Thorns & Oranges

Titanium

"Keep an eye on her. She has a way of finding trouble when she doesn't want to."

"I will."

Michelle pulled away, kissed me roughly on the forehead, and left. Not bothering to look back at me or the house as her brother closed the trunk and opened the passenger side door for her. The boy had manners, I could say that about him. After he closed the door, he gave me a brief wave since we kinda knew each other. I wanted to hate him for taking her away but I couldn't, not really.

As I watched her drive off, part of me worried I would never see her again. Rey wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I turned a little to bury my face in his t-shirt.

"She'll be back," he whispered.

"How do you know?"

He drew me a little closer. "I've seen the way they look at each other. She won't stay gone for long, even though she probably should."

"I should check on Vince."

"I think you should give him some time. It sounded like they were having one hell of an argument."

"Right now isn't the time for him to be alone."

"Then I'll go talk to him."

I looked up at him. "My brother needs me right now, not the guy who's going to replace him."

"Even though you're mad at him?

"Even though."

This probably wasn't one of my best ideas. The last time I encountered my brother, he was pissed off and I could only imagine how he was now after Michelle had left. But I'd made him a promise when we were kids that I would always be there for him, no matter if he beat me to pulp. So I walked into the now quiet house and went looking for him. He wasn't anywhere on the bottom floor so I headed up the stairs. I heard a rustling of papers come from his office and putting two and two together, I definitely smacked into four.

My knock was soft, the part of me that didn't want to face him yet making me do it. After a brief pause, he told me to come in.

He sat behind his desk, various papers spread across the surface with a few gripped in his hand. There was an open liquor bottle sitting in front of him along with a half empty glass. I carefully approached him, not wanting to be the girl who poked the angry tiger. He didn't look at me and he was doing it on purpose. He didn't want to see the damage he did to my face.

"Vin."

"I'm fine," he snapped quickly. "These numbers are just giving me trouble."

That was a little ironic. Where I was good with numbers, my brother was dyslexic with them. It was one of the reasons school used to be so hard for him. Letters he was good at. Numbers, no so much.

I took the papers gently out of his grasp and flipped them around the right way. I put it gently down on the desk instead of back in his hand. "Try doing it that way."

He stared down at the paper and I continued to look at him, waiting for an apology or something that told me he regretted it. But I should've known better. My brother wasn't big on apologies, never was.

"No matter if it's right side up or down, I won't get it."

"Then I'll do it and you can go do something else." I put a hand on his shoulder hesitantly. "Everything will be fine. She'll come back."

"How do you know?"

His voice was barely a whisper but I heard the question loud and clear. It was the same exact one I asked Rey.