Best of the Wrong Reasons by Sander Santiago

Author:Sander Santiago [Santiago, Sander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635558661
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2021-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14: Orion

I had managed to shower, find a clean shirt, and get my glasses on my face before my phone started ringing. I was expecting the call from my brother, but that didn’t mean I was ready for it. I answered the video app, fumbling to get the earbuds into the jack.

“Hunter!” Corvus cried. The nickname sent a pang of sadness through me. It was the first time I had heard it out loud in a while. My brother looked like our mother. They had the same dark eyes and pale skin. He looked like a hipster, his hair trim and neat, beard full and kept, rimless glasses perched on his stupid nose. I was fucking happy to see him. But I tried not to look happy.

“Hey, Crow,” I said weakly, landing on the couch.

I watched as Corvus surveyed me. He came to some sort of conclusion. “What’s happened?”

“What do you mean?” I could have told my brother everything. Maybe should have? But I didn’t really want to.

“You showered, like this morning,” Corvus said, his voice growing deeper with suspicion. He even had the nerve to lean into the camera, as if to see me closer.

“So?”

“So, it’s noon there on a Tuesday. If you were in a good mood, you would’ve said fuck it and answered the phone looking like the slob you are. You went out of your way to look put together.” As he spoke, Crorvus shuffled pages on his desk. He then took off his glasses and looked calmly at me. “What’s wrong?”

“What else?” I said, implying only one thing could be wrong—our dead mother. I hated it when he read me like that.

“This isn’t about Midge.”

“Ain’t it?”

“Nope. I know you and Midge had a deal, no guilt. Who are they?”

“There is no they.”

“Okay, who is he?”

“What makes you jump from they to he? There is nothing,” I cried, fighting the urge to just hang up. Corvus stared. I stared. We were silent for nearly two minutes. I had always been better at silence than my brother, so I knew he would break eventually. Crow looked around me.

“You still in GA?”

“Duh. Isn’t that why you called? I don’t know if you talked to Shively, but—”

“I know. He sends me emails. Have you been there since the funeral?” Crow continued casually, sipping whatever was in the mug on his desk.

“Where else would I be?”

“How is Fin?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“What happened? Did he hurt your feelings?” Crow said, almost mocking.

“No, there is no Fin.”

“Fine, the post of you two on YouTube must be fake. Whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll beat yourself up for it for the next year if it’s shower-just-in-time-to-answer-Crow’s-call bad.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

Corvus was about to retort when the doorbell rang. I leaned forward enough to look out the glass. I could see Fin, shuffling on the front porch. I snapped back out of sight.

“Was that him? Go answer—let me listen!”

“What? No to both.”

“Hunter! How can it be no to both? Damn it, Orion. Answer the goddamned door,” Crow screamed into his computer, shaking it.

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