Page 21 of Oliver
"Didn't know," Oliver mumbled. "Supposed to meet...at café..."
"I was worried when he didn’t show up," I explained, feeling like an intruder in their intimate sibling moment—Emmet handing Oliver two pills, raising an annoyed eyebrow when Oliver groaned in protest, then placed the glass of water to his lips.
I averted my gaze, glancing around the room until I saw the stain on the ceiling. I stopped on it, examined it, wondered how many nights Oliver had spent staring at that red blotch, musing about whichever stellar entity it resembled.
Oliver sank back onto his pillow. He looked dreadful, pale and weak. Yet still stubborn as hell, still trying to control everything and everyone, still a fortress of solitude and secrets.
I sighed, deflated, and tired of explaining myself and my actions, but still compelled to fill the silence with excuses. "He’s never late, and he wouldn’t answer his phone."
Emmet nodded, eyes flicking between me and Oliver. "He's stubborn when he's sick. Won't ask for help even when he's barely conscious."
"I can hear you," Oliver muttered.
"Good. Maybe it'll sink in this time," Emmet deadpanned, then turned to me. "Coffee?"
I nodded, following Emmet out of the room, glancing over my shoulder to see Oliver sinking into a restless sleep.
We sat in the kitchen, coffee cups warming our hands, the thick silence was interrupted by Oliver's occasional coughs from the bedroom.
I thought back to Laura, Oliver’s sweet and shy little sister. The pieces were falling into place. The mysterious "Emmet" Alyssa had mentioned yesterday, Oliver’s sacrifices, and the way he’d immediately tried to shield his brother from me despite his illness.
"I used to worship you," Emmet said suddenly. "You were the cool girl who was always nice to my nerdy big brother." He added a spoon of sugar to his coffee. "Until you weren’t."
The words hit like a slap. "Emmet?—"
"Oliver gave up a PhD scholarship to stay with me in Seattle.” He stirred slowly, methodically. “He’s working two jobs to cover my transition costs and college tuition. I tried to convince him we could postpone the latter, but you know Ollie..." There was a long pause. His eyes met mine. Steady. Unforgiving. "He says it’s fine, but I know it’s not. And now you're back."
"It’s not what you think," I said, but the words came out weak. More excuses, more justifications. How long was I going to pay for my teenage cowardliness?
Emmet didn’t blink. "I know about Foxy. I know about your arrangement."
The silence was overbearing at this point, too much unspoken history hanging heavy in the air between us.
"He’s not as strong as he pretends to be," Emmet said quietly, the clank of his spoon on the saucer underlining the severity of his next soft-spoken words. "Not when it comes to you."
I didn’t know what to say. I hated how much that hurt.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Quark. What's that about?"
A flicker of a smile. "A hypothetical star. High core pressure, nuclear particles forming quark matter. Dense. Powerful. Impossible to crush." He sipped on his coffee, eyes meeting mine. "Ollie loves his astronomy nicknames. What was it he used to call you?"
The way he was looking at me… He remembered, but he was going to force me to say it out loud.
I hesitated.
The word clung to the back of my throat, but I forced it out.
"Lumina."
"Right." He took another slow sip from his mug. "The source of all light." Then he leaned back, studying me. “That’s the name of your company, no?”
My fingers picked at the simple white tablecloth. I’d done nothing wrong, yet the question sounded laden with blame.
“It’s just a business arrangement,” I whispered. “That’s all.”
"Of course." Emmet's skeptical tone made it clear he didn't believe that any more than I did. "I need to head out to my shift soon. Could you stay and keep an eye on MisterI’m Finefor me? At least until his fever breaks."
“Sure.” It was a bad idea, but I was already full swing with those tonight, so what the hell.
