“That’s too bad,” he said before his fist connected withmynose.
Pain exploded in my face and my vision went blurry from the impact. Tears filled my eyes from the sudden pain. I managed to block him after that first hit. My arms would be sore, but it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as if he hit my face again. I could feel the blood dripping from my nose and desperately wanted to wipe my face, but kept protecting myself as he letloose.
A few people in the parking lot started shouting at what was happening. I heard my name, but didn’t turn to look. When someone threatened to call the cops, Marco finally stopped. He put his hands up in surrender, but looked directly at me and mouthedthis isn’t overbefore getting in his car and peeling out of theparkinglot.
No, itneverwas.
I wiped my nose on my sleeve to clear my face of the blood and spit a few times on the pavement to get rid of the copper taste that filled mymouth.
“I’m leaving, no need to call the cops,” I said to whoever was listening before getting in my own car anddrivinghome.
It was the same thing every time I saw my brother. He would punch, I would block. He would take money most of the time and run off. I didn’t think it was entirely about the cash though, not when he was fighting for fives and tens. Not when he was taking things from the house with so littlevalue.
He was battling his own demons. Whether it was my dad leaving or something else, he was lost. And I was the one who he took itouton.
I loved my brother, but I didn’t know how to help him. So we went through the motions every few days and I ended up with more evidence of my misdeeds. I didn’t know how much more I could take. I raced home to clean upbeforework.
I arrived just in time for my shift and was happy to see Gwen was working the front of the house. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about seeing Katie in my restaurant. Her dad had given me fair warning she’d be starting soon, and I knew he wanted me to look after her. That didn’t mean I was happyaboutit.
Gwen had been giving her a tour of the diner when I first saw her. I had watched as they walked around the place between tasks. Busy putting together an order, I hadn’t seen them when they came to the back. Nothing had prepared me for the moment when we came face to face for the first time in years. She was beautiful and looked so familiartome.
My first instinct had been to smile at her and pull her into a hug. Seeing my childhood best friend had excited me and scared the crap out of me. So I had given her the welcome I gave mostpeople.
Quietandcold.
Her face had been like an open book. I watched as she recognized me and gave me a shy smile. That meant I also saw the moment she realized I recognized her but didn’t plan on saying anything. I’d hurt her feelings and I felt like a real bastard fordoingit.
But that hadn’t changed my attitude. Since our first meeting, I’d continued to be standoffishfromher.
It wasn’t different from how I acted with everyone. Well, everyone but Gwen. Our friendship was the one thing keeping me sane. I was angry and I was hurt, but my pride allowed me to have that one relationship to get through the difficultly ofeverythingelse.
I wasn’t ready to letKatiein.
“Julian, what happened?” Gwen cried out when she walked into the kitchen shaking me from mythoughts.
“I tripped again,” I deadpanned, lookingather.
“Marco.” She said his name like a curse. “Why do you let him keepdoingthat?”
“I don’t know.” I raised my shoulders. “This isn’t him. I guess I just think if I let him keep messing with me, he won’t do somethingstupid.”
“Fighting your brother is pretty stupid, if you ask me,” she said, putting a hand on her hip. She could be feisty. “I wish I could just say the word and make it stop. It’s getting out ofcontrol.”
“Unfortunately, youcan’t,Gwen.”
“But–“
“Just dropit,okay?”
“Fine.” She agreed, but her voice carried an edgetoit.
She refused to look at me for the rest of our shift. She would hang her tickets and grab her food, efficient as ever. But there was no teasing, no eye rolling at the stupid requests people made. I hated the tensionbetweenus.
There was no way to explain what was going on with Marco and me. She wouldn’t understand what it was like to be placed in a situation such as mine, with no good positiveoutcome.
Right now, I needed to keep my head low and not make thingsworse.
When Gwen brought my tip share at the end of the night without another word, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had made things worse after all, in the only part of my life that wasn’tscrewed.
