Super Special Ep: Brothers (Part II)
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
Aiden sits at the cafeteria table in silence. He’s not looking at anyone, but he can feel eyes on him, and it’s making his face burn.
“Man,” he murmurs to Ralph, very quietly. “What the fuck is going on?”
He doesn’t elaborate any more than that, but he doesn’t have to. Ralph knows what he’s talking about. This is the strangest day that Aiden has had since he started high school a few weeks ago, and Ralph, who is always by his side, has been right there to watch it all happen.
It started before Aiden even set foot in school today. He and Ralph got stopped while they were walking up to campus. A cluster of girls came up to them, all giggles, and introduced themselves to Aiden.
Aiden was surprised and happy, although he couldn’t guess why the girls suddenly wanted to talk to him. He and Ralph have mostly passed their time at this school unnoticed, so far. Aiden has gotten some attention from girls, met a few nice guys that he likes on the soccer team. But beyond that, nobody’s given a shit about either Ralph or Aiden.
Ralph and Aiden don’t really care. Neither of them makes friends easily, so they weren’t expecting to, anyways. They have each other, and that’s enough.
But then, out of nowhere this morning, there were the girls before class. And then two guys just inside the school doors, who caught Aiden and suggested that he sit with them at lunch later.
At first it was nice, so many people wanting to be his friend, wanting to talk to him. Aiden was actually kind of smiling, something he doesn’t do too often. Feeling good, if a little confused. Thinking maybe people just took time to warm up to each other, in high school.
But as the day has gone on, it’s started to weird Aiden out. All day, people have been asking him to sit with them, trying to talk to him. Girls are giggling when he passes by, and guys he’s never spoken to before keep coming up to him acting like they’re old friends.
It’s just so much, and all at once. It’s unsettling. It’s - suspicious. There must be a reason, an explanation for this.
Aiden looks around at the cafeteria and sees several pairs of eyes hastily flit away from him. He turns back to Ralph, his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes wide with bafflement and alarm.
“You seriously haven’t figured it out?” Ralph shakes his head at Aiden, folding his arms over his chest. “It’s because of the picture, man.”
Aiden blinks at Ralph, taken aback. He didn’t expect this answer, although he does know which picture Ralph is talking about.
A student photographer came to a rainy nighttime soccer game last week to take photos for the school’s website. The updates to the website were made last night, and Coach emailed the team to go check it out. Aiden found himself caught by surprise when he did.
The photographer had taken a picture of Aiden right at the end of the game, going for the goal. He was in motion, one leg swung out before him as he ran, the other bent and thrown back, poised to kick the soccer ball. He had one arm thrown out to keep back a player from the opposing team. His eyes were narrowed with concentration, his hair and jersey wet with sweat and rain. Raindrops everywhere around him, glowing in the field floodlights against the black night sky.
The school had chosen that photo to headline the athletics page. And the student who shot the photo posted it on all the school’s social media pages, captioned: Student athlete Aiden Callahan scores the game-winning goal in a close match against Greenrock High.
Aiden was secretly a little pleased to have a nice picture of himself like that. His aunt loved it, made a big deal about it. My handsome boy! I want to print it out. Can you show me how?
But Aiden didn’t give it too much thought beyond that, aside from thinking it was kind of embarrassing that the whole school had probably seen it.
“Picture got posted last night. All this shit happens this morning.” Ralph rolls his eyes, nodding at a group of students gazing at Aiden across the cafeteria. “The picture’s why, A. They all wanna roll with you because you would add to their social clout. Because you’re - you know…”
He trails off, then sort of gestures to all of Aiden.
Aiden stares at him, lost. He hadn’t connected the picture to any of this, and Ralph’s gesture was vague enough that Aiden has to work to figure out what it means.
He blinks at Ralph in disbelief when he does. “What - because I won us the soccer game?”
Ralph starts to shake his head no, then stops and nods. “I mean, yeah. That, too.”
Aiden drops his gaze from Ralph’s face. He stares blankly at the table, anger swelling and building and sparking in his chest.
“These fake fucking people,” he fumes quietly, his hands tightening around his water bottle. “None of them could give a damn about me before. They wouldn’t even let me play a pick-up game with them in the park. Now they know that I can win soccer games for them, they want to use me for a - a fucking status boost? So they act nice and think I’m dumb enough to buy it? Fuck them.”
Ralph raises his eyebrows at Aiden, apparently taken aback. He hesitates, then nods at the guys who had tried to get Aiden to sit at their table. “So what, you’re not tempted to consider all these offers?”
“Fuck, no. Absolutely not.” Aiden casts a dark glare in their direction, then throws his arm around Ralph’s shoulders and gives him a fast squeeze. “I know who my real friends are.”
