Three Brothers (Completed)

The New Year's Surprise

For five years we didn't hear from Lily. For five years we got our news about her from the news or my parents in those years I became a high school teacher, I dated countless women—some more seriously than others—but I never forgot my perfect Lily. James became a successful contractor who left a string of broken hearts and crying women behind him, he said he had gotten over Lily, that he didn't care about her anymore, but I was never sure that was true. Sean found his dream job as a lawyer in a fancy firm downtown, he spent his time making money, ruining lives and buying expensive things to fill some void. We weren't sure what it was, it could have been Lily or something else.

Lily had become a very popular author. In those five years, she had published six best sellers and there was talk of the first movie adaptation. She was rumored to be dating–wait for it–Connor Wolsten. It was a blow to our hearts hearing that she and Connor had gotten back together. Why him of all people, after all the horrible things he had done? We had all assumed that she would come back to one of us and not him. What we did was not nearly as bad as what Connor had done.

The relationship with my brothers never regained its previous stability. We hardly talked to one another, and every family gathering turned into an argument. We all blamed each other for losing Lily and we all believed that we had a chance with Lily had the other two brothers not screwed it up for us. We often argued over who loved Lily more, who was more deserving of her and what not. It made our family gatherings awkward and uncomfortable for everyone.

It was during my first year as a high school teacher, at a New Years Eve party, that I got the surprise of a lifetime. Mother had decided to throw this huge blow out for everyone we had ever known in our lives. It was a huge black tie affair, everyone who was anyone wanted to be there, the guest list was huge, the catering was superb and the venue was to die for. Our mother had gotten into the whole party planning thing and was trying to make a career out of it. Not that she needed it, so maybe it'd be more like a hobby.

James had been the first to arrive, at first he thought he was making it up in his mind, a small glimpse of a woman he thought he recognized, but a second look proved him right. Lily was at the party. James immediately wanted to talk to her, but he couldn't make himself move over to her. Instead he went to the bar.

I arrived and found James still at the bar, a line of empty glasses beside him. Sean was across the room talking to some woman, he was never with the same woman twice these days. I chose to talk to James because he was the brother I hated less. I still hadn't forgiven Sean for sleeping with Lily and being the reason—as I believed —as to why Lily was gone. I watched him kick back a drink and I shook my head. "Party just started and you're drinking to get drunk. What did you bring, a girl that's driving you crazy?"

James shook his head, maybe to get the taste of sour alcohol out of his mouth, maybe to shake his head clear. "Lily's here."

Those two words stopped my heart. My Lily was here? My eyes scanned the crowd for her, desperate for a glimpse. I found her, she was the woman talking to Sean, they were holding little champagne flutes, Lily was taking generous sips from it while Sean was showing her his watch. He must have been boring her to death. "How?" I choked out.

"Mom's been inviting her for years, she finally agreed to come, probably because of what happened." James said quickly.

Now, that week a big story broke in the newspapers about how Lily's latest installment in her popular series would be late as she threw her manuscript out a window. She had been throwing a fit at Connor who had apparently just told her that he was cheating on her with some fluzy girl who probably looked like a horse and was leaving her for this girl. The distraught Lily—in a fit of depression—scattered her pages to the wind.

James put down his empty glass and pinned me with an unimpressed glare. "Sean pounced on her as soon as he was through the door. It was like he could smell her or something."

"We could get answers," I whispered. James stared at me, angry at where my mind had gone in such a short amount of time. "We can finally know who she likes best."

"Mom said to leave her alone. No trouble and no fights tonight," he ordered.

I didn't listen to him, I walked right over to her, pushed Sean aside, smiled my largest smile and said: "Oh. My. God. I missed you so much," and then hugged her. Also not a proud moment of my life, but hey, it was the truth. For those few moments I held her life was complete again. They say you never realize how much you care about someone until they're gone. That's a lie; you don't realize how much you miss someone until you have them back in your arms again.

Lily had been a little stiff in returning the hug back, but she was all smiles when I pulled away. We talked for five minutes before James appeared beside us pushing me away. He only smiled at Lily sheepishly and I watched, half on top of James, as her face lit up. He shook her hand said some garbage about how pretty she was looking and how he loved all her books.

I leant closer to Sean and whispered, "Was I that pathetic when I was talking to her?"

Sean nodded. "Except her eyes didn't light up like that. It kind of looks like she's undressing him with her eyes."

That was enough for me. I stepped back in, shoving James out of the way. "So how are you doing? I heard what happened with you and Connor."

James shoved me away from her. "Why would say that to her? Are you stupid?"

Sean came between the two of us and bashed our heads together. "Both of you are stupid. The girl doesn't want either of you arguing."

I turned around and shoved Sean that didn't do much to him either, he didn't even stagger back. "Who are you to call us stupid?" I cried.

"Hey at least I didn't force her to go to prom with me!" Sean shouted.

James snorted and I glared at him. "Oh, yeah like you two are any better," I snarled "As soon as James was done with her he stopped talking to her!"

James hit my shoulder. "Oh shut up! This is all Sean's fault! He revealed their relationship at thanksgiving and started this whole argument! Sean drove her away, I was just upset that she broke up with me over your tantrums!"

Sean shoved both of us and sent us staggering back. "Not everything is always MY fault! Y'all are jealous cause I slept with her first!"

All during ourargument Lily stood in front of us fuming with anger. She turned bright red,tears came to her eyes, and in that one moment she snapped out all of her angerand frustrations at us. And that's of course where everything started. Now Iget to tell you what you read all of this to hear. Now I can tell you what sheanswered.