But I wasn’t fine. What was this moment worth celebrating without others? So what if Garrett and I couldn’t be romantically linked? Couldn’t we have a deep friendship and understanding of each other? Wouldn’t that suffice?
“You don’t look fine,” he said. “Is it—”
“How’s the club, Mason?”
Mason crinkled his face.
“We got an additional two members. So we’re up to nine now. That’s nice. Brock and Steele are good. Zack’s almost done with school. Let’s see. Connor is pining to strike at the Bandits, but he’s not—”
“And what about Garrett?”
I hadn’t meant to interrupt. Mason looked a wee bit suspicious, but the look passed.
“Party animal Garrett?” Mason said.
Oh, great. So he’s gone back to his old ways. Should have known—
“He’s been weird recently, actually.”
Huh?
“Cole tasked him with bringing more girls over so we could recruit more prospects to the club. Which he has. But he hasn’t slept with any of them as far as I can tell.”
Wait, what? Really?
“I wonder if he’s seeing someone on the side or if he’s got some STD or something,” Mason said, chuckling to himself. “It’s so unlike him. But hey, he got us the two members and we’ve got a few more coming our way, so everything’s all good.”
“Cool,” I said. “I guess you didn’t want to go to the party tonight?”
Mason smiled.
“Nope. I’m not going to pass up a chance to check in on you.”
I knew he didn’t mean it in a controlling way. But because of everything I was feeling, because of the swirl of emotions and hormones and events, because of the sudden wondering if I might have Garrett back in my life—if nothing else, wondering if Garrett was considering coming back into my life—I didn’t take kindly to how Mason phrased it.
“For the last time, Mason, please do not say it like you’re Dad,” I said.
“And who is going to watch over you—”
“Me!”
I put my fork and knife down.
“Hannah—”
“No, don’t ‘Hannah’ me,” I said, reflecting the parental tone with which he spoke. “I’m not a teenager!”.
It was never forgotten how much of a temper my brother had but every time I saw it, it was a little shocking just how much he could explode.
“You know what I try and do—”
“Is watch over me like a security guard!”
The familiar fight went on for a good long while. Many of the things said were things that had been said many times before. Mason accusing me of being unaware of what the outside world held, me accusing Mason of not giving me the chance to explore. It was a fight as old as our relationship, even before our parents had died. It was a fight that I didn’t see ending.
It was getting to the point where I feared it would take something dramatic for this fight to take on a different tenor. And unfortunately, the only thing I could think of seemed more likely to only increase his overbearingness than to ease it up.
“That’s it,” Mason finally said, standing up from the table. “The club is throwing a party tonight. If I’m going to spend my night angry, I’m at least going to do it around good alcohol that other people want.”
