Stepbrother Dearest

Chapter 6

The cab ride with Elec and Victoria that night had been extremely uncomfortable. Bentley had freaked out and taken off in his car after he found out Elec was actually my stepbrother. The cause of what happened in that diner remained a mystery to me. The entire way back, Elec said nothing to either one of us. He sat in the front while we sat in the backseat.

When we got home and he went upstairs to his room, he slammed the door so hard, it made me jump. I'd thought about trying to talk to him, but my better instincts told me to just let him be alone.

By the time I woke up the following Saturday morning, Elec had already left to work the entire day at the bike shop.

My mother sat at the granite island in our kitchen on the stool next to me. "Do you wanna tell me what happened last night? Randy got a call from his cop friend saying that Elec was involved in a fight over at the diner and that you were with him?"

I put down my coffee and rubbed my temples. "We were having dinner...Elec, Victoria, myself and this guy, Bentley, from school. Elec and he got into a fight. We don't know what started it because it happened when Vic and I went to the bathroom. So, I really don't know much more than you."

"Well, your stepfather is fuming, and I don't know what to do about it."

"He needs to just let it go. Guys get into it sometimes, and it may not have been Elec's fault. You need to explain that to him."

"There's no talking to Randy when it comes to Elec. I don't understand it."

"Neither do I."

***

I'd decided I was going to talk to Elec that night and had been waiting for him to come home all day. The bike shop closed at six, so I'd expected him back by seven, but he never came home.

Unable to sleep, a sinking feeling came over me. Finally, around midnight, I heard footsteps and the doorknob to Elec's room slowly turn.

At least, he was home.

About a minute later, came the sound of his door busting open.

"What the fuck, Elec? You reek of alcohol," I heard Randy yell.

I jumped up and plastered my ear to the wall.

"Hey Da-da," Elec seemed to be slurring his words.

"Boy, you just continue to make me so damn proud. First, you start a fight and humiliate me in front of this entire community and now, you have the gall to set foot in my house tonight drunk? Well, you're gonna wish you never came home."

"Really? What are you gonna do? Hit me? That's the one thing you haven't done. I'm so ready for it."

"You would love that, wouldn't you? No. I'm not gonna hit you."

"Right...you're not going to hit me. You're just gonna hate me...like you always have. Sometimes, I wish you'd just hit me once and for all then leave me the fuck alone."

"You're a loser, Elec."

"Tell me something you haven't before."

"Okay, then, I've got news for you. I'm not going to help you pay for college after all. You're on your own. I've made the decision tonight. I'm taking the money I would have allotted you and giving it all to Greta."

What? No!

Randy continued, "I'm not wasting my hard-earned money on a fuck-up who wants to be a pansy writer. If you decide you want to have a real career some day, come talk to me. Until then, I'm not spending a dime on you."