Chapter 16: Oh, Brother

If I didn’t answer, would he go away?

That thought, treacherous, rude, seductive, froze me in my tracks.

My phone rang and dragged me back into motion.

I grabbed it, swallowed a sigh, and answered. “Hello?”

“I know you’re home.” The all-too-familiar voice came with an echo, one from my phone, the other from the front door. “Even if I couldn’t hear your phone ringing, it’s not like you ever go out.”

“That’s not –” I gritted my teeth. “Whatever. Be there in a sec.”

It’s possible I lowballed my estimate. My feet didn’t exactly fly to the front door.

Lena poked her head out of the bedroom just as I reached for the deadbolt. “You order something?”

I shook my head. “No. We’ve got company.”

She cocked her head.

Since I didn’t have a choice in the matter, and it would explain everything anyway, I went ahead and unlocked the door.

As soon as I did, it swung open.

The hand tugging on the doorknob belonged to my dark mirror. An actual tan. Brown instead of sandy hair. The same too-thick, too-dark eyebrows. An extra inch of height, though I told myself maybe the difference came down to posture. The same rangy limbs. The same hazel eyes. A face that still looked kind of boyish, despite belonging to someone solidly on the wrong side of thirty.

Plenty of differences, though.

For instance, I’d never worn polo shirts under my jacket. I’d never worked out enough to have the lean muscle to wear them as well through the arms; on the other hand, I’d never drunk enough beer to wear them as poorly through the gut.

I’d like to say I’d never worn that smirk, either. If you broke out a stack of my pictures, though, I’d probably have to retract the claim.

“Little bro!” My brother Benji spread his arms like he expected me to pull him into a manly hug.

I stepped back instead. “Long time no see.”

“Don’t just stand there, Benji,” Lena said. “You look like you’re freezing.”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for the one who understood hospitality, Lena. But I sure ain’t complaining.”

“For the record,” she said, “I would totally have pegged you for the one to find a way to shit on me for inviting you in. It’s almost impressive.”

“What can I say, I’ve got a gift.” Benji took one long step into the apartment and dragged me into a hug, whether I wanted it or not. His hand slapped my back. If only because I could feel Lena’s eyes on me, I gave him a pat in return. He waved to her with his other arm. “You wanna get in on this?”

“Nope,” Lena said cheerfully. “You’re not my brother, I don’t have to put up with you.”

For some reason, he found this a lot funnier than I did. He laughed as he said, “Fuck you.”

“Only in your dreams,” Lena said.

Benji gave me one last painful squeeze and let me go. He looked us up and down. “Damn. You two look like you’ve seen the sun.”

“I’ve heard rumors of its existence.” I returned his appraisal. I frowned.

Benji looked about like he had the last time I saw him, plus about three years. I knew as much from his Facebook photos. Today, though, his usual combed, day-at-the-office hair stuck out at odd angles, and dark circles ringed his eyes. “What are you doing here, Benji?”

He shot my frown right back at me. “Didn’t you get my email?”

“Email?” Lena asked.

I coughed. “I was going to get to it. We’ve been really busy.”

“You have been busy.” His eyebrows arched up. “Really.”

I glared. “Yes.”

“With what?” he asked. “Practicing for some Fortnite tournament you’re never going to qualify for?”

My glare intensified.

Lena’s united with mine. “We might have your shitty server muted, but I know damned well you can see our ‘currently playing’ on Discord. The next time we touch that crap will be the first.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Benji had made a server for keeping in touch with our extended family. I wouldn’t have told him to his face that I put it on mute, but I doubt it surprised him any. He just snorted. “I forgot, neither of you play anything you’d win money for, even if you could make the Finals.”

“This may be hard to believe,” I snapped, “but we do have things besides games going on in our lives.”

“You’re saying what you’ve been busy with isn’t a game?”

“I...” I clenched my teeth and turned to my computer.

Lena grabbed my arm before I could stalk away. “I know Cam doesn’t want to explain anything to you, but. First, it is a game. Second, this is different.”

I let her drag me back to face Benji.

“Different how?” he asked.

Lena tried to catch my eye. Well, it’s not like I preferred looking at my brother.

I gave a slight shake of my head. Explaining Third Eye to her parents? That sounded terrifying, but I trusted them to believe both her word and the evidence of their eyes. Explaining it to the wider world via her channel? I only had to hear people call me crazy in the comment section, not to my face.

Explaining it to my brother? Yeah, no.

“It’s different because...” Abruptly, Lena straightened up and beamed. “I’ve got a YouTube channel now!”

“Oh shit, seriously?” Benji reached out and clapped her shoulder. “Congrats! That’s sick.”

