Aliens on Aventine Hill

The Fourth of July [Part 5]

A black and white police car rolled past the laundromat. Gray paused in loading the washing machine to watch it pass, a cold feeling tickling his stomach. He glanced over at Roman, who was sitting on one of the folding tables swinging his feet back and forth as he stretched a cat's cradle between his fingers.

Gray took another couple of quarters out of his pocket and slid them into the machine. His eyes flicked back to his brother and the stuffed wolf sitting on his lap, "We could throw Lupe in here. It's been a little while now."

Roman's eyes went wide, and he clutched the wolf as his string fluttered to the ground, "And leave her here?!"

"Just while we're over in the grocery," Gray shook his head. "No one's going to..."

"No."

The frown was resolute.

"Alright, alright," Gray laughed, closing the door and hitting the start button. He watched as the clothes began to swirl and then stared at his reflection trapped in their center. The eyes that stared back at him were grey and tired, "I won't force you."

Roman smiled at him as he picked up the cat's cradle and restrung it around his fingers. Gray tousled his hair before dumping out the laundry basket and start folding its contents—only to pause again as someone walked by the window.

It can't be.

He craned his neck, eyes following the shadow down the street. Roman nudged him with his sneaker, and Gray shook off the daze, hurriedly resuming his folding. Roman shook his head and offered him the cat's cradle, kicking him again.

Gray set the laundry back in the basket and perched himself on the counter beside his brother. Roman lifted the cradle again, and Gray pinched the strings together and twisted it onto his hands. Something came loose, and what he ended up offering back to Roman was little more than a shameful knot, "Sorry."

Roman shrugged, easily unraveling it back into a simple loop. Gray smiled apologetically and looped an arm around his brother's shoulders as Roman began restringing the pattern.

It was moments like these that made all of it worth it. They were bricks—all the smiles and frowns and shrugs and sideways glances and yawns and wry grins and sleepy I love you's—building a wall to keep out the rest of the world.

Never mind the dissatisfaction on his brother's face, the dissatisfaction he felt, creeping in like a crack in the foundation. This was enough. This had always been enough.

Gray smiled at his brother and slipped off the table, "Ready to go?"

The grocery store was uneventful until they reached the cereal aisle. Gray was going to walk right on past, but Roman planted his feet in front of the Count Chocula and Franken Berry and resumed his year-long contemplation of which rival to back.

Gray made a point of standing in front of Baron von Redberry and Sir Grapefellow display on the endcap, praying Roman wouldn't see. He let out a frustrated sigh as Roman examined a box of newcomer Boo Berry with consternation, looking up just as someone turned the corner.

Gray felt his body go stiff, and Roman paused in his cereal debate to look over his shoulder. The elder brother grabbed the Boo Berry and chucked it in the cart, desperate to get to the next aisle before the shadow spotted them, but Roman lingered, staring at the familiar face. He pointed him out to his brother, who hissed at him to hurry up.

The not-quite stranger's hand paused halfway to the box of Kellogg's as his eyes landed on Gray's. Gray stared back, lips slightly parted like he'd been sucker-punched. Roman blew past him, forgetting the Boo Berry and hugging the dark-haired young man across from them.