Her groan echoed all the way to the metro station. “No! He’s a buzzkill who’s gonna say no.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’d have to be an idiot not to! Your brother and fun go along together like peanut butter and drywall. Not at all, Eva. Not at all.”
I shook my head as I fumbled in my bag for my phone to call Jules, who was supposed to be picking me up.
Was it a little embarrassing to be picked up by my big brother when I wasn’t in school anymore? Yes, a little. But even without my anxieties around driving—I still flinched whenever Jules hit a small bump—I didn’t have the money for a car of my own. I could barely afford my apartment that, sure, had the occasional rodent and roach and, yeah, sometimes had people that terrified me digging through the discarded needles in the nearby alley, and, yes, wasn’t nice even remotely. But I was sure there were worse options out there.
Every princess had to live in squalor before finding her castle… at least I thought so. I usually liked to skip ahead to the happy endings with all the kissing and weddings and pretty dresses.
Mia waited impatiently as I turned my phone on, only to find several missed calls from my brother.
Crap.
"Hey, Jules," I greeted him after he picked up on the first ring, no doubt seething by the phone while he waited for me.
"What is the point of purchasing you a phone if you aren't going to call me with it?"
"To get cute cases and take lots of pictures of puppies and kittens. Oh! And play those cozy restaurant games.”
"How are we related?" he grumbled. "You were supposed to call me an hour ago, so I could pick you up from rehearsal. Are you all right? Did something happen? Do I need to?—"
"Nothing happened. We got let out late. Ask Elsie if you don't believe me." Because he wouldn’t.
Jules always insisted I was too optimistic for this world, too easy for people to take advantage of. We chose to move through the world in different ways. While he barreled through it, doing whatever he needed to do to get what he wanted, I’d spent it wearing a hundred different faces, my smiles always enough to keep the peace. People pleasing was a language I spoke fluently, one I’d learned early and never quite forgotten. It was easier that way.
And maybe some of what he said was true. Mia kept trying to instruct me on how to grow a backbone, though it wasn’t really working, and I often found myself believing every sob story on the internet. But I didn't consider myself naive. I knew there was darkness in the world. I just chose to ignore it in favor of all the light it had to offer instead.
"All right. Well, I'll come pick you up?—"
“That’s okay. I’m going to Mia’s tonight.”
“And how are you getting to her house?”
“We can take the metro.”
"WHAT?!"he screeched so loud I had to rub my ears to get the ringing to stop. “No way, Evangeline. You are not riding that death trap train in those sketchy tunnels. Not at night— scratch that. Not atall.”
I sighed. Our conversations always went like this—me trying to be a little more independent and Jules shooting me down while I bit back tears. I knew Jules still saw me as his baby sister, but if I was old enough to consume a questionable amount of liquor in Mia's living room while watching reruns of reality TV, then I was old enough to figure things out on my own. Things like taking the metro or working a dead-end job or…
Or finding my Prince Charming. A guy like Alek.
But I didn't say any of that to Jules. Because I would do anything to make sure the people I cared about had their happiness. Even if that came at the expense of my own.
Still, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try one more time. “I’m twenty-one years old. I’m old enough to ride a train to a friend’s house. Mia lives in a nice neighborhood. It can’t be that bad.”
“No.”
“Jules, please?—”
“No. I’ll come and pick you up right now.”
“But—”
“No buts, Annie,” he said, using the childhood nickname my whole family called me. The one heknewwould soften me to the point of caving in. "Don't fight me on this. Love you.”
And then he hung up.
