Her lips part when she sees me. Slowly, she raises her hand and waves at me, just once, and smiles.
That’s all I get?
After my first semester at university? Been away from her for months, and that is all I get. A wave. A smile. I press my fingers harder into the glass.
She grabs her bag from the fucker, gives him a half cuddle, the kind where only one side of your body touches the other person, and that is part of her body now pressed to that fucker and she isn’t flinching.
She walks into the house.
The fucker looks up at me.
I don’t move, just look at him with my fingers pressing on the glass.That’s right.I’m her brother. That’smylittle sister.
He takes two steps back and then turns and walks away, his spine straight as if he can feel my eyes cutting into it. Good. He should feel that. He should feel that for a long time.
I turn and study her room again. She said it hasn’t changed, but it has. Her bed has moved closer to the window. Why? That’s dangerous. I cross to it and grip the frame, dragging it back to where it belongs, back against the other wall. Better. And she has new sheets. Not the kitten ones I got her for Christmas two years ago, but daisies. They remind me of that hill where she grew up without me, with that other boy. The one she won’t speak about…
I pull the sheet flat and smooth it down. I’ll do something to them, maybe. I step back and look at the room. It’s almost right now. Almost.
My fingers curl into fists. As I leave her room, I hear feet coming up the stairs.
I block the top level, gazing down at her. She stops with one foot on a higher step, one on a lower, her eyes lifted to me, looking through her lashes. “Hello to you, too.”
“Who was that?”
She blinks. “You’re back.”
“Who was that, Blesk?”
Her feet shuffle. “My chemistry partner.”
“He had your bag.”
“I... well, yeah.”
“He doesn’t need to carry your bag.”
She grips the strap of her bag. “I know. It’s heavy.” She frowns up at me, her eyes darting to her bedroom door behind me, then to my fists. “Why are you so moody? Taken one too many philosophy lectures or something?”
I look at her mouth when she says that. “Or something.”
She shifts again. “Aren’t you happy to see me, Erik? You… you’ve been gone for months.”
I study the little hollow at the base of her throat.
I’ve been burning for you.
I’ve been in pain.
I can’t get hard…
“Did you miss me?” I ask, not answering her just yet, because my heart is still thrashing from seeing her bed repositioned, the daisy sheets, and the fucker touch her without her flinching. No. No, no, Erik. It’s a cry for help. You know her. This is her way of showing you she needs you.
I sigh at the realisation, smiling at my bebe. I relax my hands. “Come here, beautiful.” I open my arms, and she beams, taking the two steps to my level. Tucking into my body, her arms go around my waist as I close mine around her.
I lower my nose to her hair and inhale. “Movie night tonight?” I ask, still holding her warm body close to mine, feeling her breath hitch. Excitement? Perhaps.
“Okay. With Dad?”
