She grabs her purse off the dresser, storming past me and almost knocking Chase over on her way out.
“What the hell did you do?” he asks, standing there with two mugs of coffee in his hand.
I shrug. “I did you a favor. Bro, you can’t let these girls think they have a chance with you. They’ll just keep coming back, and you’ll never be rid of them.”
Now Chase’s face is matching Velyn’s. “You just can’t help yourself, can you? She. Is. My. Friend. I told you she doesn’t like parties. When she got here, we mingled for a bit but I could tell she was uncomfortable, so we came up here. She saw the chessboard and wanted to learn how to play. It got late, and with where she lives, I didn’t want her to drive at night, so I told her to crash here and leave in the morning. I slept in the spare room.” He lets out a sigh. “You know, Dylan, not every woman’s my mom. I warned you not to wreck this for me. Velyn’s my friend, or at least she was, she probably won’t even talk to me now, so thank you for that, big brother. Kudos to you as you have managed to drive yet another woman out of our lives.”
Chase rushes down the hall, I’m assuming after her. He’s never hit me with a low-blow like that; I guess I’ve really pissed him off this time. Whatever! Chase just needs to blow off some steam, and then once he does, it’ll be as clear as day. He’ll see I’m right and finally see her for what she is; what they all are—disposable.
Chapter 4 Velyn
“You’re sure you don’t hate me, and you still want to be friends?”
I’ve been sitting beside Chase in Econ for the past thirty minutes, trying to reassure him that I won’t just abandon our friendship because of his asshat of a brother who has no filter and could use a lesson or two in ethical reform.
“Chase, I promise you, unless for some ungodly reason you start acting like Dylan, you’ll remain in my good books, and we’ll forever be friends; just no more hangouts at your place, okay?”
He lets out a relieved sigh—apparently, that time did it. “Deal, and no worries about me turning into my brother, whatever ego I may have developed in childhood, he stripped me of long ago.”
Laughing at the thought, I mention, “I’ve never met anyone so—”
“Self-involved? Yeah, not many people have. We have my father to thank for that,” Chase says.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “I guess you can say he hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to women; my father that is. Dylan’s mom, before she passed away, apparently didn’t believe in monogamy. Dylan has no memory of her seeing as how he was only three when she died, but our father’s done a good job to give him quite the insight into who she was, or at least his version.”
“You don’t share a mother?”
Chase shakes his head. “Nah. Actually, my mother, in a sense, was worse. She led our father to believe she was this all-loving and saintly woman, but in the end she wasn’t. She abandoned us when I was just a few months old, but not before clearing out what she could get her hands on, and that, Dylan does remember. He was five, and I know for a fact that her leaving us played a big part in how he treats women.”
I feel a slight pang of guilt at my harsh judgment of Dylan. I never considered there might be a reason for how he acts. Then again, he’s a grown-ass man who needs to get over his mommy issues.
“Still, it’s no excuse. You’ve lived the same life he has, and you don’t conduct yourself that way. It’s honestly repulsive, Chase.”
“I know, and I don’t want it to seem like I’m apologizing for him, or in any way saying that how he acts or the things he says are okay. But, honestly, it’s not who he is…not really. No one, and I mean no one, sees the Dylan I see. The real Dylan—my brother. Honestly, Vel, if you got to see that part of him, the part he hides from everyone, then you’d understand and see that he’s really a good guy.”
I’m skeptical about giving any real consideration to what he’s saying. But when I look to Chase, his boyish innocence still so raw, I can see that he believes his brother's decent in his own way and even has hope that one day Dylan will let others see it too.
I let out a breath. “Enough about your brother, we need to start paying attention to this lecture.”
Chase lifts a small recorder from his tabletop. “We’re good.”
“Huh, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Your cell will do the same thing; just put it on record,” he mentions.
I reach down to my bag, pulling out my phone, and hand it to him. He looks it over, then looks to me. “Uh, I didn’t think they made these anymore.”
“It was my mom’s.”
“Did she get a new one?”
“No, she passed away a few years back.”
He nods. “Ah, I see. You’re keeping it for sentimental reasons.”
“No, more like fiscally responsible ones. Those plans cost a lot, and I only need this if my father needs to get a hold of me.”
“Hmm. So, no texting or sending random meme’s then?”
“Um, yeah, no…on both. It was either a full data package or barely functioning internet, and with school, I thought the internet was a better choice.”
“I’d have to agree.” Chase picks the recorder off his desk, placing it on mine. “You can have this one; I can use my phone.”
I
