FRAZIER
"Airhead. Blockhead. Bonehead. Pea brain. Cretin. Dimwit. Dumbbell. Dunce. Fool. Ignoramus. Imbecile. Jerk. Moron. Muttonhead. Nincompoop. Ninny. Nitwit. Oaf. Pinhead. Simpleton. Stupid. Tw--"
"Are you okay?" A voice interrupted my series of mentioning any word in my vocabulary that was a synonym for the word 'stupid'.
"You're late." I looked over my shoulder and saw Corbin walking in with a backpack slung over one shoulder. His hair was wet and I could tell that it was from the rain outside. "Where were you?" I walked to the lockers on one side of the wall and grabbed a clean towel then tossed it in his direction.
He caught the towel with one hand and muttered, "thanks", before wiping off his face and drying his hair. "I was at the library." He tossed the towel into the laundry basket in the corner of the room and yelled, "touchdown" when the towel plopped inside the basket.
I shook my head and smiled. "You're such a dork." A dork that I loved, that was, but there was no way I was going to say that to him.
"A dork that you love," answered Corbin, reading what had been in my head. He put his bag on the floor and went to get ready. It was Friday, and just like any other Thursday, we had a brotherly boxing match.
He wore protective gloves and fastened the straps around his wrists. "I don't have much time for this though, I have to head back to the lab in an hour or two."
"Doesn't matter," I replied, getting so fired up on this more than usual. "It won't take more than one hour to kick your arse."
Corbin rolled his eyes and got into the ring. "Tyler left early this afternoon," he continued as if I hadn't said anything. "His mum apparently will get married to his dad this Sunday and he's going to be the best man."
I frowned. "Tyler? Autumn's boyfriend?"
"Ex-boyfriend," Corbin corrected. "They've broken up a few days ago." Just when I was about to lunge forward as I thought the chitchat was over, he tilted his head and added, "speaking of Autumn, your bitchy girlfriend confronted her this afternoon."
"What?" I paused. "Why didn't I hear of this?" Well, who was I kidding, I'd spent these last few days trying to stay under the radar. Her radar, to be precise. Since that awkward kiss that we'd shared a few days ago, I'd been feeling like a jerk. Why hadn't I kissed her back? Why, instead of enjoying the moment and the feeling of her lips, had I had to open my stupid mouth and take a step back? There was no one I could blame but myself.
When she kissed me, I was fully aware of her emotional state and thought that she might be thinking of Tyler and not me. Even a blind man could see how much she loved him and a part of me, at that moment, couldn't believe that she kissed me.
Sure, I was taller than Ty by three inches and we didn't look alike, but it didn't dismiss the thought that she might have him in her mind while she was kissing me.
"Maybe because you've been living under a rock?" replied Corbin as he fixed his boxing stance. His legs stood firmly shoulder-width apart with his knees slightly bent and his left foot turned to point toward me. "I really don't like that girlfriend of yours, Mar,gaux or what I'd like to call Mar-faux since she's bloody fake. I'm glad Autumn kicked her arse."
I made loose fists and hold my right hand by my chin while my left hwas and down in front of my face. I dug my chin down and kept my eyes up. "Ex-girlfriend." I launched my first punch using my right fist then followed by the left one. Corbin managed to duck and dodge the first punch but my second one hit him right on the side of his chin. He took it like a champ.
"When did you two break up?" asked him with a raised brow. "Grandma said she caught her in your place the other day."
When did sh?-oh!
"She came uninvited," I replied curtly. As much as I disliked Margaux's surprise drop-ins, I didn't feel like wasting time bitch about her. I was more interested in her encounter with Autumn. "So, what happened? What did she do to Autumn?"
Corbin shrugged. "I came a bit late but I heard her mention Autumn and her English teacher having an affair back when she was in high school." He shook his head in disbelief. "I thought those only happen in teen drama series."
I didn't really know about Autumn's past so I didn't judge her for what had happened. Plus, I didn't really care about her exes or past as long as I saw myself in her present and hopefully, future as well. For me, that was enough. "What do you mean?"
"You know, Aria and Ezra," replied him as if those names should mean something.
I had no idea who those people were. "Who?"
Corbin rolled his eyes. "Dude, how could you not know the infamous Pretty Little Liars?"
"The real question is, how on earth you managed to watch teen dramas in the middle of science lessons and lab experiments?" Knowing how focused Corbin was on his studies, I wouldn't have guessed he had spare time for social life, let alone teen drama series.
"I blame Loraine for that. She dragged me to watch one episode and I was so curious about who 'A' was so I continued watching the whole series."
Loraine was Corbin's ex-girlfriend, or maybe she was his girlfriend. I had no clue. The two of them were on and off multiple times. I'd told Corbin before that maybe they should start seeing other people, some people were not meant to be together forever after all, but he refused and said that some relationships just needed a break sometimes.
