Falling Apart, Together✓

Chapter Two

I had been home for a couple of days but I managed to avoid everyone by staying home, catching up with my parents. I hadn't seen them since Christmas the year before and we had had a bunch to catch up on. I wasn't able to avoid everyone forever though, Archer made sure of that when he invited me to lunch in Boston.

I had borrowed our parents' car and enjoyed the drive into the city, taking in all the colors of fall in New England. It looked like the trees were on fire with all the shades of red, yellow and orange. I pulled into a parking spot right down the road from the restaurant. I walk in and the girl at the front pointed me in the direction of my brother.

I rounded the corner and groaned to see we wouldn't be dining alone. "I thought you said you and I were getting lunch?" I asked as I removed my coat and sat down across from him and Ransom.

"Well I'm sick and tired of this animosity between you two. You've been like this for years and I can't take much more of this. I thought I hated it when you were sucking face but honestly running interference, making sure neither of you would come in contact with the other, while also answering the inane questions like is he ok or is she seeing anyone, is so much worse! We're all going to get along during this lunch even if it kills us. Now I'm going to the bathroom, please try not to speed up the process before I get back." He raved before walking off.

His rant set us both on edge and we sat in awkward, tense silence for the next few minutes. I finally couldn't take the silence anymore. "Why was it so hard for you to believe me? You know how much of a creep he is. I specifically remember you complaining about it mere weeks before I told you."

"Then why did you wait so long to tell me?"

"Because I was afraid of you reacting exactly like you did. Maybe I should've listened to my gut and just kept my mouth shut."

"You can't tell me something like that and not expect me to be a little skeptical."

"There's being skeptical and then there's accusing me of instigating it. I mean come on! I loved you! Why would I instigate something with someone else?Especially him of all people."

"You clearly don't remember how much you had to drink that night?"

"Ok two things; one, the amount of alcohol in my system proved that I was incapable of making a cognitive decision. And two, there is no amount of alcohol in existence that would make me say yes to him." We had become so engrossed in our conversation that we hadn't noticed that Archer had returned.

"What do you mean, no amount of alcohol could make you say yes to him? Who are you talking about?" Neither of us say anything, refusing to make eye contact with each other or Archer.

"Damn it Bentley! Answer me."

I had tears pricking my eyes. I wiped them away, determined not to shed anymore tears on the subject. "Richard Drysdale. I'm talking about Richard Drysdale." I said quietly. Ransom huffed in response.

"What did Richard do?"

"I think you know exactly what he did."

"When?" God Archer please don't make me do this in public.

"The night of our graduation party." I wasn't surprised when I watched his face comfort in disgust.

"We were barely eighteen at that point. That's sick... Why did you never tell mom and dad? Better question, why did you never tell me? We're twins, we tell each other everything."

"I didn't know how. I was in pain for a while. I went through therapy to help me deal with everything. I didn't even tell Ransom until almost a year after it happened. And then Ransom didn't believe me so I figured no one else would either and I kept it to myself, didn't come home as often to avoid a setback." I thought Archer was taking it all pretty well until he decided to deck Ransom in the face.

"Why the fuck didn't you believe her? She was your girlfriend! Why would she want your father?" He left pretty quickly after that.

"Shit!" Ransom swears.

"What?"

"He was my ride." I looked over to where my brother disappeared and then looked back at Ransom.

"Come on." I say before getting up and walking towards the exit. I turned back when I didn't hear him get up and he was giving me a look, trying to figure out my angle. "You planning on walking home?" That got him moving and we were making our way to the exit, our appetites ruined and the future of any relationship hanging awkwardly in between us.