Ralph has been acting kind of weird all day, unusually quiet and withdrawn. But now he blinks at Aiden, then slowly breaks into a smile.
“Yeah,” he says, sounding much more like his usual self. He nods at the guys again, then makes a grossed-out face at Aiden. “Fuck those people.”
“I’m gonna talk to the school, get that stupid fucking picture taken down.” Aiden glowers in the general direction of the administrative office. “Because this is turning into a big goddamn headache, and I can’t take one more-”
“Aiden,” a purring, high-pitched voice interrupts. “Aiden Callahan.”
Aiden looks up at yet another student who he barely knows, but who apparently wants to talk to him today. A girl with thick, waist-length blonde hair, an elaborate manicure, and a friend at her side.
Aiden recognizes her. Her name is Lauren Stanton, and she’s easily the most popular girl in their grade. She lives in a big, expensive house outside of town, with a pool that supposedly has an incredible view. Her parents are away a lot, which means she can have people over for parties whenever she wants.
She’s also very, very pretty, the kind of classic beauty that turns the heads of the boys in the hallways.
She fixes her eyes on Aiden and gives him a sweet smile, twining a strand of her luxurious hair between her fingertips.
“Here comes a really good offer,” Ralph mutters, so quietly that Aiden suspects he thinks it went unheard.
Aiden looks up at Lauren, struggling to pull himself together. He’s coming apart at the seams, right now. This day is turning out to be fucking awful.
The noise in his head is clawing at him, and he’s in a real bad mood. He’s not even good at talking to people when he’s in one of his rare good moods. It’s a serious effort and thought process to come off nice, to not break any of all these unspoken goddamn rules he’s struggling to learn.
Aiden doesn’t have the energy to even try, right now. The most he can do for Lauren is try his best not to snap at her. Nice is asking too much.
“What?” he asks flatly.
She points to the empty space on the bench encircling the table. “Can I sit with you for a sec?”
“No.” Aiden frowns at her, then nods at Ralph. “I’m in the middle of a conversation."
Lauren lets out a burst of giggles, then swats Aiden’s arm.
“Oh my god, you’re so funny!” She drops down to sit next to him, tossing her long, shiny hair over her shoulder. “So, hey. This is gonna sound really random, since we haven’t talked too much before-”
Here we go, Aiden thinks darkly, completely fed up with this shit.
“-but I’ve been thinking we should all get to know each other. Do you and Ralph want to come to a party at my house this weekend?” Lauren gives Aiden a hopeful smile, then directs it past him at Ralph, too. “It’s a small thing, really more like a gathering. Totally casual, but just like, the best people.”
Aiden bites down on the sharp reply he had lined up. He stares at Lauren, caught by surprise. Her invitation is the first one Aiden has gotten all day that included Ralph.
A prickle of guilt stirs uneasily in Aiden’s chest. Maybe he should have tried harder to be nice to Lauren. She might be a sincere one, amidst all the rest. And he feels like he shouldn’t turn down her invitation, because it was extended to Ralph, too. They should decide together.
He turns to look at Ralph, and sees that he’s clearly surprised, too. He looks back at Aiden, gives him a hesitant little shrug.
“We’ll think about it,” Aiden tells Lauren.
She springs up, smiling widely. “Okay, perfect! Here, I’ll give you my number. Text me so I can send you all the details. Don’t be late, okay?”
Aiden blinks at her, taken aback again. “You heard me say we might come, right?”
She gives him a teasing smile, like he’s flirting with her. “I guess I’ll just have to wait and see, won’t I?”
Aiden turns back to Ralph as Lauren and her friend walk away.
“What the fuck?” he sputters, bewildered. “Was I speaking to her from a whole different planet? Nobody actually listens to me but you, man.”
Ralph shrugs his shoulders again. “You want to go to the party?”
Aiden falls silent, gives it some thought.
He can’t pretend that he’s not a little curious about what it would be like. A party at the house of the most popular girl in their grade. There has to be a good reason why everyone wants to go to those, right? And there’ll be girls there, probably some free booze… it sounds alright, the more he thinks about it.
Aiden is also really starting to feel bad about how he acted with Lauren. He lumped her in with all the rest, when she was the only one who actually thought about Ralph. The least Aiden can do is turn up to the party she invited him to.
“Fine, whatever,” he says to Ralph. “Only if you’re going with me, though. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” Ralph answers, and breaks into a smile.
~~~~
Aiden stands in front of the mirror in his moonlit bedroom, trying to smooth his hair down with one hand, holding his phone against his ear with the other.
