My Brother's Best Friend 2 | ✓

16. "then I met you"

"Prince Charming here," Anthony says sarcastically walking up to me while spinning his car keys around his finger.

I can tell I pulled him out of his chill dorm study-session by what he was wearing. He had his glasses on, the messy brown hair concealed by his red beanie and he was in sweats.

"Oh please, you weren't my first call." I try not to flatter him too much because of his already huge ego.

"Wow okay, I can leave then," he stops in his tracks way too seriously so I get off my car since I was previously leaning on it and chase after him. "Wait I'm sorry, please help me. I'm just having a really bad day."

"Yeah no kidding." He rolls his eyes. He opens up my trunk to inspect what I got, and he's not surprised when he sees nothing. He grabs his tools from the back of his car and gets to work right away since daylight time is running out.

I feel grateful that he was even willing to answer the phone after the fight we had the other day. I also realize I might have been slightly in the wrong and I shouldn't have confronted him like that, he didn't deserve it.

As he worked I watched him, leaning on the car because my legs got tired from standing. He bit his busted lip unknowingly and winced from the pain. "Hey, what happened there?" I finally muster up the courage to ask.

"I fell when I was skating." He continues working his wrench on the rim of the popped tire.

I can't help but laugh knowing that he's lying straight through his teeth. "What's so funny?" he wipes the sweat off his brow. "You know trust is two way street Anthony, you gotta give some to get some." I cross my arms and simply shrug.

"Yeah? What about you?" he gets up, dropping everything he's working on to talk to me. "You didn't care to tell me the real reason you were speeding down the freeway in attempts to flee the damn country on a Thursday afternoon."

I purse my lips, trying to understand how exactly he always manages to switch the topic onto me. "I was just trying to get out, go anywhere else." I was beginning to feel intimidated.

"Running from your problems won't make them go away," he stands close to me, making me actually acknowledge the missing distance between our bodies. "Oh yeah? You're one to talk." I say. "How did you hurt your lip Anthony?" I ask again, expecting the truth this time.

He stares bitterly, then suddenly sighs and I see his shoulders ease up. He slides down the car, and sits on the ground beside me. "I got in a fight." He murmurs to himself. I look around to all of the curious people in the passengers seats driving by and wonder they must be thinking of us right about now. I let the thought go quickly and sit on the ground right next to him too. "With who?" I ask softly as he stares into the distance.

"Jacob."

My eyes gloss over his lip yet again, and I imagine the hit he must've had on his face. I just can't picture the Jacob I knew from high school ever doing something like that. What could they have possibly been fighting about?

"I knew him a while back, we used to be close," he twirls his fingers around. "His dad, was mean drunk—but not nearly as bad as mine though. He would poke fun at his broke friend from time to time." He talks and I listen attentively, just ecstatic that he's actually opening up about something for once.

"Anyways, he turned out just like his old man; an arrogant asshole who loves himself so no one has to."

"What were you guys fighting about in the hall?" I ask.

"Well Jacob came around and decided to be a dick and floss his money in my face."

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because why would you believe me, over your beloved Jacob?"

I sigh since his point was made clear and I can't refute it. Suddenly I've got to thinking about how much he reminds me of Sebastian. I've dealt with this before. Sebastian brought so much darkness into my life. It's not Anthony's fault either and he can't help it but I swore I'd never put myself through that again.

For some reason though, Anthony's the only one that's been here for me these days what with everyone too busy to pay any attention me.

"I don't know what hurts more," I begin to think out loud. "Remembering the way things used to be, or forgetting all of the good memories, and having them replaced with bad ones."

"Definitely, forgetting the good ones. I can't remember a single good thing about my dad, only his aggressive outbreaks and binge drinking."

I look over at him and his eyes are still fixed on the road in front of us. The only light source we had now were the headlights of the passing cars. "You know I used to get in fights a lot, over the stupidest things," he says.

"Then I met you," he looks over at me confidently, almost as if without a single drop of doubt in his mind.

"And I said never again, because I've caused enough harm. But--when Jacob came around I just lost it."

When he talks I feel like everything that could possibly go wrong with me today slowly melts away. It's like his problems seem bigger than mine and they gradually begin to replace the worries I once had.

I began to get really cold in the frosty atmosphere we were in so I hugged my legs tightly. "Don't do it again." I say, really unsure of how to respond to him.

We wait for a moment in peaceful silence, and for that one moment the road clears up and the only sounds left are the crickets in the tall open grass field behind us.

"Ever feel like the thing you want the most is right in front of your eyes, but you can't have it?"

He looks at me as I wait for his response.

"You have no idea."

Next update: September 3
<3

Guys I'm sorry yet again for the extremely late updates and as for right now I can't promise I'll update on time but I will try my best. I'm currently moving away for university and I'm going to need to settle in a bit before focusing on writing again. Thank you all so much for understanding!