That was something that I didn't understand. I mean, if you love someone so much, why would you need a break to be apart from them?
Sure, Margaux and I had broken up and made up a few times but I dated other people and so did she, until of course, we fell back into the same pattern and ended up in my bed. Not to be a hypocrite, but my relationship with Margaux was casual and nothing like Corbin and Loraine who were each others' first loves and first in everything. There was something sacred about their relationship that wasn't there in my relationship with Margaux.
Again, my relationship with Margaux was mainly physical and perhaps that was the reason why it was so easy for her to sleep with my best friend Matt. I couldn't really blame her since the whole time I was with her, I had someone else in mind. A pretty angel with dark brown hair who had risked her life to save someone she wasn't related to.
I let out a deep sigh. Maybe I couldn't believe Autumn was really kissing me because of this. Maybe I thought she was imagining Tyler while kissing me because I had imagined her whenever I'd kissed Margaux in the past.
Great. I guess this is karma.
"... the face is fine but you will have to put a bag over that personality. I was cheering for her when she said that. What a genius! That line killed it, and when I thought she had finished, she told Margaux that she was the kind of girl a guy would show off in a show or tell in a psychology class. Like, damn." Corbin's face filled with awe as he shook his head. "I bet your bitchy girlfriend is having a hard time believing that someone could say that to her face."
"Ex-girlfriend," I corrected.
He gave me a nod then added, "about time, really. She's been reigning Columbia for far too long."
I was pissed at myself for not being there. I could've stopped Margaux before she opened her mouth and spread more gossip. Damn it. Anger mixed with frustration boiled deep inside of me. "Are you ready?"
"Not quite," Corbin replied as he twirled his wrist to relax the muscle.
I didn't wait as I lunged again, nearly knocking him out with my right uppercut.
"I said I wasn't ready!" Corbin hollered as he jumped out of the way.
I shook my head and snapped, "You're too slow." Why had I left school early? If only I'd waited a bit longer, I would've seen Margaux and maybe if she saw me, she would stop further harassing Autumn. Stupid!
Corbin cursed under his breath, then added a louder, "Bloody hell," for good measure. He rarely cursed and it had me surprised for a split second. "What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing," I nearly snarled. "Why?"
Corbin took a step backward, keeping a safe distance from me. "Oh, I don't know," he intoned with sarcasm. "Maybe because you started throwing a punch and nearly knocked me out right after I told you that I wasn't ready."
"In real life, your attacker won't care whether you're ready or not. If you're in an alley and they suddenly aim to punch you, do you think they will stop if you tell them that you're not ready?!" I replied with a grunt.
Corbin gave me a pointed look and shot back, "well, good thing that you're my brother, not an attacker, and we're in the training room not in an alley somewhere."
I was in no mood to argue so I simply kept my left foot grounded and pivoted on the right foot as I turned my chest toward Corbin and punched him with knuckles up and palm down. Once I hit the side of his face, I snapped my arm back to my chin quickly and switched back to defense mode.
Corbin took the blow and stumbled backward. "Man, that was quite a blow." He rubbed the side of his face with the back of his hand covered in a glove. "Could you perhaps lower the strength a bit? I'm not sure I could take many blows with that strength."
We spent the next twenty minutes boxing. I channeled the fire from anger and frustration into my fists as I dominated the game. Corbin practiced more often than me and he watched a lot of boxing videos (he was a nerd and when he learned something he would go all the way in finding information) so he managed to dodge a few of my punches.
Before I knew it, I lifted my right leg and almost kicked him right on his hips. I blinked a few times as Corbin, who was always alert, quickly jumped back to dodge the kick. "Hey! We're not doing kickboxing, there's no kick in here," Corbin protested.
"Sorry," I mumbled my apology. Seriously, I wasn't myself today and there was no one to blame. Well, perhaps I could blame Autumn since she had been the one who kissed me and got me frustrated lately.
"You're in a bloody bad mood lately," commented Corbin as he took off his glove.
I frowned. "What are you doing? We're not finished." I glanced at the clock on the wall, it had only been twenty minutes.
"Well, you could go ahead and punch one of those," he pointed at the punchbags on one side of the room. "I'm done being your punchbag for the day. Seriously, man, what is wrong with you?"
I jumped off the ring and walked to the nearest punch bag. "Well, I," I threw a punch at the bag, "had", I hit the bag with my fist followed by the right one, "a", I punched the bag one more time, "very", frustratedly I started to kick the bag with my right leg, "bad", another punch followed by another kick, "day." The chains atop of the punchbag vibrated, not enough to make it swing but enough to cause a rattle.
