Mismatched Socks

James - Chapter 23: People don't shit money

I help Renée pack as Matt is getting us something to drink. 'How did Sophia handle it?' I ask carefully as I put some of her clothes in a suitcase. 'How do you think she reacted? I leave on our holiday early and I won't be seeing much of her the next years,' Renée hisses and throws her plastic bags of mismatched socks in her suitcase.

Matt comes walking in the room with a bottle of homemade iced tea and three glasses. He fills the glasses and hands over his sister a glass. She ignores it and keeps packing. Matt's eyebrows shoot up and he looks at me. I shake my head he has to ignore it too and take the glass out of his hand to take a sip.

He smiles softly and gives me a kiss on the lips. Then he looks at the Ziplock bag with socks. 'Ren, do you really need to take all your socks in you suitcase with you? I mean, I know they have meaning for you but you can ship some with the rest of your stuff. Renée sighs. 'Well, do you want to pack my suitcase then?' Matt shakes his head. 'Then stop asking questions.'

Renée is not a mean person, but she is coming close now. Matt wants to open his mouth to talk back to her, but I stop him by dragging him out her room. 'What?' he asks surprised. 'Let her be,' I say and walk down the stairs with my boyfriend. 'I get she's stressed, but she doesn't have to act that way.'

I look at Matt with a crooked smile. 'She is doing the opposite to her girlfriend than what you did to me. It's hard,' I say. 'Well, can't Sophia go with her?' Mathieu asks. 'Love, people don't shit money,' I say with a chuckle. Matt sighs and gives me a hug. 'I love you,' he mumbles against my shoulder. 'Love you,' I mumble back.

'Uuuugghhhh!!' Matt and I look at each other, not knowing what to do by the sound Renée made. 'Maybe I should call Colin?' I suggest. 'Or Juliette?' Matt starts shaking his head. 'No, definitely not Juliette. Colin is the best option. He should be back from his holiday, no?' I nod and dial my brother's number.

'Yo,' he says as he answers the phone. 'Hello to you too,' I roll my eyes. 'What's up?' he asks. 'Renée is a little mean to us and we don't know what to do,' I say not to loud so Ren doesn't hear me, she has a good hearing. 'What did you do?' Colin asks surprised. 'You don't know?' I ask. 'What should I know?' I explain the whole Stanford situation and that Sophia was not too happy, which is understandable. 'Oh,' Colin brings out, clearly sad about the news. 'I'll come over now,' he mumbles and stops the phone call.

After ten minutes my little – but taller – brother rings the doorbell. 'You are here fast,' I say surprised. 'Yeah, I was hanging out with Elton. He lives close by.' Colin makes his way up the stairs without saying anything else. 'He and that Elton boy are getting close.' 'Yeah, well he needed a new friend anyways,' I say and cross my arms. Matt nods.

Upstairs there's some yelling, some crying and some laughing. Those two really know how to switch emotions in five minutes. And then Renée is always saying that she wouldn't be fit for an acting career.

'So, I am not helping her anymore today. What do you want to do? I did take a day off work.' Matt massages my shoulders as I think. 'Do you have anything to choose from?' I ask and lean back against his chest. 'We can go bowling?' Matt kisses the top of my head. 'I do like bowling,' I agree.

An hour later we have drinks and a bowling lane. I'm first, so I take a ball and roll it. Slowly the ball starts making speed and is going to the middle of the bowling pins. The pins fly away by the force of the bowling ball and I smile happily. 'I forgot you were good at this,' Mathieu says with his arms crossed as the screen announces my strike.

'And I forgot you suck at this,' I say when Mathieu's ball goes straight into the gutters. 'Oh man,' Matt says disappointed. 'I could teach you?' Matt looks at me and shakes his head. 'Nope, don't want to repeat what happened two years ago.' 'Oh, right,' I laugh. He playfully pushes my arm as he takes another ball to give it another try. Again, he misses.

