As I head to my car, Brittany says, “I’ll walk you.”
“It’s just right there.”
She shrugs. “I know, but I’ll still come.”
Okay.This is a first. My sister never escorts me to my car. Is she all right? I’m hoping she doesn’t want me to cast a spell on Jet or anything. My spell-slinging days are over.
As soon as we’re out of earshot, she says, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s not as if you brewed a potion that made Stone Maddox forget who he is.”
“Not about that—for everything else.”
“What are you talking about?”
“For making you think you had to stay in the same place every time we played Hide from Brittany.”
“Huh?”
She scrapes her fingers through her hair. “I’m sorry you feel like you’ve been playing second fiddle. I didn’t realize how pushed aside you’ve been until ... recently. My channel requires me to be a big personality, and I guess sometimes I take it too far.”
“It’s okay.”I’m used to it.
“No, it’s not,” she replies, flustered. “When you came along, like when you were born, you got all this attention, and I was jealous. Back then it seemed like everything you did, our parents made it such a big deal—all of it, from the time we were little through high school. Even now, they’re amazed because you have magic.”
“They are?” I look back at the house. The porch is empty, but the light’s still on. “They never said anything to me about it.”
“Well, they said plenty to me.” We reach my car and Brittany leans against the door. “It’s always been like that. They fawn over you.”
A laugh bursts from my mouth. My sister gives me a puzzled look, and I explain, “Are you serious? That’s how they act about you. All Mom talks about is you and your channel. I’m not kidding. It’s all she ever mentions. She’s so proud of you, you know that? So proud that she forgot I had a new job. Stone had to tell her.”
“Are you sure you didn’tforgetto tell her?”
I frown.Did I tell her?Or did I figure she wouldn’t remember anyway, so I didn’t bother?
Shit.
Maybe I didn’t mention it. I look up at the house in disbelief.
Brittany shakes her head. “When we were little, they talked about you all the time. It’s why I pushed myself so hard, because I felt like I was competing with you.”
Wow. My entire life, I’ve been comparing myself to Brittany, and she’s been doing the same. It never crossed my mind that she might feel insecure aboutme. How could she when she’s the one making all the crazy YouTube money?
Is it possible I’ve been wrong about her? That my sister and I have each suffered in silence, thinking our parents loved the other better, when they loved each of us the same this entire time?
Is it possible we’ve each been jealous and we didn’t need to be?
“I’m sorry,” I admit.
She cocks her head. “For what?”
“For years I’ve been jealous of your success because I thought Mom and Dad respected you more.”
“I don’t think that’s true. They may not tell you how proud they are, but I hear it, Coco. I hear it a lot. I think, if anything, they have a hard time expressing it. But I know they love you. Why do you think they were excited about the wedding? They were worried, of course, like any parent would be. But they want your happiness. More than anything.”
My chest expands, filling with love that should have always been there for my sister but was trapped behind the barbed wire of jealousy.It’s hard to wrap my mind around, the fact that my parents have bragged about me to Brittany, when for years it felt like they didn’t see me.
Maybe they did see me, it’s just that I didn’t allow myself to realize it because I was so used to being dismissed.
