Bad Decisions Make Good Stories

- 20 -

Twenty

As fast as my heels would let me, I broke off into a run towards Gareth. Noah called my name but I ignored him, my eyes purely on my brother. I banged a few people and stumbled more than once but I couldn’t care less because the brother I hadn’t seen in two years was standing here in flesh and bone. Mom was talking to him but I ignored that and jumped on my unsuspecting brother as I squealed, “Gareth!”

He stumbled back a bit but as soon as he righted himself, his strong arms wrapped around my waist as he spun me around. “Whoa there bug!”

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, trying not to cry. When he placed me pack onto the gravel path, I could barely speak from the overwhelming surprise cursing through me. “Wha—How—When—I—“

He laughed, a deep bellow that I’d missed so much. “Forgot how much of a weirdo you were.”

I tried to frown but the smile on my face refused to leave. “How-How are you even here right now?”

“Well I couldn’t miss Ollie's wedding, now could I? I got a few days off to come back, only landed this morning. Came just in time for the ceremony to start. I stopped Orlando and Cara at the end but the whole paparazzi-perfect wedding thing meant I have to wait till the reception for proper greetings," he said easily.

"I can't believe you're here right now," I gushed out as I gave him another hug for good measure. "I've missed you so much."

He gave me a small nudge to the head. "Well I'm here now ya bug."

Just as he finished talking, Jet emerged with Dad by his side. "Holy shit, no way!"

He immediately wrapped Gareth in a tight hug that made him laugh. "Careful now Jethro or I might actually think you missed me."

Jet pulled back and punched him brotherly, mumbling things about not missing him at all. I guess Dad had already seen him because they didn't embrace. I smiled at Gareth just for kicks when Mom clapped her hands together. "Okay, we have to go to the reception now; we're still at your brother's wedding. Chop chop, kids."

Mom wrapped her arm around Gareth's and started dragging him towards the country house, nattering away in his ear about anything and everything. Dad followed on and Jet grabbed his date and went too. 

That's when I remembered about my date and I turned around with wide eyes. Thankfully, Noah was standing nearby, hands in pocket with a smile in his face. When he noticed me searching for him, he came waltzing over. "I've never seen you run so fast or be so excited."

I smiled embarrassingly. "I haven't seen my brother in two years."

We began to walk to the country house and he gave me a funny look. "Why's that?"

I hesitated. "Uh, he's in the army. He's stationed overseas and rarely gets to come home."

"Oh ... Wow. I never even knew," he replied.

I shrugged and took a shaky breath. "I don't really like to talk about it. It's such an honour to serve our country and whenever I mention it, people always gush on about how loyal and amazing he is. It's all great and everything but it gets me thinking about the less amazing stuff like death and injury and that's not something I really wanna think about. I mean, any given day someone could show up on our door step and tell us Gareth is dead."

I looked at Noah and he seemed shocked. I sighed and chuckled dejectedly. "Sorry, that was a bit heavy. I'm not usually such a sob story."

He shook his head. "No, I'm glad you told me. Being in the army isn't as big of a deal back home because we don't go to war too often so if you ever need to talk about it, I'll always be here. I never really knew how it could affect someone so I'm glad you told me."