“Why are you all dressed up?” I look up to him from the couch, bringing my first beer of the night to my lips as I wait for him to answer. Okay, the second beer, but I was nursing the first one, so really it doesn’t count.
My brother looks to me, letting out a groan. “If I tell you, do you promise not to make a huge deal about it?”
“I promise, as long as you’re not going to say that what you’re doing involves her.”
Chase lets out a breath. “Dylan, I have no other friends, of course I’m going out with Velyn. I’m meeting her at the diner, and then I’m going to show her that new gallery downtown.”
“She’s too old for you, Chase.”
“Maybe if I was dating her, but I’m not. We’re friends, and she’s not too old to be my friend. Stop being such a dick about it.”
I set my bottle on the table and stand from the couch. Walking over to my brother, I stop just in front of him. “Sorry, Chase, but I’m going to have to say no. You’re not going anywhere tonight with Velyn Adler, or anytime soon for that matter. I’m putting a stop to this blossoming friendship of yours here and now.”
“Yeah, okay,” Chase scoffs. “I’ll go out wherever and whenever I want to with Velyn Adler, which might I add; I’m very impressed that you actually took the time even to learn her last name.” He shakes his head. “Dylan, you can’t tell me what to do. For one, I’m seventeen and two…you’re not my parent.”
I offer him a smug smile. “Oh, see now that’s where you’re wrong. With your mother abandoning you and our father away from the homefront, I’m the head of this household and your legal guardian until you turn eighteen. So, with that said, come back to me in another eight months and we can discuss this at that time, until then, back to your room.”
Chase looks to me, his expression a mix of bewilderment, realization that I’m right, and anger now knowing that he can’t do anything about it.
“You’re a dick.”
“Now–now, Chase, is that any way to speak to your elders?”
“Only the ones that I have little to no respect for,” he replies with a flip of his middle finger.
“I know you’re angry with me, and that’s fine. I’m doing this for your own good,” I reply.
“Bullshit. Dylan, you’re doing this for your own self-asserting satisfaction. You know as well as I do, the only reason you’re pulling the guardian card is that you’re pissed Velyn won’t give you the time of day. It kills you that she won’t give in to your Dylan Dandridge charm like all the others. Do you know why that is, Dylan? Because she has something you’re yet to understand, and that none of your other so-called girlfriends know anything about—class,” he finishes and turns to leave.
“Chase, believe what you want, but that doesn’t change anything. What I say goes; you’re not going anywhere tonight.”
“Screw you, Dylan.”
The bedroom door slams shut, and that’s when Connie walks into the room, landing me with one of her stares.
“What?” Her expression goes from unimpressed to almost deadly as the word leaves my mouth. At four-foot-eleven, she’s not much of a threat to me, but from the look on her face now, I find myself searching for an escape plan. “Sorry, Connie, that came out wrong.”
“For your sake, I hope so. Now, tell me why you are giving that poor boy a hard time about his new friend?”
I let out a breath. “I just don’t like her, Connie. There’s something off about her.”
“I think she’s a lovely girl,” she adds.
“You’ve met her?”
Connie nods. “I have. I stopped into the diner the other day to grab some lunch.”
“Ah, so you were checking her out?”
“I was. You two are my boys, and I will look out for both of you until the day I die, but I do it with an open mind. She’s a good girl, Dylan and a good friend to your brother. Nothing like those others that would pretend to befriend him just to get closer to you.”
I let out a dry chuckle. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be so sure…they all want to get with me.”
“Oh, Dylan. Why is it so hard to believe that a girl like Velyn would have no other intentions than just to be friends with your brother?”
“Connie, you just said it...a girl like Velyn. Like I’ve told him many times, they’re all the same and only want one thing from us.”
Connie lets out a breath. “My poor boy, not all women are alike. There are some good ones out there.”
“Only one, and that’s you. Connie, they broke that mold after you were made.”
She looks to me. “I don’t know if I should feel honored you hold me in such high
regard, or sad that you don’t believe a woman would genuinely want to spend time with you or Chase. Trust me, mi amor, they are out there.”
“Doubtful.”
“Very well, but I have learned a thing or two over the years from raising you and Chase. If he really wants to have a friendship with this girl, he will. You trying to stop it is only going to make him that much more persistent. Dylan, let him be. You know the boy has a hard time making friends.”
I shake my head, not even taking time to consider. “I’ve made my decision, and it’s no.”
Connie looks up to me. “I’ll never know why your father gave you guardianship over that boy while he’s not here. Chase has better judgment and more common sense than you and your father put together. But