“Thanks.” Lena tried not to squirm.

I put my hand around her waist and pulled her away. She sagged against me.

To Benji’s credit – were there any words more ashen in my mouth? Good thing I didn’t say them aloud. –, he pulled his hand away as soon as he saw her discomfort. I might’ve almost felt a moment of fraternal affection if he’d kept his mouth shut. Instead, he said, “It’s Lena’s channel. How come you’re busy, little bro?”

“Cam is my lovely assistant,” Lena said. “Gotta sex up the videos, you know?”

“Uh-huh.”

“We,” I said, “have been busting our asses building up subs and figuring out the game so we have good content to offer them.”

“Okay, okay.” He spread his hands. “I believe you. You’ve been busy. I’m glad to hear it’s working out for you.”

I arranged my mouth into something that could be mistaken for a smile.

“Thanks,” Lena said. Without pulling out of my embrace, she attempted an awkward half twirl and flashed her victory pose. “Of course, if you really want to support us, you better like, comment, and subscribe!”

“And don’t forget to hit that bell,” I said, with none of the enthusiasm I tried to pump into the videos.

Benji threw his head back and laughed. “You two are really going for it. Tell you something, I needed that.”

“I’m glad we could entertain you,” I said.

“Any time,” he said. “How’s the money looking?”

“It’s...” Lena shifted on her feet. “We’re still waiting on the first check, but our subs and views are going up fast.”

“So this is a brand-new thing? Cool, cool.” He looked around the apartment.

Which reminded me that, on top of all the other reasons his unexpected arrival bugged the shit out of me, he hadn’t given us a chance to pick up.

The place wasn’t a complete disaster. The first few days after we escaped the construction site, both Lena and I had thrown ourselves at anything mundane we could find, even housework. Everything had been dusted and vacuumed and rearranged. But the foam cup I’d just drained was one of four sitting in the sink, our empty pizza box still sat on the counter where we’d left it, and our computer desks were messes of scribbled notes and unread snail mail spam.

Whatever. It wasn’t like anything I did would lower Benji’s opinion of me, and it wasn’t like I cared.

“What’s the game?” he asked.

I blinked. “Game?”

“You said you were busting your asses learning the game,” he said, “so it doesn’t sound like Lena started a fashion vlog.”

“Unfortunately for the world of fashion.” She tossed off the line, but I saw her glance down at her oversized sweater, through her awkward-looking smart glasses. She tried and failed to hide her tiny frown.

I leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “It’s called Third Eye. It’s a brand-new game, still in beta, so you probably haven’t heard of it.”

“It’s pretty underground, huh?” Benji’s familiar smirk returned. “You gonna ditch it when it gets popular, like all your music when you were a kid?”

“I’d like to think that when I became a man I outgrew outgrown childish things,” I said, “including the fear of being too mainstream.”

I realized my mistake as soon as the words left my mouth.

“Pretty sure it’s ‘put away’ childish things, Cameron,” Benji said.

I could trade obscure memes with Lena for hours. Why the hell couldn’t I talk to my brother for five minutes without mangling a C. S. Lewis quote I’d undoubtedly been the one to throw in his face to defend some game or fantasy novel I wanted?

I’m sure I flushed with embarrassment. I know my shoulders knotted like a gnarled tree.

Lena rubbed the small of my back. “I don’t think we’re going to quit Third Eye any time soon. We’re both pretty into it. Plus, we’re hoping it’s going to keep paying off with my channel.”

“I hear you.” Benji ambled past us. Right to the kitchen. I just knew he was eyeing the pizza box, or maybe the cups. Instead of commenting on them, he said, “You should drop a link to your channel in the family Discord. I’ll sub, obviously, but I’m sure Mom and Dad will want to see, too.”

He hesitated, then added, “Sandy, too.”

Sandy was Benji’s better half, for her sins.

“I’ll get on that when I get the chance,” I said.

“Just trying to pump up your numbers.” He shrugged. “I’ll stay out of your hair.”

“I appreciate that,” I said. “Speaking of which, why are you in our hair now?”

“If you checked your email,” he said, “or if you bothered to look at that ‘shitty server,’ you’d know.”

“I’m sorry, okay?” My fists balled.

“Okay.” He didn’t sound pissed. Why would he? I’d given him yet another way to lord it over me.

Lena’s massage on my back pressed harder.

I drew in a deep breath. Exhaled. Said, “Would you please just tell me already?”

He turned around and leaned on the counter. His eyes were closed, and his smirk had disappeared. For the first time I could remember, he looked every year of his age. “The fact is, little bro... I need a place to crash.”