"Hello?" I turn my back to Nelson as I answer.
"Hey, little bro. It's been a while." Finnigan's words are slurred. He's definitely been drinking. "What are you up to?"
"Not much. Why are you calling me?" I sit on the couch and wait for his answer, hoping that I can end this call within the promised ten minutes.
"I can't call just to talk to my brother? What has you so busy there you can't give me a few minutes?"
"You've been drinking," I say. I glance over my shoulder to look at Nelson. I can tell he's trying not to listen in, but there isn't much privacy with the open concept. I motion that I'm going to go into the bedroom and Nelson nods. Despite the history between me and my family, I still have a pit of worry when Finnigan, or our sister, calls me out of the blue. "What's up with you?"
"With me? Nothing." The sound of what I'm assuming is another drink being poured carries through the phone. "I'm just… sitting here and thinking."
"About what? Aren't you supposed to be planning your engagement?"
"Ah, yes, the engagement." He says the word like it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. "The engagement that Mom keeps asking me about, the one that I've done rescheduled twice."
"Are you having second thoughts?"
The line is quiet, but I can hear a gulp, like he's taking a shot of whatever he just poured. He burps over the phone and I shake my head. He must have been drinking for a while before he called me if he's already at this stage. I'm about to tell him that I'll talk to him tomorrow when he's sober, but he starts talking again.
"I want you to be there when I do it," he admits. "I want all of my family there."
"I told you, I have classes for a couple more weeks. After that, I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but I have a few faculty meetings and then I'll be getting ready for the Fall semester."
"What if we came to you?"
"What?" That's out of left field. Beyond the left field, actually. He has to be more drunk than I thought. "Why on earth would you do that? This city has nothing to offer outside of farming fields and one restaurant nice enough to charge more than twenty dollars a plate."
"God, dude. I don't know how else to say I really want you there without actually saying it. Can you please stop making up excuses on why you can't be in the same room with me for just a minute?"
I stop in my tracks. Air is caught in my lungs and I'm at a loss for words. I didn't know he felt like that. I don't know if this is the alcohol talking or if it's his real thoughts coming out because he's drunk.
"Don't make it weird," he says on the other end of the phone. "If you really can't make time this summer, I get it."
"I'm sorry," I say. I don't really know what for, but this pit in my stomach is working overtime to grow heavier. "I.. I…"
"You didn't know that when you decided to ditch your parents, you also ditched me and your sister? We're not our parents, you know?" There's a heavy sigh on his end before he continues. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Do you think she's going to say no?" I can hear the sadness in his voice. I don't know my brother to drink very often, but when he does I know he gets in his head more and more. Of course, I haven't been around much lately, but even when we did go out partying together in our early twenties, he would usually end up sulking about something.
"I don't know," Finnigan says. "I should probably just take someone here home. Let me be the bad guy and her end things."
"Finnigan, don't you dare even think that." Him thinking about cheating just to end his relationship is too far. "What bar are you at right now? I'm going to call our sister to come pick you up before you do anything stupid."
"I'm fine," he says. I sit on the edge of the bed and close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"You're drunk, Finn." I use the nickname only our mom uses. He knows I'm serious because he knows how much I hate being called Ben. "Tell me where you are."
He mumbles the name of the bar and I immediately text our sister and him in a group text. I add in to make sure to text me when they are both home safe. I don't know what is going on with him. I've always thought that him and Veronica weren't compatible, but it wasn't my place to tell him that the girl he's been with for years isn't right for him.
"Don't do anything stupid, okay?" Our sister texts that she'll be at the bar in fifteen minutes. "I'll call you tomorrow to check on you."
I end the call and fall back onto the bed. Just as I let out a long sigh, the bedroom door creaks open and I open one eye enough to see Nelson standing there. "Everything okay?"
"Just my brother being stupid." I say. "He's having second thoughts about asking his girlfriend to marry him and I don't blame because she's shallow and cares too much about appearances and showing off money."
"Tell me how you really feel," Nelson says with a small laugh. I take his hand and let him pull me up into a sitting position. I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my chin against his stomach. Our eyes meet and we share a smile. "You look sleepy."
"I am sleepy," I admit. "But I can be not sleepy if you wanted to do something."