Let me tell you something about Mathieu, he does not like loosing and he will try to convince me to play badly. The same with foosball or air hockey or even the most stupid board games – although he mostly wins at those. Matt stands in front of me, pouting. 'No,' I say and take a bowling ball. 'Please?' he asks. 'No!' I make my way to the lane again and throw the ball. I hit 8 pins, two more to go.

Matt keeps begging me to play badly. 'Faggots!' a teenager shouts at us from the lane next to us. 'Oh, I am sorry. Are you so gay you can't even concentrate on hanging out with your friends?' The boy looks at me, not knowing what to say. 'Mate, are you gay?' One of his friends asks surprised. The boy starts denying it and there's a whole discussion between him and his friends.

I smile satisfied and look at Matt who smiles proudly. He takes a step towards me and kisses me on the lips, his hands holding my face. To be honest, I never really care about what people say about me – and thus my sexuality -, but Matt does care. He seems like nothing will ever break him down, but that's not true. Comments about our sexuality and us being together, make him so unsteady that the smallest summer breeze could blow him away.

After thirty minutes our time is up and we go to the bar for more drinks. 'James?' someone asks and I turn around putting my drink down as I was about to take a sip. I recognize the blonde guy with piercing blue eyes. 'Hey, Elton. What's up?' I ask and greet him with a playful fist bump. 'I'm fine, thanks for asking. How are you?' he asks. I tell him I am doing great.

'So is it true that Renée is leaving?' he curiously asks. 'Is that why you came all the way to a bowling alley? To ask me that?' Elton's eyes widen. 'No! Not at all! I am picking up my little brother. When I saw you, I got curious,' he confesses. A young teenage boy, with the same blonde hair and bright blue eyes joins us. 'This is August.' Matt and I greet the boy.

They start to leave and I never answered his question. Meh, he could easily ask Colin, they are friends anyways. Once we are exhausted by the heat and amount of people, we decide to go home. When be enter the Moons's house, it looks like a cardboard box gave birth to a lot of other boxes and vomited out another few. 

'Are you planning on leaving forever?' Mathieu asks his sister surprised. 'No,' she says and writes something on a notepad. 'Not all boxes are hers,' Colin says and comes from behind on of the cardboard towers. 'Then whose?' I asks surprised. 'Mine!' Victor says and joins us in the kitchen. 'Are you moving?' I ask. 'No, no. I err... wanted to decorate the house a little bit.' We nod understandingly.

After dinner, Colin and I take the public transport to get home. Mathieu wanted to bring us, but I refused. 'So I saw Elton at the bowling alley today,' I start a conversation. 'Oh, yeah. He told me about his brother going to a birthday party there,' Colin nods. The short conversation ends and I sigh. 'So what's up with the two of you? Are you still going to be roommates next year?'

Colin doesn't answer, he just shrugs his shoulders. Then it's silent again, except for the other passengers on the bus. 'I am going to a therapist tomorrow,' he then says and looks up at me. 'Good for you!' I say with a proud smile. Colin smiles back softly.

Our parents aren't really firm believers of being helped and listened to by a therapist. But they should go to one too, they are pretty messed up. 'Can I ask what made you decide to go?' I carefully ask. Colin bites on his lip and looks at the back of the seat in front of him. 'Well, I did not handle the situation with Renée very well and err... well, yeah that's it.'

I raise an eyebrow. He did not just stop in the middle of a sentence. 'And?' I ask. Colin sighs and looks out of the window. 'I have this other feelings I don't know what to do with.' I lay a hand on my brother's shoulder. 'Thank you for telling me,' I say and get up as we approach our stop. Colin nods and gets up too. We get off the bus and start walking home.

'Why don't we hang out more often?' Colin asks after a moment. 'I don't know. Do you want to?' I look at him, a little hopeful. He has always pushed me away in some sort of way. Colin thinks for a while and then slowly nods. 'Yes, actually I would love to.' I smile and pat my brother's shoulder. 'Welcome to the grownup world, Redhead,' I laugh. Colin starts laughing too. 'You are also a redhead.'

Wordcount: 1646