Page 20 of Chance Encounter

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s been doing it from the day I meet him.” I shake my head in frustration. “I thought things would be different since I hadn’t talked to him in ten years, but he’s the same…”

“Infuriating asshole?” He finishes for me.

“Something like that. I’m sorry Maddox woke you, but I need to get out of here and back to my place.” I shove my hands in the pockets of my coat and look down the hall to Mad’s bedroom. “If you can pull me out of the ditch, that would be great.”

“Sure. Anything to get me out of the house. I don’t know what put Mad in such a piss poor mood, but I think I’ll be staying away for a few days.”

Interesting.

I wonder what Maddox’s face would look like if I turned up on his doorstep when his brother isn’t here.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Garrison opens the front door.

His eyes narrow as he looks behind me over my shoulder. A slow smirk slips over his face, and he lifts his middle finger in the air. When I look back, the place is empty.

“Forget him. He’s an asshole most days,” he says as I follow him out into the bright morning sun. “I swear he tries to bang around the house as much as possible to wake me up every damn morning.” He slaps the side of the truck. “Get in. We should get out of here before Mad thinks I’m trying to steal you from him.”

“Oh, there’s nothing to steal unless it’s hate and loathing.”

He frowns at me. “Aren’t they the same thing?”

“Not where we’re concerned. There are all kinds of degrees for us going from dislike to the before-mentioned loathing. It’s been a lifelong thing between us.”

Garrison taps his fingers on the steering wheel. “I know it’s not my place to say, and Mad would kill me if he knew I said this to you, but he could use a friend. While we have our problems, I do see how lonely he’s been over the years. Why do you think I hang around so much?”

I’m not sure if I should answer that or not. If I respond honestly, he’ll probably kick me out of the truck and not help me. But then I think maybe there’s some truth in what he’s saying. Maybe Garrison is trying to help out his brother in the best way he knows how, even if he’s doing a shit job.

“I’m not sure we could ever be friends,” I tell him truthfully. While Mad might be good for an occasional release, I’m not sure there’s a possibility for more.

We pull up past my truck and then backing up, so we’re only a couple of feet in front of it. Garrison puts his truck into park and turns to look at me. “Have you ever heard of the saying there’s a thin line between love and hate?”

“I have, but I can promise you there’s no love between us.” I start to get out of the truck until he speaks.

“Maybe just try to remember how lost you were in high school and then try to think about how it would feel if you thought everyone in town hated you and thought you were a freak.”

I have thought about it after Maddox mentioned it, and I can’t imagine how he felt. I understand why he hates me, and it makes me reflect on my own feelings and why Mad had to be the best back then. He didn’t have anything else. At least I had the support of my parents, even when I was number two. Mad only had the support of his peers and community, and he felt like he lost all of that when they found out he was gay.

“I’ll think about it, and before we step out into the cold, I want to say thank you for helping me.”

“It’s fine,” he smiles, looking so much like his brother. “I would have helped yesterday if the weather didn’t intervene on my behalf.”

I don’t mention how he was drunk and couldn’t since he is helping me. I hop out of the truck and follow Garrison to the back as he hooks a chain around my bumper.

“Why’d you run off the road?”

“An elk ran in front of me, and I didn’t want to ruin my front end, so I swerved, not expecting the road to be as bad as it already was, and here I am,” I pause and then laugh. “I sound like a tourist. I blame my mental state on your brother.”

“Fair,” he chuckles. “Okay, get in your truck, and let’s get you out of here.”

I do as he says, surprised he’s not being an asshole. Maybe it’s just a sibling rivalry thing.

His truck’s taillights light up, and then my truck jerks. With my foot on the gas, I steer as Garrison pulls me out of the ditch in only a matter of minutes. Once I’m back on the road, I hop out and walk over to his window.

“Thanks. The next time I see you at The Ice Box, I’ll buy you a drink.”

A grin breaks out over his face. He looks so much like his brother it’s uncanny, except Garrison doesn’t look at me like he wants to kill me. I wonder if Mad will ever look at me like that. “I’ll take you up on it. See you around,” he says before he shifts out of park and drives off.

I guess it’s time to go home, clean up Harry’s mess, and binge more of Schitt’s Creek.

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