“Mmm… I feel left out.And I don’t like it.”
“Welcome to the club.How does it feel?”Ryan winds him up.
“Why him, and not me?”Ian presses.
“Jesus, Ian, are you ten years old?”Ryan says.
“I didn’t say anything to anyone, and… there’s nothing to say at all!”I grab my duffle bag and shove my things inside in a hurry.
“This isn’t about that heartburn, is it?”Ian asks.
I turn to them, exasperated.“Stop it, both of you.It’s none of your fucking business.”
“If it’s someone in the family…”
Ryan has just taken his last breath.
“Ah.I see.”
Ian wants to die, too.Today.I feel sorry for Mr and Mrs O’Connor, but soon they will only have one son left.
“Sit down, Jamie.”Ian signals for me to take a seat on a bench.
I drop my bag and sit, elbows on my knees, phone still in my hand.
“Let’s talk about this… nothing.”
“If we must.”
The two brothers sit on either side of me, boxing me in.
“Is it the kind of nothing that causes no complications, or the kind that turns into a fucking mess?”
I snort.
“Fucking mess, without a doubt,” Ryan says.
“Okay.Then what can we do to avoid this fucking mess?”
“You are not my brothers,” I say harshly.
“I thought we were friends.”
I shrug.
“And friends talk.They help each other.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“What’s going on?And don’t say ‘nothing’, or I’ll make you swallow that fucking word.”
I push myself up and lean back.
“Is it like the other times?”
I sigh.
“I’d say no,” Ryan says.
