Eric Raynes, the most popular boy in school, is at the top of the school hierarchy and social life as a whole.
At least, that's until everybody starts to have a hard time recollecting who he is.
As soon as Brandon, my new partner in crime, reassured me that I had nothing to worry about in terms of my safety, he quickly exited the hospital room I had been allocated just the day before.
His second action was to find a secluded place where he, and the candy-stripper from earlier who refused to acknowledge my pleas for an additional cup of water, would discuss a very important matter that couldn't have waited until later.
Or at least until I felt safe enough to function without a man of law constantly by my side.
As you may have already noticed, I was still salty about her sudden involvement in what felt like the first truly romantic moment between me and my new boyfriend.
But could you honestly blame me for feeling quite irritated?
Her hostile entanglement was truly the definition of bad timing.
"This better be good, Erica. Eric is still processing what happened throughout the last couple of days, and I don't want to leave him alone. He is not the only one scared for his safety." Bradford hissed at the women next to him as soon as they entered the first private space his eyes latched on to.
A small type of clarence which later would have turned out to be a janitor's closet.
While it was significantly smaller than the area they had both been previously in, the space was large enough for the unusual pair to finally hold an important discussion without bumping into each other.
An important conversation that both of them found the means to ignore until it was inevitable for them to confer about it.
"Brandon, you know how much I love you, right?" Erica said out of the blue, suddenly feeling quite conscious about her choice of words.
That only made her brother from a second mother additionally anxious about the matter of the situation, forcing him to take a look around the small confined space to focus his intention on a random object.
An innocent habit of his that usually helped him take bad news in a demulcent way.
Unfortunately, he didn't have a lot of visible objects to focus his intention on, so he had to improvise quickly.
A compact pair of blue gloves suddenly felt much more interesting than the anticipation of how this heart-to-heart exchange was about to unfold.
"Is this about me having a boyfriend? If yes, it doesn't concern me much." he snapped at her intrusiveness, feeling quite defensive of his new partner.
One that had shown him far more love than his family for the past twenty years ever had.
Also known as me, Eric Raynes.
Even though we had known each other only for a couple of days, I had helped Brandon to finally fulfill his endless desire to prove himself to his family by all means.
I had somehow managed to give him a way out of the vicious cycle filled with self-hatred he held himself accountable for.
And I couldn't have been more grateful for my accident participation in the solution to his problem.
"This has nothing to do with my past reaction to you coming out to me, okay?" she tried to reason with him, only to point the impassioned conversation in a completely new direction.
Her fallacious choice of words was powerful enough to make Brandon feel quite infuriated, forcing him to grab the lightest object he could find in a short amount of time, and throw it against the nearest wall with true rage.
His unrestrained action immediately led to an avalanche of paper rolls sliding all over the unreasonable sister he suddenly wished had never been born alongside him.
"Don't you even dare to make yourself look like you care about me. You are the reason why I had to move out at the age of eighteen. I was just a child!" my hero screamed in her direction, poorly attempting not to let the past come between them yet again.
Having in mind the iniquitous history they shared with one another, his reaction was more than justified.
However, it was about time for both of them to tackle their previous issues with each other once and for all for the greater good.
"I'm sorry, okay? I know this won't solve our problems, but it's somewhat of a start. I'm sorry that I reacted so badly to you coming out as gay to me. And that I felt the need to out you to mom and dad afterward. I'm sorry that "you" felt the need to bust your ass and become a police officer at the ripe age of twenty-one to prove your worth. I'm truly sorry!"
Erica's truthful response was enough to make her brother dial his hostile tone down a notch, allowing her to continue with the initial reason for her surprising visit.
"Like I said already, the reason why I brought you here is because something is seriously wrong, okay? And you are mistaken, it does concern you." Erica finally confessed, coming to terms with the fact that she had to put some effort to get her point across.
If possible, without enraging her fragile twin even more.
Fortunately, her surprising sense of uncertainty auspiciously obtained the initial direction of the discussion, catching the attention of my savior with surprising ease.
If he knew one thing about his only sibling is that she would never be caught talking about a subject unprepared, unless she had considered all other possibilities beforehand, and was on the verge of giving up on the matter.
"What is it?"
If only he knew sooner what his sister was about to inform him, he would have made it his mission to never leave my side even for one second.
Especially since no matter how quickly he could have run back towards me, he would have never made it in time to stop the chain of events that was ultimately going to put an end to what we would later define as my previous life.
I guess our first date had to be postponed.
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