Page 124 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
“We don’t know if it’s...actual bisexuality or just, uh?—”
“Milo-ality?”
“Situational.”
“That’s what I said.”
“No, it is not.”
“Well, look. You two have settled things more or less with theotherpeople you were involved with, that’s Eva and me for the record,” Raf said, pointing to himself. “So what’s left is for you to deal with your family and talk to them...the rest of your family, sorry, Marshall.”
“Nah, again, I’m late to the party.”
“So you’re going to have to figure that out at some point, and soon. Because I’d be shocked if at least part of your family wasn’t aware of what’s going on now, if not all of them. But you’re still going to have to face them. After that, you’ll have to figure out what to do about the internet. The silence from the two of you is about as damning as it can get.”
“I don’t know how it can be more damning. Everyone already knows we’re sleeping together, what else is there to damn?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it's because the fact that you’re hiding means you both think it’s something to be ashamed of. Is it?”
“We haven’t exactly handled it in the best way.”
“That is not the same thing. Hiding it because you were unsure how others would perceive it isn’t the same thing as believing it’s shameful.”
“No, I don’t think there’s anything wrong about us being together. How we went about it? Yeah, that was wrong. But not us.”
Neverus, but I left that part in my head.
“Well, there you go, you not only have some good ground to stand on, but you also have a good opener when you get around to addressing it. I’m sure once you deal with everything else, the two of you can figure out something. You’ve been working as a team with this social media stuff for a while now. I don’t see the point in stopping just because you have a little scandal.”
For a moment, I felt a flicker of hope until it died under the weight of the massive amount of ‘how,’ ‘when,’ and ‘what-ifs’ that came with his solutions. “How?”
“One step at a time, that’s how. Stop trying to deal with everything at once. That’s a good way to,” he stopped and looked around, “well, end up in a place like this, drinking your brains out and leaving the rest of the people you care about to rot.”
One thing at a time? Okay, sure, that made...sense, a lot of it actually. But I wasn’t the best at doing things like that. Eli was the one who could break down a seemingly complicated task and turn it into manageable bites. If I was going to get any help, I would have to wait until Eli was ready to forgive me for running out on him.
“First step would be...” the hardest, “talking to Eli.”
“Hoozah!” Raf cried, waving his hands in the air. “It’s a miracle.”
I stared as he walked off and heard the door open and Raf speak loudly down the hallway. My eyes widened as I realized Eli had been there the whole time. God, at least with how Raf was talking, Eli probably hadn’t been close enough to hear the conversation, so that was a small win.
“You brought him with you?” I asked with a sigh when Raf came back.
“Well, yeah, the hard part was making sure Eva didn’t come with him,” Raf said with a shrug.
The door opened again, and Eli walked in. I felt my chest tighten horribly at the sight of him. His clothes weren’t as stained as mine, but the shirt and loose pants were rumpled and wrinkled, suggesting he’d been lying around in them. He definitely hadn’t been sleeping, by the bags under his eyes, his eyes having a distant stare I’d never seen there before.
And he was holding a wire hanger bent into an odd, almost hook-like shape.
A hanger he handed to Raf, and I made the connection. “You son of a bitch, you used that to get the chain off, didn’t you?”
“Sure did.”
“And how did you get a card key to my room? Because I heard that thing beep.”
“Well, we tried to convince the people at the front desk that Marshall was your dad and you were rooming with him. Sadly,they believed the first easily, but the second? I guess they have the names of the guests, but he wasn’t on the list, so no go. Good thing the other staff around here give no fucks about their job, because I found a universal card on one of the cleaning carts. Good thing I’m not a murdering rapist who likes to steal, or there could be serious problems around here.”
“I-I can’t stand you,” I told him with a huff. My annoyance died when I saw that Eli hadn’t said anything, hadn’t moved other than to hold the hanger out and then...stand there staring at me. “I...can you two?—”
