My adoptive brother's brother

The summer begins

The first time I saw him is something I can never forget. Melted into the back of my mind it remains.

It was a cold rainy afternoon at the bus station at my peaceful old uneventful town and me and my adoptive brother Harry were standing in the rain shivering from the cold. Our mom had insisted we left to fetch Harry's older brother Seth, who had lived in the city with his dad his whole life from the station, as she had to run to the hospital where she worked night shifts as a nurse.

I had lived with Harry and her my whole life since my parents died in a fire. My parents were friends with my adoptive mom and she took me in when the incident had taken place. I've always had an odd relationship with Harry. He was the perfect child. Not because he was smart, or hardworking or behaved well. He was perfect and loved just for being himself. Always making people laugh, he was "a good time" as they made sure to let me know. And the girls couldn't keep off him either I understood why. He was tall, fit, had brooding cocoa colored eyes and could charm the panties off any girl or women. We always had some sort of a rival relationship. I always felt the need to compete for the kind of attention he got freely. I was the polar opposite of him, I was not that attractive, got straight A's and was not much of a talker. We got into fights often and he often berated me. I hated him for being so perfect. We always attended the same school in the same grade and would deny ever knowing each other.

I hated him for being so perfect. Even now whilst standing in the rain he made it seem seamless. His curly brown hair slinking down with rain, his uniform littered with initials of probably every kid in school presses against his rock hard abs showing his v-line and his lips pressed on a cigarette that he failed to light and kept on trying to. Oh I understood, I hated it though. I looked a complete mess with my uniform soaked from the last day of school and hadn't had an initial signed on mine. I checked myself out with a compact mirror and what I found was not that appealing. Discouraged I shoved my compact into my soaked shoulder bag.

And just as I did the bus from the city arrived and the doors opened to reveal a row of passengers who scurried past us in an effort to outrun the run to their destinations. The last passenger made his way towards us and it was Seth. I had only seen him once when we were smaller but now he was all grown up. He was older than Harry but resembled him slightly. His walk towards us seemed to take an eternity with all I had to take in. He had the same brown surly locks that wove around his head but he had the back shaven off and the front was a little longer. He had a jawline that seemed sharp enough to cut through diamond. But the most attractive feature he had were his eyes, cocoa like Harry's but his was darker and looked a little more dangerous. They were a little more squinted and sharp than Harry's. He had shoulders and arms that I have never seen on a teenage boy in my town. And his torso was ripped outlined by his dripping t shirt. He walked up and just when I thought he couldn't get any better, he opened his mouth to say hello with a rather undressing accent that seemed to be laced with mischievous arrogance. He  held his hand out to shake mine while wearing the devil's smile. I had been too in awe to speak and when I did try to reply it came out in a whisper. He leant forward and moved his ear towards my mouth to hear me through the rain. I smelt pot on him but this time it didn't reek like the one pastor smith passed around in our awareness meeting last month. Harry threw away his wet cigarette and exclaimed rather loudly, " well shall we go now?  I really am not fond of getting a cold and dying this young, while there's so many things I haven't done yet". The mood shifted and we walked on home without saying anything else.