Mom hasn't seen or spoken to her brother in four years and neither have I, but that streak is broken for me when the lanky ass man I call my Uncle Jay waltzes into the lecture hall as Professor Harrison of Philosophy and Abandoning His Nephew.
With the one hundred-plus people here, he still recognizes me from my place in the far back edge, then he doesn't, then he does. It's not the time for an uncle-nephew reunion, and it'd be mildly unprofessional to disclose we know each other, so he props up his material for the lecture on a cherry wood podium and plugs in his laptop for the colossal screen. My eyes wander around the room aimlessly. Head down.
As the last few students filter in, the seat behind me is filled. Professor Ditch My Family starts the introductory session and I flip open my coincidentally dying laptop. Head down, keep your fingers typing.
Fifteen minutes in there's an abundance of rustling from behind me. Usually, I avoid lobbing myself into situations where my uncontrolled facial expressions are so insulting I run the risk of getting backhanded to the medical room, but when the rustling keeps going on past what's actually human, I can't help but crane my neck to see who the nuisance is, insult accompanied.
Dark hair, olive skin. I think? You need to know. He looks a bit different up close. Less... pensive. More... dickish. Biased. Based.
Flustered face and apologetic smile, he asks, "D'you have a pen?"
Turning back around, I fish for the one I know I have and silently judge how the guy's just missed fifteen minutes of starter notes.
"Here," I hand him the black ink rollerball.
"Thanks."
I think back to my conversation with Aidan a few days ago, the whole Kappa Epsilon and Drew Kovac thing, and compare that to the humble smile on the guy's face. You know better. Head down. I turn back around and continue typing.
When the lecture is over, I wait until most the students have cleared out before I'm all smiles in spite of my mixed emotions over Uncle Jay's absence.
"Florida?" I say with amazement, which is holding hands with Offended, which is holding hands with Fuck You, which is holding hands with You Asswipe. "You abandoned us for here?"
"How about you quit judging me and give me a damn hug already?" He jerks me into his asphyxiating grip, ruffling my hair enough for it to tangle and for me to go "ow!" when he tugs his fingers out, his random rings getting caught. He lets me go to say, "And I abandoned you for Sweden, actually. You know, I almost died there twice, both times including ridiculously hot men... So why am I here now, you ask? I don't know, I just tripped and fell to Florida and got myself a job at Murphy and Galloway as a philosophy professor." Yep, that's Uncle Jay. Still doesn't know how to close his yap. "Hey, I have a question: Why did I have to find out my nephew is fucking gay through my four-year-old-at-the-time niece?"
"Olive? You mean... Olive?"
Uncle Jay laughs as he pats my shoulder. "As far as I know that's my only niece. Yeah, she knows how to pick up a phone and ring number after number telling everyone 'Tommy is gay'. The call came from your mom's phone." You can't even trust your own family. She was only four. That's how everyone knew? Because of Olive? She didn't know any better. She knew worse.
"Mom kept your number?"
"Tommy, she's my sister. Of course she would. We're family, and family needs family. She's just never needed me since, you know..."
Think I've swallowed salt for a minute as I remember who's standing in front of me. Literal, temporary, homewrecker.
"Have you ever needed us?" It's an innocent question I ask, but I can tell I've put him on the spot. I've never had to confront him for any of his wrongdoings contrary to Mom who's had to, and I've never felt the need to dislike him past the vox populi Uncle Jay sucks but I'm feeling fuck you, asswipe real deep inside right now because I needed him. "It's been four years. I could tell you were thinking of leaving but no one told you to vanish. Why haven't you ever called?"
YOU ARE READING
Breathe, Tommy (BxB) (Frat)
Romance***RE-POST***(was locked out my old account) Tommy Carpenter moves to a college six hours away from the tormented version of himself who was bullied in high school for being gay. He has a plan this time so it doesn't happen again: Earbuds in, head d...
