pierce the veil

jaime

        The door opened. "Aw fuck! My eyes!"

        "Jaime!" Vic and I yelled in unison. We looked at each other and smiled. Vic added, "We're just kissing. Have you never seen two people kissing before?"

        "Oh, fuck off Vic! That was definitely not kissing," Jaime protests, eyebrows raised at Vic with shame and disappointment. "That was you trying to make her throw up using you tongue."

        "Fuck, Jaime!" Vic says with disgust.

        "Ew, you sick fuck!" I say, also with disgust.

        "Oh god," Jaime says, suddenly changing from angry at us to sympathy for me. "We have horrible first impressions, don't we? I'm sorry, I'm a lot better most of the time, I promise. People say I'm like a puppy, because I'm cute and all, so don't worry. And you, what's good about you?"

        "I could name a million things." Vic says dreamily, touching my cheek.

        "Shut the fuck up, Romeo, I'm talking to her," Jaime yells, walking closer to me and sitting up on the sink counter. "Tell me good things about youself."

        "Um... I don't know," I say, honestly lost for a good word that would describe me. "I have a good music taste! I... I survived college, I don't wear shitty clothes. I don't have fake friends. Oh, this one time I was at the mall and saw a group of guys I hate so I flipped them off. Also, I got into a fight with my older brother once and made him bleed. I–"

        "Love you already," Jaime says. "Maybe this whole fight for whether you want Vic or Mike is a complete waste. I mean, come on. Look at this beautiful piece of artwork, a.k.a. me..."

        I laugh and look at Vic and am not surprised when I see he has an angry and embarrassed expression. I reassure him by taking his hand and holding it and saying, "Vic, calm down. Me and Jaime are like siblings. He's like a cute little brother to me."

        "Damn you, I'm older than you!" Jaime yells. "And question... If we're like siblings, are we okay with incest?"

        "That's fucking it, Jaime," Vic yells even louder, running at Jaime, his hand breaking away from mine. He pushes him against the closed door and I'm stuck staring at them, knowing that Vic wouldn't do anything bad to Jaime. "Are you done? Or do I need to kick your ass?"

        "Vic," I warn. "That's enough."

        "Yes, Victor," Jaime says in a Mexican accent. "And if there will be any ass kicking, it will not be for me. It will be for you, except I'll do it the Mexican way. Do you really want that, Victor?"

        I see in the mirror that Vic can't help but smile. Jaime smiles back and says, "You still mad, my Mexican bro?"

        Vic lets Jaime go, opens the door, and leaves without looking back. I wonder if I did anything wrong for him to not say 'bye' or even look at me. Jaime notices my confused face, and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, mi amiga. Vic is just going through his jealous-of-everyone-who-looks-at-you phase. And he's probably paranoid because of the way you looked at Mike."

        "Does Mike settle down?" I blurt out, but know I need to talk about this with someone. And Jaime knows best. "He seems like the type of guy to bring home a different girl every night, but he looked at me like... I don't know, like I'm special or something."

        "Well, first of all, you are special," Jaime says sweetly, and gestures for me to sit next to him on the sink counter. I hop up next to him and lie my head down on his shoulder. "And second of all, Mike has a lot of ways to getting the girls he wants. But when he first saw you at the meet and greet today, he looked at you like he was seeing God."

        I laugh a little. "Yeah, that's what my friend told me."

        "Speaking of your friend," Jaime says, and nudges me a little. "She single?"

        "Sadly no," I say. "But maybe she'll choose you, a band member, over her boyfriend. I mean, who wouldn't?"

        "Okay, back to Mike," he says, sounding like some kind of love counselor. "You have to like him, at least a little. He's like, some kind of dream guy for every girl who's all innocent but secretly wants some badass boyfriend with tattoos and piercings and a motorcycle. He's that for you. But then there's Vic... The fucking little cute long haired boy with too many feelings who wants to be badass but is too cuddly and emotional. I guess he's a dream guy, too. For everyone. But... Fuck, what's my point?"

        "Vic wouldn't let me go near Mike," I say. "But what would he do? Pin him against a wall like he did to you? Never speak to me again? I don't get it, he yelled at me for being all flirty with Mike before we even kissed. He doesn't have the right to do that, does he?"

        "Didn't anyone tell you?" Jaime asks like something is obvious, and I wait for the explaination. "When Vic likes someone, he's probably already falling in love with them. He just gets really attached. But, just think about it, if you don't like him back it's okay because he'll write more songs and I'll get money so it's all good."

        "God, Jaime, sometimes I can't tell if you're joking or not."

        "Nah, I'm joking," Jaime says on a serious note. "But seriously, do you like Vic?"

        "Well, of course I do. I've been looking up to him as an idol for so long, and I've loved him before I even met him. I was attached to him before I even met him, I felt like he was the most important person to me before I even met him," I say. "Is it the same?"

        "I can be good with advice sometimes, but I'm no counselor," Jaime says, rubbing my back. "I think you should let Vic know that you're not ready for anything completely serius yet. Tell him you don't know if you don't want to settle down with one person yet, say you want to see other people while you're seeing each other. Just... Don't mention that the person you'll be seeing is his brother."

        I laugh and look up at him to see if he's serious, and he is. I sigh and know there's nothing better I can do.