“I think he’s right, Fe. You do bring crazy to most places you go.”
Felix gasps, pressing a hand to his chest. The Archer boys are both very beautiful, but Fe is the only one graced with true dramatic flair.
“Wow. Just wow. Why don’t you just take Bear as your brother, then? Since I’msocrazy.” He pouts, crossing his arms in mock anger.
“Well, how about it, Button?” Aaron asks, looking back down at me.
A twinge of warmth spreads through my chest as a genuine smile—a rare one—crosses my lips. I can quite literally feel the dimples pulling at my cheeks.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m afraid I’m too tame. I wouldn’t be able to entertain you as Fe can.”
He laughs, shaking his head at me.
“That’s it! Bear, you’re supposed to love me.” Felix glares from where he sits beside me, and I stare at him for a moment, pretending to contemplate it. “Really?!”
I laugh again. Damn, my stomach is starting to hurt.
“I do love you,” I say. Then I scoot a little closer, wrap my arms around his waist, and push us both backward—straight into the water.
???
Dinner is spent with Tina and Greg, talking about Felix’s upcoming track meet and when swim practice will begin for me. And just like we do a couple of times every week, when we’re done, we move to the den for family movie night. Felix and Isqueeze onto the same recliner we’ve shared since we were eight, while his parents cuddle up on the couch, bowls of chips and popcorn being passed around as a movie is selected.
There’s a comfort here in this room with us, one I wish would extend past these walls, past this house—and into my own home. I feel that familiar itch.
Aaron comes home from wherever he wandered off to before dinner when we’re about halfway throughHow to Train Your Dragon. He has Amber Penskey with him, whom I’ve seen around a lot and find pretty nice. It’s speculated that they’re dating, but I doubt it’s true. No matter how beautiful she is—and she is—they just aren’t a good fit in that way.
“Are you going to bed, Bub?” Felix asks as they appear in the doorway. It looks like they just came back from a party, with Amber clearly being the sober one of the two.
“He is,” Amber says with a laugh. “Mr. and Mrs. Archer! Hello. I’m just going to deposit him into bed and head on out. Sorry to bother.” She smiles gently, her long brown hair falling over her shoulder as she lets Aaron lean against her. She is quite beautiful—long legs, small waist, gentle eyes. “Hi, Fe. Hi, Bear!” she adds. We both smile and wave.
“If you’d like to stay for the rest of the movie and some popcorn after you get him upstairs, you are more than welcome, darling,” Tina says, tucking a long strand of thick black curls behind her ear. Amber smiles brightly.
“Yes, ma’am!”
I turn my attention to Aaron and am startled to see him staring rather intently at Felix. More specifically, where Felix rests on top of me, sitting half on my lap, his hand subconsciously resting on my bare stomach. Aaron’s eyes—fighting to stay fully open and ever intense—look confused and curious, if not a little unsettled. Then he looks away as Amber guides him toward his room.
I wonder if Aaron ever wishes he had a best friend like this. If he craves the intimacy, the joy of sharing boyhood with another. Ifseeing Felix and me hurts him. Maybe having a girl best friend isn’t always as easy as I imagine it to be.
I turn back to the movie.
When it ends and everyone says good night, I follow Felix upstairs and into his room. There are only two bedrooms on the second floor, connected by a bathroom. Both rooms are spacious, and Aaron and Felix were allowed to decorate however they liked. Where Felix went with a sports-and-anime theme, Aaron chose sports and motorsports.
I haven’t spent much time in Aaron’s room as of late, but having spent a good portion of my childhood in this house, I’ve lain on his bed or sat at his desk enough times to know that, unlike his brother, he is very organized.
In Felix’s room, the bed is a queen, its headboard pressed against the wall on the left side of the room. I fall onto it once we enter and Felix grabs some of my sleep clothes from his dresser and tosses them at me.
“Do you want to go to the river tomorrow? Amber and Aaron offered to take us with them,” he says as he looks for his own clothes.
“Sure, why not?”
With a conspiratorial grin, Felix turns to face me. “I think they’re fucking. I saw them kissing once.”
He jumps onto the bed beside me and I stare at him. I think I may have eaten too much at dinner—suddenly, I don’t feel so well.
“What’s wrong?” It must be showing on my face.
“Just a stomachache, I guess.” I say quietly, staring down at the clothes in my hands.
