Page 21 of The Time It Takes
He closed the box and slid it back into the cabinet. “We need to go grocery shopping,” he mentioned as he stared at the empty shelves.
“You meanyouneed to go grocery shopping,” I clarified.
His brows drew together, glaring at me over his shoulder. “I went last week. It’s your turn.”
I tossed the rest of the Cheez-Its into my mouth and swiped my hands together to rid them of crumbs. I shook my head when I remembered he didn’t—not in the sense that mattered. “You bought bread and beer. Those aren’t exactly groceries.”
He shut the cabinet as he let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his eyes. “That reminds me. Work’s been slow, so I’ll need to look over our budget again.”
“I’m working again. I still have some money I set aside from last year so I can chip in.”
He shook his head, still not looking at me. “You need that money for when you get into Juilliard.”
“You meanifI get into Juilliard.” I laughed in an attempt to ease the tension in my chest at the thought.
He shot me a stern look. “You’re talented as hell. Trust me, they’re going to be sending you a letter any day now.”
Juilliard was the only school I applied to. It was the only place I could see myself besides here. It felt like a stretch, but Ben told me to just go for it and see what happened. Even if I did get accepted, it was in New York, and I didn’t want to leave Ben here all alone. He never abandoned me, and I didn’t want to be another person he had to lose.
My brother stared at me with so much hope in his eyes that made me truly believe I’d be the one to break the cycle of shitty luck in our family.
He hadn’t been around much lately, and I could already sense myself starting to miss him. To even think of being states away from him didn’t sit right with me. He had taken care of me my whole life. Who takes care of him?
He’d been staying out at odd hours of the night and the bags under his eyes were proof of that. He was stressed among other things I couldn’t quite place but I could tell when my brother wasn’t entirely himself. I didn’t want to pry because he’d talk when he was ready. At least I could hope he would.
“I’ll go to the store tomorrow morning,” I told him quietly. “You should get more sleep though. You’re starting to look like shit.”
A strangled laugh came from him as he nodded in agreement, running a hand through his hair.
I decided to pry a little, I mean it was my natural birthright and instinct. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“What?” he asked, drawing his head back as if that was a ridiculous question.
“I only ask because you’re always leaving in the middle of the night and before you say anything, the walls are very thin in this house. I hear everything and I meaneverything. It’s been traumatizing actually.” When he only laughed more, I could tell he was a bit horrified.
I raise an eyebrow. “Boyfriend?”
I could tell by his face that he was suppressing another laugh. “Neither, kid.”
I rolled my eyes at his short response that gave me no real answer.Where the hell have you been then?
“My brother, Benji. Oh, so secretive,” I retorted in a shitty British accent.
He smiled and I mimicked it. “Will you ever be normal?”
“No. Next question.” I walked out of the kitchen and fell back onto the couch. A recording of last year’s World Surf League was playing on TV. A pain entered my heart at the thought of my dad, who used to be one of the top surfers in the world. We made sure to never re-watch the years he was a participant.
Ben sat down beside me with a grunt. I could feel him staring at me like hereallydid have another question he wanted to ask me.
I glared at him and stuck my chin out, bulging my eyes in annoyance.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked.
And there it was. I knew he was specifically asking about Tucker. He’d been sitting with me at school during lunch ever since I said we could hang out at the bonfire. He wasn’t as boring as I expected him to be.
I learned that he was originally from Los Angeles, and he had to move to Florida for his father’s job—who by the way was now one of the top surgeons in the area. He was an only child, but the rest of his family was massive. He told me he had about fifty cousins. He still visited Los Angeles on special occasions. He was allergic to peanuts. His father hated that he worked at an aquarium, but he said it only made him enjoy his job that much more. I was surprised when he said football wasn’t his passion. He was convinced he hadn’t found it yet.
“Tucker and I are just hanging out.”
