Match Your Weakness With A Name

Three? Really?

I am thinking about something Awsten sent me earlier as I pull up in my driveway, clumsily parking the car with my good hand. My music is probably so loud my aunt and uncle can hear it from the house. I don't care. They know I'm home now.

The CD ejects itself as the car shuts off. I place it in its case and get out. It is four in the afternoon and my sister is probably home already; she doesn't have a job, but her social life is much more active than mine. She's usually out until three or so, cruising the city streets with her aesthetic friends. Then she goes out again at seven, to a party of some sort with her asshole friends. I'm not like her. People say we don't even look like siblings.

She opens the door just as I am about to knock. "Hello," she greets. "How was work today?"

"Uh, decent, actually," I say as I walk inside. "I got a boy's number."

"Really?" she asks. "Is he cute?"

"Yes, very," I say. "Uh, he and I texted for ages while I was sorting papers in the office."

My aunt and uncle are snuggled up to each other on the couch, watching a football game. "Rebecca," says my aunt, "can you get us some more lemonade? And get some for you and Geoff as well."

I try to protest, but my sister cuts me off with "Sure," and heads over to the kitchen.

I take a few steps in the general direction of the stairs, but my aunt calls out my name and I stop.

"Yes?" I say.

"Honey, come sit down with us," invites my aunt, gesturing to the couch.

"Uh, okay." I walk over to the couch and take a seat next to her.

"David, turn off the television," she commands, and my uncle fumbles with the remote for a good thirty seconds before the football game stops.

Oh, god. It's getting serious. "Uh, what's this about?" I ask, wondering I could have done this time.

Rebecca comes back with four glasses of lemonade balanced precariously on a dinner plate. My aunt takes one and turns to me. "Don't worry, honey, you're not in trouble. We just need to have a little coversation."

"Uh, please, just tell me what I did," I say, having had "little conversations" before, the last one ultimately resulting in the literal slow ruining of my life.

"Geoff, relax. You haven't done anything," cuts in Rebecca. "They literally just want to talk to you. It won't be like last time, I swear." I don't believe her, and attempt to say so, but nothing's coming out and I can't seem to get the words in the right order.

My aunt places her hand on my shoulder, and I flinch. The last thing I need right now is for someone to touch me out of nowhere. "Honey, it's okay," she says. "Deep breaths, okay? Deep breaths."

I inhale, trying to regain control. "Think about Cobra Starship," says Rebecca, and it helps. It helps more than breathing.

"Are you alright now?" asks my aunt, and I nod. I'm more or less alright. "Great!" she exclaims, clapping her hands. "Okay, now, honey, we just want to know what's been going on in your life lately."

"Uh, are you kidding me?" I say. "I freaked out over that?"

My aunt leans back on the couch and glances toward my uncle, before turning back to me. "We're concerned, honey. We just want to know how you've been doing."

"Uh...I dunno," I say, "I haven't been doing much that you don't know about. Um, I made some friends at work?"

"Yes, honey," my aunt says, "that's good, and we're proud of you, but how have you been feeling lately? You seem...unusually moody, not like your normal self, and we're worried about you."