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“You don’t understand,” Denny says, his voice breaking slightly. “I promised Dad I would protect you.”
“And you have,” I tell him. “But I don’t think he meant that he wanted you to go this far.”
Denny shakes his head, and for the first time in a long time, I don’t see my older brother the man. I see my older brother, the kid that lost his dad. They were always so close, and I know that it kills Denny to even talk about him now that he’s gone.
“If you don’t need me to look out for you anymore,” he pauses, trying to find the words. “Then I’ve lost that last connection with him. The last promise I gave him before he died.”
I have no words to give him comfort, so I pull him into my arms and hold him tight. In the same way, Dad would lift us into his arms and hug us when he got home from work.
“You can’t keep putting off living your life, Denny. And you can’t keep interfering with mine. As much as I know you’ve meant it in the best way possible.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Denny says, pulling back out of my arms. “To both of you.”
Alec surprises me when he chuckles and gently punches Denny in the shoulder. “It’s not like that’s the first time either one of us has thrown a punch at the other.”
The corner of Denny’s mouth ticks up in amusement.
“You love her?” He points at me.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Denny nods. “She’s your problem now.”
The two of them both burst out laughing.
“Real nice, you two.” I try to sound annoyed, but I know Denny is just kidding.
Alec pulls me into his arms. “Don’t be mad.”
“Gross,” Denny says turning and walking towards the door. “I’m going to go grab us breakfast. I expect you two to be decent when I return.”
I wait until the door to the apartment closes, and we’re all alone before I speak.
“So, you love me?” I ask.
ALEC
It hits me at this moment that I said that I loved Devrie twice, but neither time to her directly.
“Yes,” I say, pulling her even closer to me. “I love you. I should have said it to you first, but everything was happening so quickly. I needed to assure him that this wasn’t a one-time thing for me.”
“Really?” She pecks the corner of my mouth. “Then what was last night?”
“It was the first night of our lives together. Because I can assure you that I’m not about to let you go ever again.”
“Good.”
“Do you have anything you want to say to me?” I ask.
Devries pretends that she’s really thinking about how to answer. I won’t lie. Even with the playful way the corner of her mouth is twisting up in amusement, I’m still worried that she might not say it back.
“Alec, I didn’t really know it back then, but I fell in love with you when you first kissed me on the rooftop of my parents’ house. It took us both a while…” She reaches up and gently touch the bruise forming on my cheek. “And there have been a few roadblocks along the way, but we found each other once again.”
“Do you think your Dad knew he was playing a role in getting us together?” I ask.
She laughs. “No way. If you think Denny’s protective of me, my dad had a shotgun collection that he liked to clean whenever a boy came to take me out on a date. You got lucky with just a few punches.”
“I happily take so much more if it means I get you in the end.”
