Done.

9-Maybe not the worst?

His sofa is really damn comfortable. "Thanks for the tea again, it's delicious." "No problem."

"So the brother issue. What's the all about?" He asks innocently.

"Oh. It's a long story." I say, I really don't want to talk about him. "He did something wrong and now I don't want to see him."

"I understand, I bet he must feel terrible, who could survive a day without that smile." He smiles at me.

Oh trust me, a lot of people could.

I smile and shake my head. "Cleaver, you almost got me."

He laughs. "Thanks for coming actually, I needed some distraction myself."

"Why?" I ask, I'm pretty worried. He can't be not ok like me, he doesn't deserve all the crap that my life includes, he deserves a happy life. I don't want him to-

"Well, it's my parents."

"What about them?" "They have certain standards, if that's the right way to say it."

"What kind of standards?" "They are very much believers of the.. original way of living? Original isn't the right word, but I couldn't find another for it."

"What is the original way then?" "That a man marries a woman."

Ok ok ok, hold on. What is he trying to say?

I just keep quiet.

"My brother, who also doesn't live here because he's in college, is gay."

Ok, now I'm a little confused. "Did he tell your parents?" "Yes and that's where it went wrong. My parents flipped, because they think it's not part of the rules. They said they wanted to disown him."

"Oh my god, that's terrible.."

"They were so mad at him, only for the way he feels! It wasn't right, they shouldn't have made it such a big of a deal."

I went silent again.

"So, today he called us, he wanted to come over for Christmas. And you know what they said?"

"No"

"They said they were disappointed to have a failure of a son and that he didn't deserve to come over."

"Holy shit Sam! That's so wrong!"

He sadly nods. "I'm so mad at them.. After my mom hung up, they of course started talking about how it isn't good to love someone that is the same sex."

"I understand that.." that's true, I haven't told my family about the kiss Jes.. a girl and I shared.

I'm really scared of what they're gonna say. Or think!

"I wish I could just make them believe my brother is still human and that he does matter! They won't even allow me to see him. They think he's a disgrace for the family."

"That's terrible! They should not be like that! It's still their son and you're brother!"

"I know.. I wish they could see the same." He says, he wants to smile for me, but he is so sad in his eyes.

"Hey.." I say. He sits on his bed, he's all alone out there and I can feel he needs a hug. So I stand up, walk to him, slowly and friendly, sit next to him and wrap my arms around him.

It kinda looks like he's trapped, so I place my head on his shoulder to make it look more like a hug than a hostage.

"Thank you." He says quietly. "You can always call me ok? I'll always be here."