Dear Diary

35. MENDING

J E R O M E

"How are you?" I ask Chace, taking a seat next to him on my living room floor in front of the fireplace. He doesn't respond, staring blankly into the flames.

It's dark out now. It's been hours since the incident with John. Mostly, Chace cried. He cried as we gathered his things in the yard, though we left his mattress for John to deal with. He cried during the car ride here. And he cried when we eventually made it to the apartment, and he collapsed on the couch. He hasn't said a word since.

"Chace?"

He remains silent, wrapped in a thin sheet. The light created by the fire illuminates his face, capturing the puffiness of his eyes. I stop trying to talk to him, and we sit in silence. All that can be heard is the crackling of wood as the fire burns bright and strong.

"Is it true?" he says out of nowhere.

"My pops admitted it to me," I say, bummed that Chace couldn't find this out in a more appropriate fashion. If only I'd been more proactive and not so concerned about when to do it. He had to hear it from a man that couldn't give two shits about him. "I was gonna tell you."

"At least I know now," he deadpans. "So . . . half-brothers, huh?"

"Yeah."

He looks at me. "Yikes."

I force a chuckle to take some of the edge off and hide how truly uncomfortable the idea of it makes me, and likely him too, given the context.

"I know who my biological parents are now, but it doesn't feel like a win. Diana left me again, and your—our dad is known for having affairs," says Chace.

"To be honest, I've realized a lot of the parents in this town are really not up to par. Makes me wonder how different things would be if parents acted like parents," I say.

"I wish I would've never gone looking for Diana."

"How'd you find her in the first place?"

"I ended up with a copy of my birth certificate. Her name was on it."

"Where'd you get a copy?"

Chace snorts. "John got really upset with me some months ago. He was screaming nonsense about me not doing chores, despite the house being spotless because of me. God knows he doesn't clean anything. He got so angry he let it slip that I was adopted. Threw the documents in my face, told me I was nothing to him. He had a copy of my birth certificate that Diana sneakily gave to him and Mom for safe keeping. In case I ever wanted to find her one day. So that's what I went and did."

"I'm sorry," I say. "For everything. For getting so upset with you over Diana. For allowing Sidney to get between us. All of it."

"Apology accepted." He shakes his head and sighs. "God, I exploded on Andre today, stupidly thinking he would've known something about that picture. He'll never talk to me again."

"Dre's a real keeper. He'll understand you weren't really in your right mind once you talk to him. I'm rooting for you two."

"That means a lot. Thanks." He reaches for something on the side of him. His camera. "John tossed this out, too. I was afraid he broke it. It was a gift from Diana."

"Now I know why you didn't wanna tell me who your special friend was," I say, recalling our conversation outside of Sidney's funeral.

He turns the camera on and opens the LCD display, flipping it so we can see ourselves as he raises his good arm to an angle. "Say cheese."