Page 62 of Elemasters

“He took the car,” Dustin said blankly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which to be fair, it was.

“Right, yeah,” Elliot sighed, “take the Escalade. Just make sure you’re both back before your mom gets here,”

Dustin had only ever driven his father’s car once, and that was only to move it off the street so it wouldn’t block the garbage truck on trash day. It just felt viscerally wrong controlling a vehicle that large and weirdly pristine; the man spent more time cleaning and waxing it than Dustin spent in the pool. Plus, it was genuinely hard for him to reach the pedals even though there was nothing blocking them, unlike him and Chris’s car which was always overflowing with soda bottles and takeout boxes.

But still, he managed to maneuver the behemoth well enough to arrive at Bailey’s, the first place he’d expected Chris to go.

And sure enough, their car was parked right out front.

Dustin parked the unwieldy SUV and steeled himself in preparation to head inside.

As he made his way to the door, his thoughts were racing in an attempt to figure out how to handle this. He knew Chris was probably gonna snap at him, but he couldn’t let himself be baited. He just had to convince his brother to come home, and they’d sort the rest out later.

He didn’t even have a chance to knock before Bailey opened the door, standing before him in nothing more than a black t-shirt that was way too big for her…

One with “Kochiyama Athletics” scrawled across the chest in bold white letters, with a little Orca sticking its head through the ‘O’.

The very same shirt Chris left the house in,

“I knew you’d come to collect him sooner or later,” Bailey chuckled. That was when Dustin noticed the purple marks blooming on her neck and collarbone.

“Hold on… did you fuck my brother?”

Bailey’s eyes went wide, but she slowly nodded, as if the full weight of it had only just settled on her shoulders. She clearly expected Dustin to be furious, but honestly, he wasn’t mad at all. On another day, he’d probably be elated that they’d finally acted on their obvious attraction to one another.

But right now? With Chris as emotionally volatile as he’d been? He couldn’t help but find himself feeling concerned that he’d lash out and hurt her, or that Bailey would end up shouldering his emotions in the exact way the Lotus Garden tried to help her avoid.

“Dusty I… look, it just kind of happened, alright? It doesn’t have to change anything…”

“Hey, relax, it’s all cool,” Dustin assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder, “I’m not mad. We definitely have a LOT to talk about later, but right now I just need to get Chris home before our mom gets back,”

“Of course dad would send you after me like you’re my fucking handler or something,”

Dustin winced at the abrasive sound of Chris’s voice, as the latter appeared in the doorway behind Bailey, shirtless and clearly still fuming.

“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Dustin replied through clenched teeth, trying to keep his bubbling anger in check. A shouting match with his twin would only make things worse right now, “but unfortunately that seems to be my role in life,”

“Dustin, don’t…” Bailey started, but Chris immediately cut her off, stepping past her out onto the front porch.

“And who the fuck asked you to do that?! You act like you’re so selfless and tortured, but you’re really just a conceited, smug asshole with a martyr complex,”

Dustin clenched his fist; so much for the restrained approach. He’d had enough.

“Who asked? YOU ask all the fucking time! You think I enjoy being responsible for your ass? You think it’s fun taking the hits for you because mom and dad think I should be the one keeping you in check? Just so you can run around doing whatever the fuck you want without a care in the world?!”

Chris didn’t say a word. Not at first. He just stared at Dustin for a long time, his mouth tight and his posture rigid.

And then he laughed.

Broken, angry, joyless.

It was a sound Dustin had never heard from his brother before, and it struck something primal within him.

“Christian… Ziheng. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you need to chill before…”

“Shut. The fuck. Up,” Chris’s voice was low and gravelly, like crackling embers, “I’m done taking orders,”

The sky started to darken as clouds gathered overhead. A violent crack of thunder rang out, almost loud enough that Dustin didn’t hear Bailey’s scream…