Being in love with a straight boy is a straight-up nightmare. Especially if it's been like that for years. But it's even worse when he's your best friend's brother, who has a girlfriend that's there to remind you how straight he is. That's when it b...
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I'd never cared much about my brother's dating life. Like, sure, the first time Mason had a girlfriend, I was pretty fascinated by it, because I was a little boy with little to no life experience. But after the fascination and the admiration had passed, I inevitably stopped caring. It was his dating life, after all—not mine. Every now and then he'd bring home a girl and introduce her to the family and I'd smile and say, "Hi, I'm Jackson," and that was that. As long as he wasn't dating a straight-up bitch, it wasn't any of my business. He could do whatever he wanted. It didn't concern me if it didn't involve me.
Until it involved my own best fucking friend.
Nazy was far too amused by my feelings of utter betrayal. She threw her arms around my neck with that little smile of hers and, as if this was all just one big joke, she murmured, "Karma is a bitch."
"How is this karma's fault?"
She only needed to raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah, okay, I tried to sabotage Mason's love life. Whatever."
"Who says Mason's trying to start something with Kenny, though? You're just jumping to conclusions. Harriet only said Mason wouldn't tell her anything."
"But that was two weeks ago. And I know Mason."
If he hadn't even been considering it, he would have immediately told Harriet no. He was honest like that. Quick to deny things that weren't true. If he didn't deny it...
Well, the last time I'd stuck my nose in his business, Kenny was ignoring him, so I was pretty sure that, somewhere along the way, they must have made up. He wouldn't have told Harriet she didn't want to know what was going on between him and Kenny if there was nothing going on.
"Why don't you just let him do whatever he wants?"
"Because it's Kenny."
"I can't help but wonder if you aren't the one who's actually in love with Kenny."
I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, madly in love."
"No, but seriously, Jackson. In the case that they do start dating, what's it to you? They're both responsible adults. Well... the responsible part is questionable, but you get me. Instead of trying to keep them apart, you could focus on telling Mason to be good to Kenny. You can still be your adorable, over-protective self by telling Mason not to be a bad boyfriend. It worked when I did it."
I decided to ignore her description of me—really? adorable? over-protective?—and replied, "Yeah, but you're terrifying."
"Why, thanks."
I grinned at her, knowing she'd get argumentative in that cute way only Nazy could, if I kept teasing her, but she didn't take the bait. She only raised her hands up to the sides of my face and moved her thumbs over my cheeks as she told me, "You're his brother, Jackson. Surely that counts for something."
