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SEAN
Iwalked into the living room, where Glen sat glued to a video game. He didn’t so much as look my way when I sat down next to him. Great start.
All I needed to do now was to figure out a way to start this conversation. Hey, so would you like to get punched a bunch of times? Yeah, this was going to go just peachy.
“How’s school?” I asked.
“Good.”
“Any problems with the other kids?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “No.”
“Really? They’re not being snobby dickheads?” Wait, what was the protocol about swearing in front of younger brothers? Probably something I shouldn't do again.
“A little.” Nice. His answers were up to two words now. Progress.
“A friend of mine is opening a dojo. It might be more of your crowd, if you want to sign up.” And get punched a bunch of times.
The TV screen turned into bloody splatters as Glen got killed. He put the controller aside and turned to look at me. “What kind of dojo?”
“Mixed martial arts. It’s probably going to be heavy on escrima, ‘cause that’s what my friend competes in, but he’s going to teach a bit of everything.”
“Yeah, that’d be cool. When do I have to start?”
That’s it? It was that easy?
“Whenever you want.” I pulled out the card from my pocket and gave it to Glen. “You can either go there yourself, or we can go together. Your choice.”
“I’ll go myself.” He put the card away and gave me a suspicious look. “Is that because you have that girl moving in with us?”
Never mind. Zero progress made.
“No. It’s because I’m worried about you. Knowing you can defend yourself can help you feel in control over your own life.”
An illusion of control. No matter how many times I had pulled the trigger, nothing had changed except the illusion that grew stronger. That was the weird thing about violence–it never helped. But I had relished in it. And now, knowing perfectly well how easily it could suck me in, I still got the occasional urge to dent some skulls.
“Okay.” He picked the controller up again and returned to staring at the screen. “Am I supposed to pretend she’s a good stepmom?”
“Vera won’t try to replace Mom,” I answered because I knew perfectly well that Mom was irreplaceable. Not that she had been perfect, but still. “She might try to make you eat your veggies, though.”
Glen smirked at the screen as he killed another monster. “Why would you want to marry someone like that?”
“We’re not getting married. We’re just engaged.” That sounded dumb even to me.
“You shouldn’t tell anyone about that.” Huh. Glen was actually having a conversation with me. A real one.
“Vera isn’t that bad. She just doesn’t emote well. And she’s prickly but in a funny way. You might like her.”
“Okay.”
Yeah, I couldn’t expect this conversation to go on any longer. It was already a miracle he actually talked to me.
“I guess I’ll leave you alone, then.”
I grabbed my car keys and headed out, even though I was way too early. Maybe traffic would do its usual New Yorky thing and kill all my spare time.
As soon as I hopped into my beat-up Buick, I turned on the GPS and put Vera’s address in. A car accident and the usual afternoon traffic turned what would've been a half an hour drive into almost an hour. Great. I would only be fifteen minutes early, then.
