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“I love you, boy. You are the best fur brother a girl could ask for,” I whisper into his ear. I want to hold on to all the good moments and remember him that way. “I think I will stay here… I don’t want to add that to my memory collection of Beau.”
My parents both stand as my brother and I do, pulling us into a big family hug. “We love you both. We can do a little ceremony for him later this week, okay?” We nod our heads as we all continue to cling to one another, dreading the impending loss of our fifth family member.
My little brother grabs my hand as I pull away. “Quinn, will you be okay here if I go with Mom and Dad?”
I nod and pull him in for another hug, vowing right here and now to be the best sister I can be. I want to love him the way Beau loved us…unconditionally.
After everyone checks on me one last time, I run to the solace of my bedroom. A place where I know I can break down and let everything out. This loss is causing my already big emotions to skyrocket.
I’m ugly crying and my breathing is so out of control that I don’t hear my bedroom door open until I feel him sit down beside me and pull me into his arms.
“Shhh, Q… breathe… breathe… in through your nose, out through your mouth… there ya go. Breathe.” He rubs my back up and down… up and down.
“I just”—hiccup—“can’t believe it”—hiccup. “It happened so fast… too fast, Eli.” Hiccup. “I wasn’t ready for this.”
“I know, Queenie,” he says the nickname onlyhecalls me, and for some reason, that makes me cry even more.
“He was such a good boy… the only one who could ever catch you besides me,” Eli whispers.
I smile through the tears, thinking of the many days he’d go from my house to Eli’s to Wes’s. Anywhere we went, Beau went too.
“He really was the best.”
As I look up at Eli, he moves closer, his face directly in front of mine. When he rubs his nose against my own, a little piece of my broken heart heals, sending tingles to run down my spine.
Eskimo kisses.
“Always remember how amazing of a life Beau had because of you and your family. I can promise you he felt every bit of love and happiness he deserved.”
“I needed you, E… thank you for coming,” I say as I rest my head against his chest, loving the sound of his strong heartbeat while he runs his fingers through my hair.
“When my mom told me, I jumped on my bike immediately. I would’ve been here sooner, but I made a pit stop.”
I move my gaze to where his hand is reaching behind him.
“I figured you could use a little pick-me-up tonight,” he says as he pulls out two of my all-time favorite treats. Reese’s and Sour Worms.
“You really do know the way to a girl’s heart, don’t you, Eli Barton?”
His mega-watt smile tells me he certainly does.
I’m pretty sure he doesn’t just know the way to my heart… he’s embedded himself there.
My best friend… my person.
Three
Quinn- 15
Eli- 17
Iwatch Eli across the table, trying to read exactly how good of a hand he actually has. Everyone else may think he’s bluffing, but I know him better than they do. He genuinely thinks he has the best hand at the poker table.
The flop shows a five and a pair of sevens. Eli raises, while his two buddies, Taylor and Jett, fold. Suckers… their hands must be shit, since they were convinced he was playing us. The two sevens on the table have me matching his raise… I don’t want to give myself away, but that gives me three of a kind.
We both have way more clothes on than the other two do. Wes got down to his underwear last round and since we decided to keep it decent and not go complete birthday suit, he joined Sloan and Maddie in the living room for a movie. Those two assholes ditched me as soon as they realized they may have to see their brother half naked.
Trust me… it isn’t a bad view.
