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I stand and turn, smiling cautiously at Marcus as he enters the room, rolling up his shirt sleeves. He looks tired, and his dark brown hair is tousled like he’s been running his hands through it obsessively.
He opens his arms, and I step into his hug, closing my eyes at the somewhat awkward embrace. Our relationship has been beyond strained, so I revel in the brief physical contact before he releases me with a tight smile.
“This is my friend, Fiona.” My tone is cheerful as I try to hide the sudden onslaught of anxiety I feel around my oldest brother. As they shake hands politely, I take a deep breath and sit back down, knocking back the rest of my drink in one go. Seb frowns at me, but I ignore his disapproval, tapping my empty glass with my fingernails until the waiter brings me another.
The evening moves along smoothly as we have more drinks, appetizers, and then dinner. I’m so thankful I brought Fiona along—her outgoing personality carries the conversation effortlessly. By the time I pop the last french fry into my mouth, I feel the warm buzz of alcohol humming through my veins. I touch my nose experimentally. It feels…numb. I touch it again.
“Uh-oh.” Fi narrows her eyes at me. “You may have had enough, babe.”
I look over, my finger still pressed firmly to my nose. “What? Why?”
“Is your nose numb?” she asks. Seb and Marcus glance at each other in confusion. Fi looks over at them and then back at me. “Have you never been drunk with your brothers before?”
“Erm, nope.” I shake my head. Sebastian’s eyes widen as he studies me. “Don’t look at me like that,” I say. Then I look over at Fiona. “The bigger one doesn’t even know I drink,” I whisper to her.
Marcus’s eyes narrow.
“Adorable.” Fi leans close to me. “You know you’re not really whispering, right? They can hear you.”
I glance over at Seb and Marcus. They’re both still staring.
“I drink sometimes,” I announce matter-of-factly to Marcus. “But don’t worry; I’m cutting myself off before I say something stupid.”
“You can tell because her nose goes numb,” Fiona explains with a wink.
“Right,” Seb says, holding back a laugh. Marcus looks a little less amused, so I choose to ignore him, focusing on my funner brother.Wait, funner isn’t a word.
“How’s school going?” Sebastian asks, changing the subject.
“School is…okay,” I say cagily, studying the ice at the bottom of my glass. “I applied to an internship in New York.” I frown as a wave of sadness chokes my throat.
Seb looks at Fi, as if my less intoxicated friend will betray me.
“You need to tell them,” Fiona says.
Traitor.
“Tell us what?” Marcus asks, taking a long pull of his beer.
I stare at Fiona, staying stubbornly silent, and she sighs. “Charlie just had a fight with her boyfriends.”
“Boyfriends?” Marcus and Seb ask together, and Seb holds up a hand. “As in plural?”
“They arenotmy boyfriends,” I blurt before clapping a hand over my mouth.
“Label or not, it’s serious, and you know it,” Fiona places a hand on mine when I start to fidget with my hair.
“There’s really not much to tell,” I say.
“No,” Marcus interrupts, “I want to hear more.”
“Me, too” Seb chimes in. “What’s going on, and when did this start?”
“Er, it started in September, sort of,” I say, my voice weirdly high and squeaky. “But we really started messing around after Halloween.”
And then I start to ramble as I recount my experiences with Link and Trey, leading up to the fight last night, though I do leave out the more sordid details. They are my brothers, after all.
“Wait, so there’s drinkingandsex?” Marcus clarifies.
