Page 35 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
“He a party person too?”
“I know, seeing how he acts sometimes, you wouldn’t think so, but he can keep up with the best of them...and probably the worst when I’m not around.”
“What do you mean? Does he get into trouble?”
“No,” I said with a laugh and then thought about it. “Well, he probably does, but he doesn’t get in trouble when I’m around. Normally, I get in trouble, and he’s trying to keep me out of the worst of it. But I’m sure he finds plenty on his own.”
“Huh,” he said, wrinkling his nose slightly. “With how close you two are, I expected you would share everything.”
“Everything but nudity and sex,” I said with a laugh, the two shots giving me that first real fuzzy feeling before the liquor went deceptively quiet, then caught you off guard, about half an hour later. “It’s kind of our silent agreement, I guess. Don’t ask me why, but it’s a thing.”
“I mean, even spouses keep some things to themselves; why not brothers who are best friends?”
“Stepbrothers.”
“You’ve corrected me on that before,” he said, tilting his head. “Is this another of your things, or is there a reason?”
I had to remind myself that hesitating to answer a question wasn’t always a sign of guilt. It could make you look like you were keeping something back, but that didn’t mean guilt. Someone might want to keep something to themselves for a number of reasons. I could tell him it wasn’t a thing, and he could accept it. Honestly, as someone who didn’t yet play a part in my life, I would probably accept it or risk pushing too hard too soon. On the other hand, maybe I was keeping something tomyself because I felt bad about it, but that didn’t mean I had to bear my soul.
“It’s both,” I admitted, going for the middle road between explaining something I’d never explained to anyone and outright lying. “It’s complicated, but we both call each other stepbrothers. I guess calling ourselves brothers feels weird, I know it does for me.”
“I suppose ‘best friends’ is probably closer to the mark,” he said.
“It is,” I agreed. Mostly because there was less guilt about being attracted to your straight best friend than there was to being attracted to your straight stepbrother.
“I’d say it’s a shame we still live in a time where if you call another guy a soulmate, it automatically has to mean romantic and sexual, but,” he grinned slowly, “I think the fact that you two are seen as a couple is probably a better reason not to call yourselves that.”
I rolled my eyes. “God, don’t you start too.”
“Hey, I’m just saying, you two do come off as boyfriends.”
“God, you are gonna start.”
“It’s sweet.”
“It is not.”
“It is,” he chuckled, unfazed by my annoyance.
It should have irritated me, but I suddenly realized why it had struck me as different: he wasn’t wincing whenever he said certain things. He had been just as nervous about this meeting as I had and had been worried about screwing something up. Apparently, somewhere along the line, that had changed, and he felt more confident and more willing to express himself in a way that felt much more normal.
It was an amazing realization, both that he’d feltthatnervous, and he was feeling relaxed. Yeah, I was technically an adult, but most of my relationships with people noticeably olderthan me were marred by the fact that they were in positions of authority, like my professors, or had been there while I had been growing up. Marshall had neither of those things and was treating me as someone he wanted to know and impress, but he was easing off that throttle just a little. It was less about his nerves and more about me feeling like another adult, albeit one that was his son...biologically.
Marshall watched me for a moment and let out a low whistle. “Goddamn,that’s creepy to see from the outside.”
“What?” I asked, jerked out of my thoughts, and suddenly wary.
He laughed. “People always tell me I wear my thoughts on my face, and it looks like that’s genetic. You were thinking real hard about something that mattered to you, and whatever conclusion you came to made you feel better. Relieved and happy.”
I blinked. “Wow, the same facial expressions?”
“I mean, we have the same face,” he snorted, taking a drink of beer, “so it wouldn’t be surprising if the expressions came off the same. But no, not exactly, you have your own way of doing it. I bet I’d understand better if I saw the same reactions on the rest of your family’s faces. I know there’s a whole debate on nature versus nurture, but this is a crazy way to see it in action.”
“Actually, they’ve more or less settled on that. The way I understand it, genetics lays the foundation for a lot, but the environment is usually the deciding factor in how it manifests. You know, like I’ve got a pretty quick temper and not a whole lot of patience, but because I had a family that likes to be playful and happy most of the time, it means I’ve got a quick temper, but it doesn’t last. Or like Dom, apparently, both his parents were pretty affectionate, and other than me, he’s one of the most touchy people in a family who aren’t very touchy. He’s still pretty damn touchy, but he’s slow to do it, figuring out what’s okay andwhat isn’t, and with who...gives bear hugs that crack your back and threaten to break it, though.”
“I see,” Marshall said, and God, it actually looked like he was interested in my rambling. “Psych major?”
“Coding and computer systems,” I said with a shrug. “Not the exact title, but it’s what people understand best.”
