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Thursday night I had the night to myself. Belle’s parents were getting suspicious about how much time she was spending away from home. I could understand that, considering when she wasn’t at work or school she was at my house. She had actually started to make up shifts at work to buy us time together—which was risky, but it wasn’t like her parents were likely to frequent Levine’s. I laughed, the image of Mr. and Mrs. Gale sitting in a booth at the restaurant floating through my mind, the image stranger than me having a girlfriend.
I hadn’t spoken to Alex for a couple of weeks, not since things with Belle had been getting heavy. I dialed his number, keen to talk out my relationship with Belle with someone I could trust, someone who I knew wouldn’t judge me. I guess having a psychologist as a brother had had its perks.
“Hey, Jack! How are you going?” Alex said, pleased to hear from me. He was always happy to hear from me, the complete opposite of my father.
“Yeah okay, same old. You? How’s work?” I asked, walking into the bedroom to lie down.
“Yeah, work’s great. I might be up for promotion, which is good. It means more money and less hours,” he said, sounding excited.
“That’s awesome,” I said, not quite understanding how you go about getting a promotion when you’re a psychologist in an upscale rehab clinic.
“So what’s up?” Alex asked. “What’s bothering you?”
“What you mean?” I asked, playing dumb. My plan had been to make small talk for a few minutes before launching in to my issues.
Alex chuckled. “Jack, I’m your brother. I know when something’s on your mind.”
“Okay, you’re right. There is something bothering me,” I said, giving in.
“What is it? Have you run out of girls asleep with in London?” he joked.
“Nice one,” I said sourly. “Just the opposite, actually. I’ve met someone.”
“Really?” Alex said. “So who is she?”
“That’s where it gets complicated.” I sighed. “Alex, things are really messed up and I don’t know what to do.”
“Okay, you’re scaring me now. You sound really worried. What’s going on? It’s not a dude, is it? You know I’ll still love you, gay or straight, but I can’t imagine you taking the cock up the ass.”
I laughed at my brother’s crassness. “No, it’s not a dude, it’s worse.” I paused for a moment, gathering my thoughts. “Okay. I met this chick. She’s like no other girl I’ve ever met. She’s someone I actually like spending time with. Someone I look forward to seeing again. When I’m not with her, she’s all I think about. She’s doing my head in.”
“Okay, I’m failing to see the problem,” Alex said, amused. “It sounds like love to me.”
“Shut up, I’m getting to that,” I grumbled. “There are two major things against me being with this girl. Firstly, she is eighteen, but she was seventeen we…started.”
“Jack, what the fuck? Is that even legal?” Alex asked, shocked.
“Yes, Alex,” I sighed. “Don’t worry, I checked. I can go as low as sixteen if I want.” I tried to joke. “Anyway, it gets worse. You remember Luke? This girl is his wife’s younger sister.”
“Man, why would you go there?” Alex groaned. “Do you do this on purpose or what?”
“In my defense, I didn’t know who she was or her age when we first got together.” I shot back.
“That’s not really much of a defense. Maybe you should start checking ID?” he chuckled.
“Yeah, thanks man. I’m glad you see the funny side of it,” I grumbled, annoyed that he was finding this all so amusing.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’ll behave, I promise. So I’m guessing you really like this girl?”
“Yep,” I said. “Which brings on a whole other load of problems,” I added.
“Like what?” asked Alex
“Like the fact that I’m me? Alex, I am so fucked up. I think I’m falling in love with this girl, but I have so much trouble telling her that, or expressing to her any of what I’m feeling.” I sighed. “I think I like her too much to subject her to a lifetime of my shit.”
“Jack, I need to ask you this. Is she worth losing your friend over? Because I can guarantee you that’s what’s going to happen. Luke will never accept this. Never. You know that, right?”
“I know,” I said simply.
