Becoming Mrs. Bryant

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎

Nick

April 15, 2023

"What the hell?" Jason whispered, as if we were in a secluded area or something. Quite literally, we were in a car, outside of the very same church that Nova and Aubrey had gotten married in nearly a year ago. Only difference was we were getting ready to say our final farewells to Matt. "So Rico is your brother?"

"Half, brother" I corrected Jason. "But yeah, apparently. I'm now wondering if all along Rico had known that and that's why he did all that he did. Maybe he was too scared to just say he was my brother upfront." Jason shrugged, "eh, maybe."

"I mean, I could see how that might be the case here" Jason continued. "There's a chance you didn't know yet, which you didn't, and if Rico had been doing what you suggested, then he probably thought about that. On top of that, telling somebody that had spent their whole childhood not knowing you, that you're their brother...is kind of random. I doubt you would've taken Rico seriously, and I'm sure he thought about that too."

"I mean yeah, I would've looked at the dude like he had two heads, but still. What was the worst that would have happened? I would've called him weird and walked away? You're telling me that would stop you from addressing something as big as that?"

Jason shrugged, "I honestly don't know. I haven't been in that position to debate that kind of thing. All I know is we've beat up the dude several times Nick, you've gotta be real for a second. Him being scared makes perfect sense given that factor."

Nova

We all passed by the coffin, which was open, but it didn't look as bad as I had imagined. Matt looked peaceful, though I also know that he was definitely touched up and glued back together as much as possible to look like a normal person. It looked as though he was asleep, and that's when it genuinely, genuinely hit me. He was gone. I couldn't believe it.

To avoid crying, looked away. I looked to my left and saw that Nick had actually been comforting a somewhat emotional Aubrey. But better yet? Aubrey wasn't rejecting Nick's advances to comfort her. Maybe the good that we'll get out of an event as tragic as this, is the ability to rebuild our group.

Nick's arm draped around Aubrey's shoulder, and Aubrey lightly held Nick's right hand with her own. I smiled, I suppose, because Nick turned and looked at me, which I had registered too late. He noticed my staring, and smiled at me. So I returned the favor.

We all moved on and back to our seats. Aubrey was sitting beside me, and I was on an end seat. On the other side of her was May, then Lewis, then Jason, then Maddie then Nick, then Hailey, and then Zach. We didn't want Maddie having an end seat, and given all the drama that's happened, Maddie didn't think Aubrey and I being beside Nick was a good idea. Because Hailey was more so the closest with Zach and I than anybody else, Maddie just chose to keep her beside Zach, and since May and Lewis were patching up their relationship, Maddie thought putting them together would make them bond more. Thus, we ended up with this seating arrangement.

***

"Aubrey, quick, say the N word!" Jason said to my wife as we all hung out at Maddie's place, trying to lift the spirits of our heartbroken friend.

"What?" Aubrey asked, "why?"

"So I cancel you."

"Jason!"

We all laughed. It was a deep, meaningful laugh that we all needed. Although things were still a mess, little moments of intimacy between our friends group, such as this one, brought us together.

"You know," May said, "I think we should try this whole celebratory picnic thing again. Except this time, we should invite Maddie as well."

"What about Rico?" Nick asked, and everybody looked over at him. "What about him?" Lewis asked, "he won't do shit this time, unless you've got another secret or two up your sleeve that we don't know about." Nick shook his head, but I noticed that his eyes kept wandering back to Jason every few seconds. When I looked over at Jason, he was giving Nick a wide-eyed, suspicious look.

Nick made a little friction between his hands, rubbing them together. "Actually," he said, "I do have a little secret." Aubrey raised her hand as if we'd been in a high school classroom, waiting for a teacher's approval. Nick looked at her.

"Is it something regarding my marriage?" she asked, "because Nick, I've shedded a lot of tears today. If it is, could it like...wait till tomorrow? Could you spare a bitch please?" we all did a small laugh at that last bit. Nick smiled, "you're good."

"You guys probably won't believe me," he continued, "but you know how I said my parents were fighting?" We all gradually nodded.

"Turns out, my dad only recently found out about another kid that my mom had 20 years ago. Back then, my dad was still doing his truck driving job and therefore didn't see my mom much." The room went damn near silent.

"So what, your dad didn't know she was pregnant?" Aubrey asked, and Nick shook his head. "No," he informed us, "he knew she was pregnant. But he had thought that my mom had a miscarriage, because that's what she told him. She played the part of a grieving mom for a little while postpartum."

"Why did your mom say she had a miscarriage?" Jason asked, and Lewis added to it. "Yeah, I was gonna ask that" Lewis said, "did your mom like, not want the baby or something?"

"It wasn't my dad's kid" Nick confirmed, which is what I was thinking but didn't wanna ask.

"And how the hell she know that straight out of the piehole?" May asked, to which we all laughed.

"Nick's mom is white," Jason said, "so maybe she went by the pure whiteness of the baby."

"That's a risk," Aubrey stated, "because Nick's mom could've just simply had strong genes."

"Well it's okay now," Nick said, "because in the long run, when my parents randomly decided to try out some ancestry site a few weeks ago, they saw that this boy shared DNA with my mom, but not my dad." We all nodded in sync, yet again.

"Do you know who your half brother is?" I asked, upon realizing that Maddie and I were the only two that haven't really said anything. Nick nodded.

"Rico."

"What?" Everybody asked in unison. "No fucking way!" Lewis said, "imagine?"

Nick sighed. "I was planning on bringing it up to him, but how the hell do you ask a kid if he's your half brother? What if Rico doesn't even know he's adopted?" Maddie nodded, "that's true."

"Now that I think about it," May said, "you and Rico share similarities. You're like, tanner, or darker I guess, so not the same exact features, but you favor one another." Lewis had been shaking his head for a good minute now.

"I think he knows," Lewis voiced.

"Nah," Hailey said. "His focus would've been directed at Nick then, not Nova."

"Nova was a decoy," Lewis insisted, "because I mean, imagine if he just went up to Nick and said they were related? Nick would probably smack the shit out of him." We all laughed at Lewis' remark.

"He's just got to know something" Lewis proceeded. "I mean, dude suddenly starts appearing everywhere we are, and giving us a hard time. On top of that, he never wanted Nick to get in serious trouble no matter how many times Nick hurt or threatened him. I think he knows and is trying to come from a less obvious approach, but just didn't do it the right way." A sudden memory unlocked in my head. I remembered the time that Nick got drunk back at Norwood and outed Aubrey and I.

"Honestly, I should've known that you two were related" I added to the conversation. "Because when I was at Rico's dorm, he got drunk hella fast and started acting like he lost his damn mind. That shit has got to be inherited." Everybody laughed.

"This whole thing is a fucking mess," Aubrey said, "but honestly Nick, if I were you, I wouldn't say a freaking word about this to Rico."

Jason nodded, "I agree with Aubrey" he said, "because if Rico is receptive to it, then he'll try to insert himself into our group. And quite frankly, brother, cousin, uncle's dog's neighbor, I don't care. Like I've said before, we can't trust him."

While everybody seemed to be agreeing, Nick seemed unsure. "I don't know how I feel about him anymore," Nick admitted. "I mean, this was a literal curveball. You're telling me that I was never truly an only child? And it took 19 years for me to find out?"