Loving the Man

Chapter 1: Reunited

As I quietly rode in the taxi, every bump in the road found itself underneath its tires. The radio was playing a hip-hop song 'Glamorous' by Fergie. I was rocking my head side to side with the quick beat.

I couldn't help but think about my only living brother. It's been about three years since I have last seen him. At least two years since I've heard from him. It was minimal talking too; he could be a very successful person or a drug dealer for all I know.

And now here I was, with one hand on my two suitcases, and my other hand nervously tapping on my leg. I was about two hours away from seeing Trevor. Why was I anxious? It felt like a tugging feeling from my gut telling me things and digging up my past. Trevor's always been a weird duck, I suppose. 

I glanced out the window, my eyes catching on a few older buildings that resembled as mini strip malls. My eyes locked onto a flashy neon woman sign. We were approaching a strip club. The taxi driver began to slow down the vehicle and flicked the turn signal on. I shot him a weird look.

"Why are we going here?" I asked suspiciously, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"This is the Vanilla Unicorn. That's where you said to go, right?" He questioned back, looking at me in the mirror with a quick glance.

"Well, I guess. This is where my brother told me to met him." I replied, turning my head back to the strip club.

"What is your brother's name?" The taxi driver took in a deep breath, yanking the wheel to pull into a parking lot.

"Trevor. Trevor Phillips." I answered, my hands wrapping around the smooth handles of my suitcases.

"Oh, that's probably why. He's the owner of the Vanilla Unicorn."

"Owner?" 

"Yeah. Alright, we're here." He put the vehicle into park, allowing me to get my suitcases. I struggled with the door but eventually got out. I pulled out two twenty dollar bills and handed them to him; 32 dollars for the ride and 8 dollars for a tip. The taxi driver thanked me and backed out to go pick up another passenger.

I sat down on the sidewalk with a huff and rested my head on my suitcases. I was tired and didn't want to go inside to see a bunch of strippers. So I waited.

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By the time two hours passed, I counted over 60 people going into the strip club, but only counted 20 coming out. Even a few asked if I was one of the strippers that 'needed a ride home'. What kind of sick joke was that?

I wearily looked into the driveway of the strip club as a noisy truck sound caught my ear and it made my heart pick up speed. I saw a rusted, beaten red truck pulling up into a parking spot not too far from where I was. 

And in the driver's seat was Trevor.

I jumped up from excitement, running over to the truck. All of my tiredness left just like I left my suitcases behind on the sidewalk. Just as he got out of the driver's door, I nearly tackled him into a hug. Shock overwhelmed Trevor at first until he figured out it was his only and younger sister. He gave a tight squeeze back.

Same old Trevor. He still smelled like he hasn't showered since the last time I saw him. His eyes were the usual devious medium hazel, even in the glowing neon lights of the strip club.

He was wearing a plain and dirty white v-neck, sweat pants, and a pair of black boots. He had several fresh cuts on his face along with several tattoos, including one along his neck featuring a dotted line and the words "CUT HERE," and a memorial tattoo for Michael, his old best friend, on his shoulder. Trevor also had numerous sores or boils all over him, likely from his drug addictions. 

I shook at his memorial tattoo for Michael. I barely remember Michael. When Trevor was about 33 years old and I was about 24, I met Michael for the first time. I remembered how I used to have a little crush on him. But I got over that as soon as I found out he was killed. It broke my heart, watching Trevor become very depressed... and irrational.

"Glad to see you, sis." Trevor pulled back from the hug, breaking my concentration on the tattoo.

"Same here! I've been waiting for about two hours." I pointed over to where I was sitting, cursing slightly to myself for staring so much at the tattoos.

"Hmm.... let me throw those in the back of my truck here." Trevor left me and walked off towards them. With little to no effort, he picked them up and marched back over.

"Be careful with the smaller one, it has my laptop in there." Trevor stared blankly towards me and shook his head. A notorious smile made its way onto his lips and he tossed them both into the back of the truck.

"Seriously..." I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"Alright." Trevor clapped his two hands together, ignoring my sudden brooding state. "Off to see some strippers..." 

"No! I'm not going in there." I interrupted his sentence, narrowing my eyes at him.

"You take the fun out of everything. I didn't drive all the way down here just to pick you up." He crossed his arms as well.

"Still, no. We aren't going in. Why don't we go back to your house or go get something to eat at a fast food?" I asked him. After all, I was pretty hungry. I haven't eaten since I left my house in Greendale a little less than a day ago.

Trevor mumbled something under his breath, before finally agreeing, "Fine. I'll take you to Cluckin' Bell. It's a chicken fast food. Get anything with chicken on it; chicken sandwich, chicken heads, you name it." 

"Ewww..." I grimaced when he said chicken heads.

He gave a light laugh, one I haven't heard since we were young, naive adults trying to survive in the world together. The better times...

"Alright, hop in. We'll stop there and get what you want then we'll go back to my place. As we are driving, we can catch up. It's a long drive."

"Sounds good." I opened the passenger door and gave it a good tug to shut it. I put the seat belt on but Trevor looked at me, 'like why did you do that?'. I kept it on, just in case. I never did trust his driving and how he even had a driver's licence was beyond me. 

We were driving down the street for about five minutes, when he finally spoke up.

"So how was it back in Greendale?" Trevor asked.

"It was decent... but I've been looking forward to a vacation for a while. I guess this is a perfect one." I shrugged.

"How long are you going to be here exactly..?" Trevor asked, looking at me while we stopped at a red light.

"I haven't decided yet. I was thinking more of a month or two. Depends on how much I like it here. I mean.... my friends back in Greendale said that if I like it enough out here, I should stay here and maybe they would move out here too."

"Hmm.... you wouldn't be staying with me." Trevor laughed at his humor.

I gave him a small smile. "Yeah whatever. You're so smelly even rats wouldn't want to stay with you."

There was a quick silence between us, but a good silence. I could hear the cars busily zooming by on the interstate a few streets away. The warm summer air was relaxing and not humid, like Greendale usually was. A few screaming sirens were faintly in the distance, a typical sound of a large city.

Once the light turned green, Trevor hit the accelerator, yanking me backwards into the seat. He turned right, not even bothering with the turn signal. We were off to the 'Cluckin' Bell'. I hope I don't get sick...

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EDITED: 6/27/17

A minor edit here and there, story still needs to be greatly improved in later chapters. Read at own risk.