Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Author:Trish Doller [Doller, Trish]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Azizex666, War
ISBN: 9781599908441
Google: E0wmKJbIXTEC
Amazon: 1599908441
Barnesnoble: 1599908441
Goodreads: 9403947
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2012-06-19T04:00:00+00:00

Paige is gone when I get home, and my mom and Ryan are still asleep. In my room, I shuffle through the stack of photos until I find my favorite. It’s of Charlie and me playing rock-paper-scissors to decide which of us would be first to read the latest-to-us issue of Playboy. In the picture, he’s throwing rock while I’m throwing scissors and losing my shot at Miss March. Rock-paper-scissors was the way we decided everything, and it’s only now I realize Charlie almost always threw rock. Using a stray thumbtack from the back of my night-stand drawer, I pin the photo to the wall beside the bed.

It looks random and strange. It doesn’t belong on this wall of concert flyers and band posters. As quietly as possible, I drag my bed away from the wall and tear down everything, until the picture is the only thing left. Then I go downstairs to the kitchen.

Dad is standing at the sink in sweatpants, drinking bottled water and looking out the window at the Caloosahatchee.

“What are you doing?” There is accusation in his tone. As if searching the kitchen junk drawer for thumbtacks is on his list of unacceptable behavior.

“What are you doing?” I fling the accusation back. “I thought Mom kicked you out.”

“It’s really none of your concern, Travis,” he says. “And, frankly, this prodigal son act is wearing thin.”

“It’s not an act.”

“By the way.” Dad caps the bottle and puts it back in the refrigerator. “I’m not sure your brother would appreciate hearing about these late-night visits from Paige. So how about you stay out of my business and I stay out of yours.”

Fuck.

As I climb the stairs back to my room, it takes everything in me not to turn around and punch that smug smile off his face. Instead, I pin up all the photos—243 of them—until the wall is covered with little windows back to a place and time when I didn’t feel so untethered.

When I’m finished, it doesn’t look nice. The rows are crooked and Dad will lose his shit when he sees 243 pinholes in his precious walls. I thought it was going to make me feel better, but it doesn’t.

I crash out on my bed.

Just before I close my eyes, I see Charlie sitting on my chair.

“Go away, Charlie,” I say. “I’m not in the mood for this shit right now.”

He doesn’t say anything and he doesn’t go away. He just sits there staring at me.

“Go the fuck away!” I shout, and wing my pillow as hard as I can at him. It hits the lamp on my desk, knocking it to the floor. The bulb shatters and the shade crumples.

My door flies open. Mom rushes in, her arms waving frantically. “Is everything all right? I heard a crash. Are you hurt?”

“Go away.” I’m not sure if I’m talking to her or Charlie, but he’s gone now and she starts picking up shards of broken bulb, placing them gently into her palm.

“Travis, your dad—”

She wants to offer some sort of explanation, but there is nothing she can say that I want to hear.

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