Lauren answers on the second ring, and she sounds a little drunk. “Aiden! Hey. I was just about to call you.”
“Hey.” He steps away from the mirror, casting his eyes around his room for a snapback. “I’m about to leave, and I just realized that I don’t have your address. It wasn’t in your text.”
“Oh, my god, oops! Hang on, I’m texting it to you.” Lauren falls quiet as she types, then adds softly, absently - “You’ll have it memorized, soon.”
Aiden doesn’t know what this is supposed to mean. “Um-?”
“I’m so glad you decided to come, by the way! Is Ralph coming, too?”
Aiden bites his lip, another surge of guilt sweeping through his chest. He really shouldn’t have been so cold with Lauren. Here she is, asking about Ralph again. Maybe this was never anything to do with the picture, in the first place. Maybe she really does want them all to get to know each other, like she said.
I’ll find some way to make it up to her tonight, Aiden promises himself.
“Yeah, Ralph’s coming,” he tells Lauren, trying to sound a little warmer. “He’s on his way over right now.”
“Oh, yay, that’s so great!” Lauren says brightly. “Hey, while we’re talking about Ralph - is there any chance he could bring some stuff for us to smoke? I’ve seen him with it at school. He sells, yeah?”
Aiden stops, one hand reaching out for his snapback. Suspicion swells up in him, stopping in its tracks the warm hope that had spread through him when Lauren said oh, yay, that’s so great about Ralph coming to the party.
Ralph does sell. He wasn’t lying about expanding his business. Cigarettes are no longer the only thing he makes his money off of. And he was probably already planning on bringing some bud for everyone to smoke at the party, anyways.
But Aiden decides to run a little experiment.
“No,” he lies. “He’s all out, sorry. Can’t bring any tonight.”
“Oh,” Lauren says, with obvious, undisguised disappointment. And then, to someone else who was apparently listening to the phone call - “Ralph can’t bring any. He’s all out.”
“Really?” The other girl sounds disappointed, too. “Well, maybe he should still come, anyways… oh, wait - he’s from Scinsci, right? That could be interesting.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “It’s literally, like, a slum. Aren’t you curious about what it’s like? We could ask him.”
Aiden freezes, dumbfounded, his eyes widening.
He can’t fathom how the other girl got this information. Ralph is originally from Scinsci, she’s right about that. But he moved to Ketterbridge when he was little. His dad joined the Air Force so he could earn enough to get their family out of there.
Aiden wasn’t exactly surprised to learn this, when Ralph finally told him a tiny bit about it. Scinsci is a very popular hunting ground for military recruiters. It’s not even a town, but really a mixture between a broken-down trailer park and the bad part of a bigger city. People will sign up for anything to get themselves and their families out of a place like Scinsci, but there’s no easy pathway out, which means that guys who grow up there usually end up in either the military or the prison system.
Ralph only lived there when he was little, but it clearly left a lasting impression on him. He won’t even talk about it. What little he’s told Aiden, he mentioned off-handedly, without thinking first, or when he was fucked up. Aiden’s knowledge about the place has been pieced together from scraps.
Aiden had thought that Lauren’s friend was about to say that Ralph couldn’t come to the party because he’s from Scinsci. But she had actually been saying something worse, the only thing Aiden could think of that would be worse. She’s talking about using Ralph for - entertainment value.
“That’s true,” Lauren reluctantly agrees, as Aiden stands there in mute shock, his phone almost crushed in his fist. “It’s interesting, like, authentic.”
“Totally,” the other girl agrees quietly, but not so quiet that Aiden can’t hear her. “And it’s just this one time.”
“Yeah, alright,” Lauren says, and then, in that bright, friendly voice again, “He can still come, Aiden.”
She says it like she’s doing Aiden a huge, generous favor.
A few seconds of silence pass by before Aiden manages to get enough of a grip on himself to answer her.
“You know what?” he says, in a cold, quiet voice that barely contains his anger. “We’re not coming. Either of us. We have better shit to do.”
He hangs up before Lauren can answer. He stands there in silence for a long moment, one hand pressed over his mouth, one hand strangling his phone. He feels sick, horrified.
But soon the rage swells up over everything else, overwhelming him completely. He’s drowning in it, can barely breathe, furious angry magic seething in him, and something’s going to shatter if he doesn’t release some anger somehow -
Before Aiden knows what he’s doing, he hurls his phone across his bedroom, so forcefully that it smashes into the mirror. The glass cracks around the place of impact, dropping a few shards to the floor. His phone tumbles to the ground and goes dark.
