The Wrong Brother

Chapter 26 - Nobody said it was easy (Part I)

With all of that, I can't help but wonder what Bennett's girlfriend would think of this whole situation? Does Kate even know about us spending all this time together?

If it was the opposite, I'd be pretty pissed that my boyfriend is giving another girl so much attention, regardless if they've known each other their whole lives.

I don't even know what he told Kate about us. She knows I exist because we met at Rockefeller Center, but does she really know me? Or am I just a regular friend?

What am I saying, of course I'm just a regular friend.

Maybe they have such a strong relationship that she's not bothered by it at all. She knows Bennett can be trusted.

These thoughts don't seem very pleasant. Any of this seems very pleasant.

Bennett having a girlfriend is weird and less than pleasant.

I was thinking about asking him if he's actually dating Kate, but he's the first one to break the silence on a completely different topic.

"You got a C on last week's test."

"Really?" I sigh heavily.

Although it's not good news, at least it gets my mind away from his relationship with Kate.

Well, and lack of relationship with me. Which is fine, totally fine. It's not like I want to be in a relationship with him, so I don't care who he dates. It's just friendly jealousy.

I guess the C I got didn't really get my mind off the topic...

"You should tutor me again." I say, without giving it much thought.

It sounded more like a plea, because let's be real, I can't deny the correlation. Since he stopped tutoring me, my grades stopped being great. Asking him to tutor me again is like me trying to save what's left of high school.

I'm not sure he wants to do this again and I shouldn't depend on him to improve my grades, but I can't fail. I still need to get into a college.

"I mean, if you want to be my friend again, because you said--"

"I know what I said." He cuts me off. "I think the fact that I'm bringing your homework and I'm more worried about you than I've ever been nullifies that entirely."

I can't help but smile. Who even says nullifies?

"So are we good? I mean, can we be friends again?" I wait expectantly for his answer.

"As long as you take your medicine, yes we can be friends. It's not like I can stay away from you anyway." He says and I blush. What does that mean? I guess he notices it, because next thing, he's clarifying it. "I worry about you Alex, that's all."

I nod again, feeling stupid. I need to stop overthinking things. We had a moment - or moments, plural - a while ago and well, I went to his house and slept on his bed on New Year's eve. It felt good as hell, but still, he's just a friend.

I have a boyfriend, for fuck's sake, so I really shouldn't be thinking about this, I should focus on his brother instead.

It's like Bennett is reading my mind, because guess what he asks next...

"Is Dylan coming to visit you?"

"He will come on the weekend. He's busy with practice." I know things are more intense because of Dylan's football practices, he finally has the chance to play and he's so dedicated that I couldn't ask him to come.

He sent me a bunch of messages asking how I'm feeling and I said that Lilly is taking care of me. I didn't have it in me to text him that his brother is actually the one by my side when he should be.