Living Your Lie (boyxboy)

Chapter 26

"You know, I kind of remember seeing your brother around school," I told Dakota as he drove me home.

The rest of dinner had actually gone really well. Dakota's dad hadn't tried to murder me, the food had tasted phenomenal, and Brand had been incredibly warm and friendly towards me.

All in all, I'd sort of started to feel like I was welcomed into their family. That is, if I took Travis Spicer out of the equation. That man still had the ability to scare the life out of me, and I was pretty sure he both knew and enjoyed that fact.

"Yeah," Dakota agreed, reaching over to grab my hand that was resting on my knee. I felt a smile form at the gesture. "Brand was a senior when we were freshmen. He was the captain of varsity hockey too."

I chuckled lightly. "No wonder he was disappointed in your lack of skills in the ice rink."

"Well at least I'm better than him in lacrosse," he said. Then he snorted and I glanced at him briefly. "You'd think his experience handling a stick would have transferred over but he doesn't even have a clue what he's doing whenever I try to get him to run practice drills with me."

"Hey at least you guys don't have to compete against each other, then," I said positively. As I saw Dakota roll his eyes I said seriously, "You two seem like you have a really good relationship with each other."

I could see Dakota smiling a little. "Thankfully, yeah. He's been a pretty great brother to me. I mean, I know a lot of people don't always have the best relationship with their siblings, but I'm really glad it wasn't like that with Brand and me. I don't know what I would have done without him sometimes."

"What do you mean?" I asked. It sounded like he was thinking about specific memories and it piqued my curiosity.

"Just my dad, you know? The times when he would get nervous and uncomfortable because of things I did or how I acted around a friend Brand would stand up for me every time because I didn't even understand what I was doing. I was just acting the way I felt was normal--like trying to hold hands or sitting really close even though there was tons of room on the couch. I'd just liked other boys and wanted to be near them," Dakota said with a shrug. He turned to me and gave me a little smirk before saying, "I was too young to understand the gay of it all even though it upset my dad."

"He's a real piece of work, huh?"

Dakota laughed and eventually sighed, tapping his thumb on the back of my hand. I wasn't sure if he realized it was a nervous tick of his. "Yes and no," he said. "It's okay most of the time. But there are some times when it's really hard to deal with him. I just wish I could make him understand how I feel."

"This is probably a dumb question, but have you tried to talk to him about it?"

"Several times, but I swear it's like he's got this freaky sixth sense. He knows when some gay talk is about to happen and he's gone like that," Dakota finished with a snap of his fingers. "I'm telling you, he's an expert at avoiding it."

"Well he couldn't avoid it tonight," I said. "He seemed okay, at least. Not that I'd really know."

Dakota nodded slightly and turned his blinker on before slowing to take a turn. "He wasn't as bad as I'd thought he'd be, that's for sure. I mean you're my first boyfriend. I thought he'd have a nervous breakdown in the middle of dinner, but he held himself together."

I laughed, "Maybe he held off on that breakdown until we left."

"I guess I'll find out when I get home."

It got quiet for a little while so I said, "Well, on the lighter side of things, I can't stop thinking about how I had no idea that you and Brand looked that much alike. I saw the pictures around your house, yeah, but in person it's like you two could be twins."