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“Mom always coddled you. She was too easy on you.”
“She loved me. She loved both of us.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “Please, she never loved me the same way she loved you. I remind her of him.”
“Maybe that’s true.” Oliver looked at me exasperatedly. “But that’s why she wants better for you. She doesn’t want you to end up like him.”
“That’s what you don’t get, Oliver. I don’t need anything to be better. I already have the best. My hard work paid off. I have everything. I don’t need the pity in your eyes that I see every time I’m around you.”
He snorted. “Really? You’ve got everything, huh? Then why are you throwing your phone against the wall just because some girl is done with you?”
“She’s not just some girl!” I yelled.
Harrison barged into the room. “Enough!” he shouted. “I’m so sick of all this goddamn bickering. You’re brothers, start acting like it.”
I folded my arms, as Oliver and I glared at each other.
“You.” Harrison pointed to me. “You hide behind work and your achievements so you never have to connect with people.”
“I told you—” Oliver started, but Harrison interrupted him by pointing in his direction.
“And you. You seek every thrill and fun thing in life so you can feel alive and not think about anything deeper.”
I fought the urge to smirk at the fact that he had finally called out his precious best friend.
Harrison shook his head. “Maybe your parents tore you apart when we were kids, but you’re grown ass adults now. Start acting like it. There’s no competition. And if there was—spoiler alert—you’re both losing. You’re brothers. Start talking to each other. You’re all you have.”
With that, he stalked out of the room and slammed his bedroom door.
I looked back to Oliver, and we both stared at each other.
After a few seconds of silence, Oliver broke first. “Maybe he has a point.”
I sighed. “We never did talk growing up.”
“Thanks, Mom and Dad.” His lip tugged up.
I paused. “I was always jealous of how easy everything seemed for you. Mom loved you so much. You could do anything and she’d praise you.”
“Mom loves you too,” Oliver said. “And I was jealous ofyou. I was never good enough for Dad. He looked at me like I was this big disappointment. You were the genius—the one that was going places. I could never measure up.”
“Dad was hard on me,” I insisted.
“Because he believed in you. He barely looked in my direction.” Oliver sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “That’s why it sucks when you treat me the same way. Like you’re ashamed of me or something.”
“I’m not ashamed of you.”
“Good,” he said meeting my eyes. “And I’m sorry I’ve been dragging you on every activity instead of just trying to talk to you.”
His sincerity hit me with surprising force. Perhaps I hadn’t realized just how badly I needed to hash this out. “I’m sorry I’ve always tried to shut you out. I’ve never been good at this,” I said.
“Hey, you came here. You stayed with me. That was a start.”
“I wanted us to be closer,” I admitted to him for the first time. “Maybe spending all this time with work hasn’t exactly been as fulfilling as I thought it’d be.”
“And maybe I’m overcompensating for something by constantly finding these life-risking adventures.” He shook his head, chuckling.
I smiled at him. “It doesn’t make sense to push away the only brother I’ve got. Especially when—if I’m being honest—I’m fucking lonely.”
