The Tribuo - 19. Part III, chapter 1

PART III

ERIC

- I -

Hi all! My name is Eric, I am twenty-three years old -- well, I am turning twenty-four in less than a week -- and I am bisexual. Yeah, that’s right, I swing both ways, I play both fields, and so on, so forth. Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me briefly tell you what this whole thing is going to be about. First of all, if you think it’ll be just another porn story, hold on there. Don’t run for your box of Kleenex just yet. I don’t know if you’ll need one or not, but you can always get it later. I guess this is a love story… Now, wait with gagging and spitting. It’s not going to be Titanic wanna-be. Quite the opposite.

So, my older brother hates my guts now; my brother’s best friend is the freaking love of my life (kinda explains why my brother hates me); and his ex actually ran me over with a car… Well, I could certainly understand her, seeing how everything played out.

I suppose, I could cram the whole story into a couple of short paragraphs, but then those of you who did run for the Kleenex box, would probably be disappointed. So, fine. Let me rewind a bit. Let’s see, when did this start...? I think sometime around the end of September. I was on another hiatus from school (I take those often; that explains why I am still a sophomore at college at twenty-three), life was pretty good, job paid well, and I didn’t have a single problem in the world.

I moved in with my brother as soon as I graduated from high school. I couldn’t stand being around my parents any longer. I mean, the whole “Oh, God, Eric! You need to finally settle down with a girl!” thing was driving me up the wall. See, I knew about who I was since I turned fifteen, and since I was never the one to pretend and hide things, I immediately informed my parents. Their reaction was… Well, let’s say, it was quite dramatic. Especially my mother’s. My dad just looked at me, shook his head, rolled his eyes, and went into his office to do whatever the hell he was always doing in there. But my mother… Oh, dear God! She screamed, she cried, she prayed -- even though she was not religious at all -- and worst of all, she tried telling me that I was just a young idiot who had no idea about anything. Well, it was true to some point, but come on! Seriously, how can you not know who you are, when your body reacts equally wild to both -- male and female? I was an idiot, but not that much of a one.

So, after I finally graduated from school, I told my mother that I was moving in with my brother. To my utter amusement, she didn’t mind. I guess it was partially because my brother -- even though he was only two years older than me -- was always considered the 'mature one' in the family. Well, since there are only two of us, guess who was the 'immature' one… But I suspect that it was also because my mother couldn’t even look at me without a mad twitch in her eye, after I told her to butt out of my life and let me make my own choices.

Living with my brother was definitely the lesser evil, even though he never 'approved' of my lifestyle, but I couldn't care less about his approval. He would always call me his 'kid brother' with that special grown-up intonation in his voice, ever since we were kids. He still calls me that, even though I told him on numerous occasions that two years of age difference didn’t really make me a kid anymore. Especially not now, after everything happened. Well, to be honest, we are not on speaking terms right now, so maybe he doesn’t call me that anymore. He probably calls me something like, 'that son of a bitch I am related to,' or something close to that.

The funny thing is that my brother and I don’t even look alike. He looks like a Xerox copy of our dad -- not too tall, black-haired, and brown-eyed. I, on the other hand, look just like our Grandmother. I am tall, my hair is what you call auburn, I suppose… Even though I call it red. Oh, and my eyes are this weird color -- something between green, blue, and brown. I always had troubles filling out paperwork when they ask you about the eye color. First, I would try putting down 'green/blue/brown,' but after I’ve had more than enough sighs and eyerolls from various people, I just gave up and started putting 'green.'

So that day, at the end of September, I was lying on my bed, feet up on the wall, head hanging off, hair almost sweeping the floor, when my brother walks in (he never believed in knocking), and he gives me this look.

“What?” I asked.

“You know,” he said with annoyance. “I hate it when you smoke in the apartment…”

“I know,” I answered seriously, without taking my cigarette out of my mouth. “That’s why the window is wide open and my door is closed… Oh, wait. It was closed, never mind.”

I never felt bad for smoking inside. I pay half of the rent and half of every single bill that we are getting, and I do it on time too. So, I figured that I could do whatever the hell I wanted in my room.

He just sighed and rolled his eyes as usual. This conversation was almost a routine by now. We had it at least five times a week.

“Get a haircut,” he said finally. “You look like a girl.”

Yup, this was also very familiar road by now.

“What do you want?” I asked him lazily.

