Pull Me to the Sunny Side

t w o | flash food

far away from your trouble and worry,
you belong somewhere you feel free

⛅️🌤☀️

If you saw my brother walking down the street, you wouldn't have to think twice to know he was a male model. Tanner was the complete package when it came down to it.

Shaggy butter blonde hair he never once had to color in his life. A spindly, giraffe-like figure that stood head and shoulders above everyone else. An offbeat sense of fashion that could only work for him. A face with angles so symmetrical, it was insulting. Not to mention, he had skin so clear you could almost see your reflection in it, which was pretty unbelievable considering how severe his acne was as a teenager. I reckoned all that suffering paid off.

If you talked to him, you'd have no idea what the hell he did with his life. He was just as grubby as every other boy in their twenties. A bottomless pit for a stomach and always thinking with the wrong head.

He was four years old the first time he ever got scouted. I was there, but I was only a couple of months old so I don't remember it, and my sister was in school at the time. My mom brought Tanner and me with her to do some food shopping and right there in the middle of our humble hometown supermarket, an agent approached us.

She said, and I quote, "who is this scrumptious angel baby?" She also thought Tanner was a girl for a solid minute before my mom said something.

My mom wasn't naive, but she was easily influenced and she had way too much faith in humanity. Therefore, by the end of the week, Tanner was signed with that very modeling agency. He did it for a while; campaigns for OshKosh B'gosh and L.L.Bean, advertisements in mailers, and he even scored a main role in a pickle commercial that aired for three years.

He loved it. Until he reached his "awkward phase" when he barely wanted to leave the house, let alone get in front of a camera. Lucky for him, it didn't last too long because as soon as he graduated high school, he was a new man. He launched himself back into the modeling world, more confident than ever before. To me, he was still my foolish, eagle-eyed, loudmouth, filthy-minded brother.

My sister had been approached by modeling scouts just as many times, but she never took an interest. It could have been so easy for her, too. Blake was a female Tanner – a blonde smokeshow that every single Bell Grove native knew and adored. Despite her looks, modeling wasn't her calling, and nothing interested her more than the wealthy family she nannied for in Nashville. The mother and father were moguls in the world of cosmetic surgery. Those kids were set for life, and so was Blake.

None of us were surprised because it was in her nature; she was the oldest sibling and acted as the second pair of hands that helped our mom raise us. If Blake wasn't home with us, she spent her free time babysitting all of our neighbors' kids or volunteering at shelters. She didn't even have a slot designated for boys or friends in her social calendar because there wasn't time for any of that. She didn't just resemble an angel; she was one.

She and I had never been close, not like Tanner and I were. It was partially because there were only three years between my brother and me versus the six years that separated me from my sister. She always seemed so much older and wiser than us. She was full-grown and fled the nest while Tanner and I were still trying to hatch.

Since she became a nanny when she was eighteen and moved to Tennessee, I hardly saw her unless she came home for holidays. It was only a measly hour-long plane ride away. A good chunk of me was saddened by it, but I had to admit it was for the best on my behalf.

I spent my whole life being compared to my siblings. People questioned if we were really even related because we looked nothing alike. My plump round face, plain hair that wasn't brown or blonde, and ashy blue eyes couldn't stand a chance against their anatomy that should've been an eighth world wonder.