Today is the day the project is due. I wake up and smell my brother's hoodie again to make sure his scent is still there. It is.
I slip the hoodie off and put on an oversized Mötley Crüe T-shirt, so if anything goes sideways today, I will have my brother with me. I put on grey baggy ripped jeans and slide on my converse. Today, I grab his walkman and his tape and bring them downstairs with me.
"Good morning-" my mother starts.
I am confused why she stopped talking suddenly, but then I realize she is staring at my brother's walkman.
"Where did you get that?" she asks.
My heart drops as I realize that I kept the box hidden from her in the back of my closet. She has spent a long time looking for some of his things.
"I've had it for a while. I'm missing him a little extra today," I say.
"You hid it from me?" she questions.
"I'm sorry. I've hidden a few things of his," I admit.
She sighs and walks over to me. I'm expecting a lecture of some kind, but instead of argumentative words she just pulls me into a hug.
"It's okay. I know how much he meant to you. You don't have to tell me what you've kept. They're yours now," she assures.
I nod, and I relax in her embrace. After a while, I pull away, and she brings me a bowl of cereal. She calls Mateo down, and she makes him a bagel. The older Mateo gets, the more he looks like Mason. My mother makes herself coffee and takes a seat next to me.
"What's got you missing him so much today?" she asks.
"I'm forgetting his voice. I remember his laugh as clear as day but his voice. I'm just afraid the longer he is gone, the more it'll feel like he never existed," I admit.
"You remember his laugh because it's one of the things you admired the most about him. I wasn't a good mother at the time but no matter what you both were going through you always were together. You guys were inseparable," she smiles.
I laugh to myself. She's right about that. He brought me everywhere.
"Yeah, I just wish I could hear it again. I still remember how much we would laugh in his car. Sometimes we would just drive and talk," I say.
My mom rubs my back, and I smile.
"You loved his car," she says.
"I did. His Mustang was nice," I state.
She smiles and offers to give me a ride to school. I agree, and I grab my backpack.
___
Steve and I walk in together, and we stop at his locker so he can get his things.
"It'll get easier, you know," Steve states.
"What?" I question.
Is he talking about my brother? How does he know?
"The whole living with the Upside Down thing," he says.
"Oh, yeah. Surprisingly, it hasn't really bothered me," I respond.
"Really?" he questions.
"Yeah," I say.
He shrugs his shoulder, and we continue to make small talk until I get to homeroom. I wave goodbye and take my seat next to Robin.
"Hey," she says.
"Hey! How are you?" I ask.
"Good," she says.
YOU ARE READING
Radical | Billy Hargrove X Reader
Fantasy*Starts in season 2* "That was pretty Radical and you know it."