"I'm glad that wasn't my face," muttered Corbin. I watched him walk to the table in the other corner and turned on the speaker. He looked over his shoulder and asked, "do you want some music to accompany that?"
I was in no mood for music. "No." Corbin shrugged and played loud music. "What the hell?! I told you I don't want any music."
"Well, I told you I wasn't ready earlier but you attacked me anyway." He moved away from the table and walked to his discarded bag. "Try listening to the lyrics. It's a good song."
"I don't care if it's a good song." I narrowed my eyes and walked towards the table, planning to cut the music out.
Corbin leaned against the wall with a bottle of water in one hand. "Guess not even 5 Seconds of Summer could brighten your mood."
I paused for a moment. 5 Seconds of Summer? Wasn't that Autumn's favorite band? I stared at the iPod as I tried to pick up the lyrics.
♬ takes one to know one, yeah, you beat me at my own damn game ♬
"So why are you in a bad mood?" asked Corbin.
♬ You're pushing, you're pushing, I'm pulling away, pulling away from you. I give and I give and I give and you take, give and you take ♬
"Shut up." I thought he wanted me to listen yet he kept on throwing questions.
♬ Youngblood, say you want me, say you want me out of your life. And I'm just a dead man walking tonight. But you need it, yeah, you need it all of the time, yeah. Youngblood, say you want me, say you want me back in your life so I'm just a dead man crawling tonight 'cause I need it, yeah, I need it all of the time ♬
"It must be a girl," muttered Corbin. I turned around and glared at him. "So it is a girl." I chose not to answer because I knew it would only provoke him to dive further. "You know," said Corbin. "If you need advice about girls and relationships..."
"You'll be the last person I would go to," I finished his line and moved towards the small fridge beside the table. There were tons of energy drinks but I settled for a bottle of water with a sports cap. With my left hand holding the bottle, I pulled the cap using my free hand and then squirted water into my mouth.
Corbin rolled his eyes. "You know, if you came and asked for my advice before turning yourself into a monk, you might still have Autumn by your side."
I choked on my water and coughed multiple times. "How do you know-"
"-that you fancy Autumn?" my smartass brother finished my question. "It's quite obvious. I knew you had someone at your place the moment you sneaked into my room and took Advil, I just didn't know who it was for until I saw her getting into your car. I was surprised because I thought it was Margaux." Corbin took a drink and swallowed. "Anyway, what happened? What did you do to screw things up?"
"Why do you assume that I was the one who did something wrong?" I eyed him annoyedly.
Corbin shrugged then sat cross-legged on the floor. His back was leaning against the wall. "Because it's usually the guy's fault. Plus, I know Autumn and I know you. If someone did something, it must be you."
"Actually, little brother, it wasn't me." I moved towards him, then sat beside him. "She kissed me and me," I cleared my throat, "I pulled back. I couldn't kiss her back."
My brother looked at me as if I grew a silver horn in the middle of my forehead. "Why the hell not? I thought your motto has always been 'never say no to a kiss'. Is she a bad kisser?"
It felt strange to talk about this stuff to my brother but what other choice did I have? I couldn't talk about this to Matt, knowing he just slept with Margaux the other day, and as much as I trusted Ken, I didn't trust his girlfriend aka Margaux's sidekick, Freja. Ken and Freja had a no-secret policy so she'd likely know what happened and report it back to Margaux.
I turned to my brother and realized he was expecting my answer so I shook my head and said, "no, she's wonderful."
"Then what's the problem?"
"You don't understand, she just broke up with Ty. Maybe she was thinking of him while she was kissing me." I realized how silly it sounded once I said it out loud.
He raised one brow. "Was she drunk?"
"No. I mean, we were drinking wine but I don't think she's drunk."
Corbin rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Did you ask her?"
"Ask her what?" I was so confused.
My brother rolled his eyes for the fourth time today. "Did you ask her if she was thinking of Ty when she kissed you?"
"Of course not. I couldn't possibly ask her that." I stared at him incredulously.
Corbin shrugged one shoulder. "Then how would you know what she was thinking about? Are you a mind reader? I don't think you are. Unless you ask her, you only waste your time sulking and having a bad mood."
I opened my mouth to argue but to think again, he was right. My brother was right. If I didn't ask her, I'd never know. I abruptly stood, knocking the bottle of water I put beside me. "I have to go."
Corbin nodded. "I think you do."
I looked at the mess I'd just made on the floor. "Don't worry," said Corbin. "I'll clean this up. Go." He waved and told me to go.
I was about to turn on my heels but stopped and crouched on the floor beside him. I reached out and pulled him into a hug, "I don't say this often," I said as I could hear my voice getting gruff, "but I love you."
"I love you too, big brother." Corbin grinned. "Now get the hell out of here."
With a small nod, I picked up my car keys and rushed towards the door.