Fake the Date

The Brother

"What do you mean 'when I was their age?'" I question. "How old are you? Eighteen?"

"Nineteen." he corrects, his shift in posture making him appear taller.. "I am a complete adult."

I scoff, amazed at this guys audacity. If he really was Ryan's brother, I knew the bullshit was going to come eventually.

"And you're one to talk!" he interjects, his once relaxed position now tense as his eyebrows begin to furrow. It was there that I could see the resemblance. "You're obviously not over the age of twenty-one, and yet you were drinking alcohol at a bar."

"Yeah," I comeback, "well what are you doing working at a bar at your age? How'd you even get the job? And why aren't you in school?'

"I could ask you the same thing." He shoots back. As he becomes more wrapped in the conversation, he leans closer, his upper body now hovering over the counter.

"I have my master's degree. I'm just really smart so I skipped high school and went straight to college." I answer, proud to see the sink in his expression after he hears my answer. "Your turn."

"I dropped out of high school." My smug smile rears off my face. Though I'd obviously won the battle, the dejection in his voice doesn't make me feel so victorious. I'm about to pry and ask why when I hear heavy footsteps clunk against the floor outside. This house is so damn big that I didn't even hear Ryan come in.

"Ryan!" I call, jumping out of my seat and running towards the kitchen door. "Ryan!"

He stands in front of me, his eyes and posture sunken. "You look like crap." I tell him without meaning it. Even tired he still looked like a movie star.

"Thanks!" he says, sarcasm clear in his tone. "And what the hell are you doing still up? You didn't go to bed already?"

"Well, you see I was going to but then your br-"

"Forget it." he says, cutting me off as he rushes a tired hand through his hair. The dark brown hairs stick up, flopping lightly against the tug of the AC.  "I probably don't want to know about it anyway. I'm going to bed. I suggest you do the same."

He spins on his heel and I latch onto his elbow to keep him in place. "Wait! Before you do that, you should know that we have a visitor."

"Okay, and that has to deal with me because . . ." I don't answer him. It's clear that he's answered his own question once he realizes that no one I know knows that I'm here, meaning that anyone who came were his guests. As realization floods over he looks towards the counter where Ted sits.

"Hi." Ted says. He seems nervous, almost scared when he speaks. I look back up at Ryan only to see something sharp and angry take hold of his eyes, the same look I saw earlier when I went into that room.

"GET OUT!" His voice is loud and booming as he tears from my grip. It's as if something dark had taken over Ryan, and it's pretty scary.

"Look, I know you're angry. But it's been years since Hope . . ." Ted's sentence trails off. His eyes stare at the ground, like their was a smear of dirt he was trying to clean with the power of his vision. Who was Hope? And what the hell had I gotten in the middle of?

Ryan's breath remains heavy as he seethes through his teeth, anger still boiling up inside of him. But he speaks quieter now and to me.

"I'm going to bed." He tells me with a firm jaw. "Please get him out of here." And with that, he marches to his sleeping headquarters, leaving me to deal with the brother he left behind.

I want to ask what's going on, I really do, but I have no place in interfering with their personal matters. I didn't know either of them. Maybe later . . . maybe I'd find out later.

I shuffle towards Ted, awkward tension filling up every step. "Are you okay?" I ask.

He looks up, the hard expression is gone as he fills it up with a sad smile. "Yeah, it's okay. I probably shouldn't have come here anyway. It was a bad idea." He springs from his seat, taking in a deep breath as he places a hand in his back pocket. "Would you mind giving this to him, you know, once he cools down. It's my new number, just in case he decides to contact me."

"Yeah, sure." I say probably a bit too chipper as I take the torn piece of paper from him.

"Thank you." We stand there for another awkward couple of seconds just looking at the ground before he finally speaks up again. "Well, I guess I best be off. Show me to the front door?"

"I'm pretty sure you can find it yourself," I laugh, "but I'll walk with you anyway."

When we make it to the front door we say our goodbyes and he tells me that I can use the number too.

The walk back up to my room is exhausting. My feet slide against the wooden floors, and when I finally make it to bed, I'm out like a light.

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And that's the end! Sorry it's so short, but the next chapter's going to be super long and it would have been too long and wouldn't of made sense if I started the next chapter on this chapter. You get what I'm trying to say. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE, and FOLLOW! Peace out! :D

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