He shoved the phone in my face.

“Angie for you,” he said shortly.

No idea why though. I mean, I am currently dating a girl, so I seriously couldn’t see what his problem was. I took the phone.

“Hey,” I said indifferently. “What are you wearing?”

My brother rolled his eyes again, and finally walked out and closed the door. I grinned. Too easy.

“Huh?” Angie asked on the other end of the line, and I sighed.

Oh, Angie… So pretty, that it almost makes your eyes water, but so dumb that… Well, also makes your eyes water. For different reasons though.

“You were supposed to say 'nothing',” I said with reproach.

“Nothing,” she said doubtfully.

“Never mind,” I stabbed my cigarette in the ashtray that was sitting by the bed. “What’s up?”

“What are we doing tonight?” she asked, cheerful as ever.

“No idea,” I yawned. To be honest, I didn’t want to go anywhere tonight. I just wanted to stay in my room and pretty much sit on my ass. I hated going places on my days off, and I hoped that Angie would eventually get it. Maybe she would, but no luck yet.

“Hey, do you wanna go hang out at the Plaza?” Now she sounded almost ecstatic. She loved Plaza. I wondered if I could just give her some money instead. I mean, she could go there, buy useless crap as she usually did, and I would just stay home.

“Not really,” I said. “Angie, I just wanna stay in tonight, if that’s okay.”

“Oh,” she said with great disappointment.

“You can go though,” I tried changing my position on the bed, and ended up being completely upside down.

“I don’t know…” she sighed.

“Stop by,” I grinned. “I’ll give you money if you are broke again.”

“Oh,” now she sounded a hell of a lot better. “Is five okay?”

I looked at the clock. 3:30.

“Sure.”

I was seriously considering just dumping her. I mean, it would save me money. A lot of money, come to think about it. Plus, I was getting tired of being tied to her anyway. All she ever wanted to do was to 'hang out at the Plaza.'

“Awesome!” she laughed on the phone. “See you soon then!”

“Uh huh,” I yawned again and hung up before she could say anything else.

I’ll give her money, and then I’ll tell her that we need to part ways. She might get upset, but she’ll get over it. She is attractive enough to find another guy five minutes after she leaves my apartment.

I dropped the phone on the floor and tried reaching for my smokes. Damn, too far. I thought for a second if I needed one so badly that I would actually get up. Nah, I decided finally. I’ll get them later. I was thinking about taking a nap, when my brother barged in again.

“I am going to start locking my door,” I said darkly. “What if I was beating off in here?”

“Are you done with the phone?” he asked with irritation.

I pushed it towards him, and it slid all the way to his feet. I thought he’d appreciate it, but for some strange reason, he didn’t. He muttered something that sounded like 'lazy pig,' and I ignored him as usual. He picked up the phone and looked at me thoughtfully for several seconds.

“Cole is getting married,” he said finally, and I just said:

“Huh.”

Cole was one of my brother’s best friends since middle school. It was always Cole, another guy named Andy, and my brother. Those three would always hang out together. A while ago, I was seriously suspecting that they might be doing something else, less innocent, but apparently, they never did. I guess I was the only bad apple in the family.

“So you are telling me this because…?”

My brother looked almost uncomfortable now.

“Andy was asking earlier if you were free tonight,” he said.

“Why?” I asked with suspicion.

“He wants to ask you something,” he sighed. “Something about clothes and whatnot… He and I are best men, so…”

“Oh, Jesus,” I grumbled. “Please don’t tell me that he is going to pester me about the whole shopping thing again!”

“Well…”

“Ugh,” I pulled my legs off the wall and sat up. “How many times do I have to repeat this? I hate shopping, my taste is awful!”

“He is coming over at five,” my brother said with authority. “Tell him yourself.”

“I did,” I replied bitterly. “Several times! If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was hitting on me or something.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” my brother snorted. “Believe me, Andy is straighter than a nail!”

“I couldn't care less,” now I was getting tired. “Look, get out, so I can take a nap before your buddy starts pulling teeth again with his pointless questions. Plus, Angie is going to show up as well.”

“Oh,” now he looked puzzled. “So you have plans tonight?”

“Yeah,” I yawned. “I am giving her money, and then I am dumping her.”

“Jesus,” he grumbled. “Why?”

I shrugged.

“My decisions, remember?”

He just shook his head, and finally left me alone.