Aiden stands there for a minute or two, swaying slightly, his hands pressed over his mouth. Then he whips around, seizes his jacket, and strides over to his bedroom door. He wrenches it open right as Ralph, who had just stopped outside, lifts his hand to knock.
He takes one look at the expression on Aiden’s face and stops still. “What happened?”
“We’re not going.” Aiden storms past, snagging Ralph's arm on the way, pulling him into movement, too. “C’mon. We’re doing the usual.”
Aiden expects some fierce pushback on this, but strangely enough, Ralph doesn’t say anything. He lets Aiden half-drag him down the stairs and out of his aunt’s house, all without speaking a word.
Aiden takes in big breaths of cold night air as they set off down the sidewalk together. His fury is starting to escape as heat, which is fine. Not visible, at least.
Ralph must feel the change in temperature, because he shrugs off his jacket and carries it, like Aiden is doing. Aiden glances over at him, then does a double-take, looking at the jacket crushed up in Ralph’s hand. It has no tears, no worn spots. And neither does the shirt that Ralph’s wearing.
“Did you buy some new clothes?” Aiden asks.
Ralph scowls off into the distance, not looking at Aiden. “So what? I earned my fuckin’ money, didn’t I? I’ll spend it if I want.”
Aiden shakes his head, taking another deep breath of night air. “I wasn’t saying anything.”
They walk quickly for the park. Ralph still unusually quiet, Aiden trying not to let him see that he’s still swimming in rage. They go to their deli and get their usual food and stride across the moonlit park to their spot on the stone ledge. They both know the path by heart now, can navigate it on even the cloudiest and darkest nights. They’ve come to this place together more times than Aiden can count.
As they walk, Aiden realizes that Ralph’s usually unkempt blonde hair looks different. It’s carefully brushed up and out of his face, although the wind is already undoing it. He clearly spent a long time tonight painstakingly making it like that.
An almost painful burst of affection moves through Aiden, followed by a second swell of rage.
How fucking dare you, he fumes silently, as if Lauren and the other girl could somehow hear him. How fucking dare you talk about him like that. And right to my fucking face? That’s my brother. He’s my brother.
Aiden and Ralph reach the stone ledge and sit down together. Their feet used to dangle in the air when they put their legs over the ledge, but Aiden’s growth spurts over the summer have the bottoms of his shoes touching the slope of the hill now. Ralph’s aren’t too far away, either, almost touching the top of the grass.
Aiden and Ralph don’t look at each other, and they don’t touch their food. Neither of them says anything.
Aiden knows that he probably should, but he can’t bring himself to break the silence. He’s still stunned, shuddering from his phone call with Lauren. It put a chill so deep in him that his hands are almost shaking.
Users, he thinks to himself, feeling sick again. Takers. All of them, every last one. No one just wants to give. Mom warned me that people were like this. I thought I listened to her, but I should’ve listened better.
Aiden is suddenly blindsided with a surge of deep sadness, a sense of loss that wells up in his throat and makes his eyes wet. Out of nowhere, he’s so sad that it almost scares him. Because…
If Aiden’s mom was right about this, she’s right about the other thing she warned him about, too. Aiden thought he’d already accepted that, but now the reality of it is staring him in the face.
No one is ever going to love him. Not for who he is, anyways. Only for what he can give them. That’s his lot in life as a Guardian, and there’s no escaping that fact. Aiden can’t be loved anymore than he could walk on water.
It would take a miracle, and Aiden doesn’t believe in those.
Aiden turns his face towards his shoulder, drops his head a little. He doesn’t want Ralph to see the look on his face.
Then I don’t owe anybody any love, either, he thinks, seething anger mingling with the misery. Only Auntie. He glances over at Ralph, who stares silently out over the park. And you. You belong to your own special category. You don’t count, for that.
Aiden bites his lip hard as he looks at Ralph. Oh, god. What is he going to say to him?
He needs to come up with an explanation for why they skipped the party, and he needs to do it fast. Ralph is going to figure it out on his own any second now, if Aiden doesn’t give him a convincing excuse. He can figure shit out with only the barest of information, and the only piece of information he’s missing about tonight is the actual phone call -
“Are we-” Ralph says suddenly, in a very small, soft voice, “Are we still hanging out tomorrow? At school, or…?”
Aiden twists to look at him, momentarily speechless. He’s never heard that voice from Ralph, before. Silence falls for one, then two seconds, and before Aiden can say anything, Ralph explodes.
“You know what?” His grey-green eyes blaze with scathing rage, his every shouted word hurled at Aiden like a full-force punch. “Go to the fucking party, Aiden! I’m the one who got uninvited, not you, and it’s pretty fucking obvious that you want to go! Don’t sit here and act like I forced you to stay with me, because I didn’t. I don’t even fucking care. Makes no difference to me if you’re here or not! This was always going to happen, anyways!”
