Page 52 of Tutoring Mr. Hotshot

“Um, hey little bro. Ma called me. She’s worried something happened. Said I needed to get my ass over here. I ditched practice to come.”

I groan. “I’m fine.”

He tugs at the blanket covering my head. “No, you’re not.”

There’s no winning a fight against him in strength. He easily tugs it free, giving me a perfect view of his frowning face.

“Fuck. It’s worse than she thought. You’re a mess.”

“Thanks,” I say with an eye roll.

He shakes his head. “Sorry. Shit. I’m not good at this. Is it school? Did something happen?”

Tears swell in my eyes before I can stop them. I nod, burying my face in the pillow.

“Andry,” I whine against the fabric. It comes out muffled, but my brother picks up enough to let out a string of curses.

“I shouldn’t have let him into your life.Dammit.” He grumbles something under his breath before speaking up loud enough for me to hear again. “Going to have a few words with the asshole. No one gets away with hurting you.”

“Not worth it. Just let it go.”

“What? Of course I won’t let it go. He hurt you. That’s not ok. Not unless you fucked up, which I know isn’t the case.”

I snort. “You have a lot of faith in me.”

“It’s not that. It’s the fact that you don’t have a mean bone in your body. There’s no chance you’ve done anything malicious or intentional to make him want to end it. He’s chosen to do this for some other reason.”

Knowing he won’t understand unless I show him, I power on my phone enough to pull up the text and hand it to him. I definitely blocked Andry like he requested, so there’s nothing else other than that last message.

Aries takes it, reading over the screen with a scowl. He does something else, but I’m too worn out to care. It’s not like my brother would intentionally embarrass me anyway. Him skipping practice to come support me is proof enough he cares.

“I’ll handle this,” he tells me. “You don’t worry about a thing. Except maybe telling Ma you’re not dying up here. The woman is in the kitchen cooking up all your favorites because she doesn’t know what else to do to help.”

Despite feeling like shit, I smile. We have the best mother in the world. Ok, she might be tied with Mama Bellport. She’s pretty awesome too from the few times I’ve met her.

“Let me shower, then I’ll head down,” I tell him once he hands the phone back. I shut it off again, then drop it on my nightstand.

“I’ll go down to give her a mini update. That way she won’t ask a ton of questions, ok?”

“Thanks, Aries.”

He pats my shoulder gently. “No need to thank me. What are big brothers for?”

I’m about to cry again simply from him being so kind. My emotions are far too ridiculous after this breakup.

Is it even a breakup?I don’t know what the hell is happening anymore. I’m not even sure what we were anymore.

Everything feels bleak, like I’ve been dreaming for weeks and now I’m back to real life, only to hate it even more because I got a taste of something good.

Ugh.

I hate feeling like this.

Aries leaves my room, shutting the door behind him. I find enough resolve to get out of bed and make my way to the dresser. My baggiest sweats and oversize sweatshirt are the optimal choice for when I’m feeling down.

The second I’m in the shower, I let out a gasp and let more tears fall. I pretend the water washes away the pain as I try to fortify myself for the people waiting downstairs.

I love my family. Really, I do.

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