Chet Watakeekul

I got off the bus with my bag slung over my shoulder. I burst into the house with my arms outstretched and a wide smile on my face expecting my family to welcome me home and congratulate me on another win, but there wasn't anyone in the living room. My lips turned down into a frown and I sighed. I went and put my bag in my bedroom.

The kitchen door opened and I quickly stepped back out into the living room expecting a hug, but my mom was on the phone. Her eyes flickered to me and she smiled, but the smile was slightly strained.

"That's great, son," she said to the phone.

My heart froze. My teeth clenched together and my hands balled into fists by my side.

"That sounds like a really great job," she continued as she spoke with Kiet. I knew it was my brother. Who else would she call son?

She knew I didn't want to hear about him, but she kept talking to him in the living room. I suddenly got the impression she purposely came into the living room so that I could overhear how "great" my brother was doing.

I checked my pockets to make sure I had my wallet and phone and then I left the house not wanting to hear anymore.

I took a bus back up to the university. It was Sunday so there weren't any classes, but there were students milling around. I decided to go to a nearby cafe. It was late morning and the cafe was busy with students. One particular student who sat at a table in the back corner caught my eye. Out of everyone I thought possible to accidentally run into at the cafe on a Sunday, it wasn't him. His golden eyes looked up and found mine. He didn't move other than to run a finger along the rim of his coffee mug.

I was actually glad he was there. He was someone I could confront and get some of my frustrations out - unlike Kiet who I hoped to never see again. Not after he hurt our sister. I went to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate because I was banned from having coffee by my family and friends. Apparently I was already too energetic without it and with it I just got jittery. I also ordered the banana nut muffin. I got extra whip cream on my hot chocolate because why not? I paid, got my order and made my way passed the crowded tables and talking students to the back table where Vincent sat. He sighed dramatically when I sat in front of him.

"Really?" he said. "You couldn't sit somewhere else?"

"I don't want to sit somewhere else," I said easily.

He shook his head and stared down into his dark coffee.

"We won the soccer game," I said. I broke off a piece of the muffin and stuck it in my mouth.

"Do you expect me to congratulate you?" he asked dryly.

"Yes," I said when I had swallowed the bite.

"But I don't even like you."

"Congratulate me anyway," I said.

"Congratulations," he said without any enthusiasm. It made me happy.

I brought the mug to my lips. The mound of whip cream was cool against my mouth and then a rush of heat burned my tongue when the hot chocolate rushed into my mouth. I hissed softly and put the mug back down on the table.

Vincent reached across the table and wiped my mouth with his thumb. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when he realized what he had done. He quickly retracted his hand and wiped the whip cream onto his napkin. He tried to cover his surprise quickly as he lowered his eyes to his coffee mug again.

What did it mean? Maybe he was warming up to me. Maybe he could like Mateo. Maybe Vincent and I could be friends and he would stop trying to break up Mateo and Alex. Speaking of...

"Did anyone else figure out you are Flameretardant8788?" I asked.

His shoulders down to his fingers froze.

"Who?" he asked after a moment of silence. He brought the coffee mug up to his lips, but didn't look me in the eyes.

"You know, the anonymous stranger who went onto Mateo's page and told him he was disgusting and going to hell and he should be ashamed of himself for bringing others down with him and that it was disgusting for a man to kiss another man. You know that Flameretardant8788."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he said looking anywhere but my eyes. "I don't follow Mateo. Why would I? Why would you even think that was me?"

His eyes met mine briefly before they flickered back down to his coffee.

"You are the only person I've ever heard say Mateo was disgusting," I said.

"That doesn't mean it was me," Vincent said. He reached over, broke off a small piece of my banana nut muffin and put it into his mouth.

I sighed. Yes, I was annoyed he ate my muffin, but I wasn't annoyed enough to stop him. In the long run, it didn't really matter. Alex and Mateo were more important. I would just add that to the list of things I didn't like about Vincent.

"Flameretardant8788 also mysteriously stopped posting completely when other trolls - emboldened by his words - began to attack Alex. I don't like you. I think you're a jerk, but if you have one redeeming quality it is that you want to protect Alex. So of course you would stop posting then."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said. "It was me and no, no one else knows." He reached over to my food again, but I slapped his hand. He looked at me surprised, but withdrew his hand.

