don't want to die" she cried. "No Annie!" I told her. "Your not sick like he was" I explained to her. "Dad had depression, and it was killing him" I told her. But she still cried. "Mamma makes me take that medicine because she wants to fix me!" She continued to wail. "That's not true Annie!"
But she wouldn't stop crying and telling me how she was sick. "Annie!" I began to raise my voice. "You are not sick, you are not going to die, your body just doesn't function like everybody else's" I explained to her, she quieted down. "And that's completely okay, because I don't either" I smiled at her. "I don't like what would be considered normal, I don't think how 'normal' people should think" she began to nod slowly.
"Because you like Vance?" She brought up. "Because Vance isn't a girl?" I stared at her for a minute. "What do you mean?" I asked her. "You and Vance" she began to explain. "People don't think you together is normal" Annie told me. "Is that why your not together?" She asked me.
I thought about her question.
We both want to seem as normal teenage boys, normal lives, normal crushes.
Is that why we're not together.
Because of what others 'normal' is? Because it's different from our own normal?
How many normals even are there?
Some sibling bonding for you all 💕 your welcome because I do believe that the book shouldn't just be about Vance and Bruce getting together but about their own lives as well 💪
Word count: 1217