Aiden stares at Ralph, wide-eyed, silent. Ralph glares at him, his jaw tensed, all the color drained from his face.
“I don’t even give a fuck about any of those people!” Ralph stabs a finger at Aiden’s chest, his blistering glare leveled on Aiden’s eyes. “And I don’t give a fuck about you, either!”
He yanks his feet up beneath himself, starts to get up from the rock ledge.
Aiden’s hand flashes up to seize Ralph’s wrist. He wrenches Ralph back down before he can go.
Aiden and Ralph have both said all kinds of stupid, ugly things to each other before now. They both lash out when they get angry. But Ralph knows that Aiden doesn’t mean it, and Aiden knows that Ralph doesn’t mean it. Every time.
Aiden drags Ralph up close to him, then gets him in a headlock.
“You dumb idiot,” he hisses quietly in Ralph’s ear. “Can you shut the fuck up for a second, so I can get a word in?”
Ralph struggles for a moment, then goes limp under Aiden’s arm, breathing hard and fast.
“We’re not going to the party,” Aiden says, slowly and firmly, “Because I’d rather hang out with you than any of those other fucking people. Any day of the week. You’re my brother, and we stick together. I don’t give a damn about anybody else. Alright?”
Ralph doesn’t answer, just takes staggering, unsteady breaths. Aiden waits for a moment, then lets him go.
Ralph sits up, slowly getting his breath back. He turns his face away from Aiden and grips the rock ledge tightly, with both hands.
Silence falls for a long time.
Eventually Aiden picks up one of the sandwiches, shoves it at Ralph. Ralph startles, but catches it, then looks at Aiden.
Aiden nudges his arm, unwrapping his own sandwich. “Eat your food, dipshit.”
Ralph stares at Aiden, then breaks into a tiny smile that he quickly tries to disguise with a glare in Aiden’s direction. Aiden makes a serious face, raises an eyebrow at him. Ralph raises one back at him.
They both let out a quiet laugh, then take a bite of their sandwiches. Aiden looks over at Ralph, reaches out, and messes his blonde hair up again. Puts it back to the way it was before he tried to change it for the party. Ralph exhales a soft laugh through his nose, swats Aiden’s hand away.
“Why were you so pissed off, then?” he asks, stealing a sidelong glance at Aiden. “When I came over?”
Aiden makes a disgusted scoffing sound, angry all over again about the phone call. Then he stops, trying to choose his words carefully. He’s not about to tell Ralph what Lauren and her friend said about him.
“Just couldn’t believe they seriously thought I was gonna go without you,” he says instead.
Ralph doesn’t look at Aiden, but Aiden sees his mouth slowly turn up in a small, shadowy smile.
“Honestly, I’m done even trying to be nice to people at this school,” Aiden tells Ralph, glaring out at the park. “I’m not joining any of their stupid little cliques. We can have our own crew.”
Ralph pauses, a thoughtful look coming over his sage green eyes. “Our own crew.”
“I meant just us.”
“Yeah, but - we could have our own crew, if we wanted.” Ralph glances at Aiden, shrugs his shoulders. “You could probably have your pick of anyone, Student Athlete Aiden Callahan.”
Aiden makes an irritated sound, but he’s actually thinking about it. He’s starting to feel like high school is mainly about survival. It’s good to have a team, for that.
“Alright. Who do we want?”
Ralph thinks it over for a second. “There’s that kid, Grant.”
Aiden casts his mind through the people in their grade. “The guy who’s always on his phone? He seems kinda checked out, most of the time.”
“Yeah, but he knows about everything going on at school.” Ralph sets his sandwich aside and slips a joint out from his pocket, offers it to Aiden, who takes it. “Information is everything. Could be helpful for my business, too.”
“Alright, fine. Let’s keep an eye on him.” Aiden pulls a lighter from his pocket and sparks the joint. “That makes three of us, if Grant wants in. Sound good?”
“Mmm.” Ralph narrows his eyes, doing some silent calculation. “Think for it to be a crew we want four.”
Aiden doesn’t have any arguments with that, and he doesn’t particularly care who else they decide to pick up. It’s not like the new guy is gonna be his brother, like Ralph is. They just need to find someone they can both get along with. Someone who can keep up with them. Not someone from Lauren’s kind of crowd. Someone who comes from the bottom of the pack, like Aiden and Ralph.
Someone who doesn’t mind getting into a little trouble.
“Alright, we’ll find one more.” Aiden takes a long hit from the joint, then passes it off to Ralph. “Got anyone in mind?”
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