"Stealing my food once is okay," I said, "but not twice. I don't even like you. Why would I let you steal my food?"

"You could have chosen to sit anywhere else," he said. But that wasn't exactly true. It was busy in here.

I sipped gently at my hot chocolate, but made sure to wipe away the whip cream on my mouth with my napkin.

"Is it too much to hope that you've given up breaking up Mateo and Alex?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

I frowned at that.

We sipped our drinks in silence.

Finally I spoke again. "Mateo hasn't done anything that would indicate he isn't being sincere with Alex. Is it really that hard for you to believe he loves Alex?"

"Yes," he said.

"But not because of those stupid high school girls or Ja...whatever happened to Alex in high school."

"What do you know about Jason?" he asked harshly obviously catching my slip.

"Nothing really," I said because I wasn't supposed to know. "Only that his name was mentioned between Alex and Mateo to excuse your irrational behavior. But it's more than those people from high school. Who told you that people were only after your money?"

He shook his head and didn't answer.

"Who told you that people couldn't be sincere?"

He still didn't answer. There was pain in his eyes. Pain and mistrust that ran a lot deeper than high school kids. It was a lingering pain as if it never completely left him, as if he was so familiar with it in his day to day life that it was just part of him.

He stood up, started to walk passed me, but I grabbed his wrist. "Whoever told you this is wrong," I said. "You don't have to keep believing them."

The pain in his eyes intensified tenfold. "I hate you," he said quietly as he pulled his wrist from my grasp.

"I hate you too," I called after him as he walked to the door. Stupid Vincent. Except there was a sort of ache for him in my chest. There had to be a way to get rid of his hidden sorrow somehow. Maybe then he could just let Mateo and Alex be happy.

My phone rang. It was Kannika. "Hi," I said as I answered the phone. I broke off a piece of the banana nut muffin and popped it into my mouth.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"At a cafe near the University. Why?"

"We just got back from the store." By 'we' I assumed she meant herself and my father. "We thought you would be here. We bought you something." From the lilt in her voice she was quite happy with herself.

I broke off another piece of the muffin and popped it into my mouth.

"Shouldn't you be home by now?" Kannika asked. "Oh wait, your bag is here. You came home and left again? Why?"

I sipped at the hot chocolate. "Mom was talking to Kiet on the phone," I said.

There was a long silence on my sister's end. "Oh," she finally said. "Well, she's not now so come home."

"Okay. I'm coming. I'll be there soon."

I stuffed the rest of the muffin into my mouth, took a long drink of the hot chocolate and then made my way to the bus stop. I looked for Vincent's car on the way which was ridiculous of me. I didn't want to see him again. He was rude. Except, I didn't think he was truly rude. It was more like someone had deceived him and he had convinced himself that they were right. I couldn't help but wonder what he would be like if he had never been deceived.

It wasn't too much later that I walked through my front door for a second time that day.

"Congratulations!" Kannika called out to me. She rushed me and threw her arms around my neck.

"It's not that big of a deal," I said even though it was. "We've won games before."

"I know," she said. "But this game was an important one for your conference standing."

That was true. But then again, they all were in their own way.

She pulled away and grabbed my hand. "Come look," she said. We went into the kitchen.

My mom and dad stood at the kitchen counter huddled together with their backs to us.

They turned around together to face us. My dad held an ice cream cake in his hands. "Congratulations!" They both said at the same time. Congratulations was written on top of the cake.

I smiled. "Mint Chocolate Chip?"

My dad nodded.

"Of course," Kannika said. "We know it's your favorite."

I loved my family. "We're going to have ice cream cake for lunch?"

"Yes," all three of them said.

"All right," I said enthusiastically and immediately went to get utensils from the drawer. I wasn't about to tell them I just had hot chocolate and a muffin and this was probably way too much sugar for me in one day. The four of us sat around the table and ate it as it was, without getting plates or anything.

Maybe if Vincent had my family, he would act decent. I would have said for sure he would have, but when I thought of my brother, I changed my mind. My brother grew up with my family and yet he had decided to turn his back on us, rob us, hurt us. Still, I wondered what Vincent's family was like.