Drone

XXIII

XXIII

“You know, I can't remember the last time I was in your house.” Jean said as she walked inside, throwing her jacket carelessly onto Ratel's sofa. His mother, Sarah, wasn't a very neat person. Jean's jacket landed on top of three others that she had to guess were hers.

“I don't know why we don't hang out more, Jean.” Ratel agreed, following her in and closing the door. He locked it silently behind him. Jean didn't notice.

“That's because you were always panting after Phoebe.”

Ratel flinched. “I wouldn't say it like that.”

“I would.” Jean walked into the kitchen with full confidence. It was almost arrogant, the way she acted like she was the one that lived here.

Ratel could respect and enjoy and attitude like that. It was too bad that Wasp had gotten to Jean before he had a chance to. She likely wouldn't have taken much persuasion to join him as the first member of his hive. Certainly Jean didn't have the same moral hiccups as Phoebe nor the attraction to his brother.

Ratel started chatting with Jean as she began rummaging through his refrigerator and pantry. Ratel purposefully kept the conversation calm and seemingly directionless.

“By the way, Ratel, since when have you had a brother? I thought you were an only child?” Jean asked him again as she threw a frozen pizza into his microwave.

Truthfully, Sarah Messick had no children at all. Ratel only made her think that she did. “No, I have an elder brother. I don't like to talk about him much. We...don't get along.”

“You too, huh?” Jean laughed. “Sometimes Phoebe just makes me want to punch her. She's so damn perfect and everyone loves her so damn much.”

“I know that feeling.” Ratel leaned against the counter next to her, his arms crossed. “My older brother just can't seem to stop showing off in front of me. He has everything. A great home, great friends, great girl; he lords it over me every chance he gets.”

“Hah! What an ass. I hope he's fat.”

“Nope. Fit. At least I'm the better looking brother.”

“That's the spirit!” Jean clapped him on the back. “Who needs siblings anyway?”

“Our father always favored him as well.”

Jean looked over to see a faraway, almost sad look on Ratel's face. “We'll, mom's pretty good about loving us both equally so I can't really-”

“He was always so much better than me. 'Why can't you be more like Boy?'. 'Why are you so useless?'. 'Can't you perform even the simplest of tasks?'.”

“Um, Ratel?”

“It was like no matter how hard I tried he was always better than me. Everything I did he had to do better. Every time I tried to stand on my own he always had to try to help me up. As if I couldn't do it myself. Then one day he just left. Like I meant nothing, he left me behind.”

“Come on, Ratel, I'm sure it's not that-”

“I hated him for it. I hated that he tried so hard to help me then just decided to abandon me. I told myself that if I ever saw him again, I would get even.”

“Well, I get that but-”

“Then one day he did come back. Like nothing had happened, he was back to trying to step in front of me again, to protect me. Seeing him after all that time just made it worse. I wanted-no. I needed to prove that I was better than him. That I didn't need him. And I've been trying to since that day.