𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡 | 𝟏𝟖+

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

I study his face, looking up at his piercing brown eyes staring into mine as he studies me as well. His nose is shaped the same as it was. His plump lips and his straight white teeth are different, but his smile is still the same. This is definitely Alejandro Santos and I'm pissed at myself for not noticing earlier. I don't know whether to yell at him or run in the other direction so I stand there with my legs unable to move, just dumbfounded and baffled by the coincidence.

***

My brother and I were always best friends. It's the way Dad and Mom raised us. We were the siblings that would do everything with each other, side by side. It was almost like we were twins, but there was always that reminder that he was older than me by a year and three months when we were in school. But, that never really split us apart.

I remember when I was three and he was four, we would always go outside in the backyard when Mom wasn't looking. He would lift me up, somehow perching me on his shoulders. I'd grab onto the chair beside me for balance and reach up to unlock the door. Since Mom was in the office on the other side of the house, always on a call, she couldn't really hear the door being slid open. The glass door really did require a lot of strength from both of us, but once we finally would get it open, would run out into the open, green grass.

Like almost every kid out there, we played pretend. We had a playset, and at the time it looked massive to us. Dad had always read us fairytales and we would act out every single one of them. I specifically remember Rapunzel more vividly, where I would climb to the top and pretend I was the princess trapped in a tower. Most would think that Chris's role was to be the Flynn Rider to come save me, but no. He played a more extreme version of Mother Gothel as I had to fend for myself while escaping the castle. Most of the time, my older brother caught me, but there were times that I had gotten away which allowed me to put a triumphant smile on my face for the rest of the day.

When we were seven and eight, we'd make a whole obstacle course with our playset, tree branches, and hula hoops lying around in the garage. Each time we would set up a course, we would make it different either because we didn't remember the order it was set up last time or we simply just wanted to make modifications. Chris and I were always creative and imaginative kids and I remember Mom and Dad just looking out at us from the glass door appreciative of us getting along as well as us not asking for many toys.

It was around age eight that my dramatic self's life got turned upside down. Chris had just entered fourth grade. Of course, he has friends at school, and sometimes they came over for playdates or birthday parties. The same went for me, but Chris and I's bond was still above everyone else. Soon, Alejandro Santos came along, but he went by Alex. He was different from the rest as he was closer to Chris than any of his other friends from school. I hadn't ever seen him before, but I later learned that he moved all the way from Arizona to Boston the summer before fourth grade.

He didn't know anyone until Chris became his first and only friend. The first time he came over, he spoke to my mom in fluent Spanish and that already pissed me off. I was jealous of him being able to speak better Spanish than me, but my pride never let me admit it. My Spanish was broken and I had always blamed my dad for his Caucasian side overtaking the Latina side of me.

Alex and Chris had been hanging out more often as months passed by. It started off with Chris making the effort to include Alex in our games. As much as I liked only me and my brother playing, Alex was a useful addition to us. At first, he went along with everything that we wanted to do. Chris would suggest playing tag and this time I could actually catch a break from running because he'd be too busy trying to tag Alex. Or even hide and seek. The person who was "It" would spend their time looking for two people rather than one, making the game last longer.