Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Jupiter
Why?
My Toxic Stepbrother
Because I don’t need a fucking video to remind me.
Jupiter
Of what I did?
My Toxic Stepbrother
Of what I did.
How I made you cry.
Jupiter
I was crying?
My Toxic Stepbrother
Yeah.
I drank your tears just as I pushed you away from me so hard that you fell on the floor.
And then I just left you there.
So apparently, I did leave you. Unlike what you believe.
Wait a second. I just… I just need a moment here. I need to get it straight in my head: I don’t have any recollection of me crying. At all. I mean, I did cry but not at the club and definitely not in front of him. But I know he’s telling the truth because only he would notice something that no one else would. That even I didn’t. And of course, he’d be the only one to beat himself up about it.
Isn’t he the man who made my life better even though he was angry at me? So why wouldn’t he be beating himself up for exacting his revenge on me even though I hold no ill-will?
Jupiter
I’m not mad at you.
My Toxic Stepbrother
Well, you’re not paying attention then.
Jupiter
I don’t want you to beat yourself up for this.
My Toxic Stepbrother
Again, you need to start paying attention.
Jupiter
I lied to you for years, Shepard. I knew what I was doing. I knew what would happen if you found out.
My Toxic Stepbrother
And I proved you right.
Jupiter
You just… lashed out because you were angry. Rightfully so.
Can’t we just call it even?
My Toxic Stepbrother
No.
Because you lied for a good reason. And you were afraid for a really fucking good reason too.
I lashed out because I got butthurt. Because the first time I saw you wasn’t really the first time I saw you. Because you saw me first and that somehow didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t sit right that I wasn’t the one to find you first.
How was it that you watched me and followed me around and I never even knew you existed?
My phone almost slips from my fingers then. Because… This is more than insane. Because who thinks like this? Who gets mad because they weren’t the first? And not just about anything but about finding someone first. I swallow down my emotions or try to, but they keep swelling up and getting stuck in my throat. And then before I can think about it, I type out my response with flying fingers and hit send.
Jupiter
I know you’re going to hate this, but you just went to the top of my Christmas card list. And my birthday invitation list too.
I will also write you letters that I will then send via pigeon carriers.
My Toxic Stepbrother
Are you done?
Jupiter
Not really but I’ll let you live.
My Toxic Stepbrother
Thank fuck.
Jupiter
Have a great day at practice! I believe in you!!
My Toxic Stepbrother
Jesus, fuck, stop.
I’m not going to.
Because I’m not just his friend anymore. I’m also his therapist and his cheerleader. I’m his everything that I can be. Because I was right. Who is going to make things easy for him while he’s out there making things easy for everyone else?
He needs someone in his life. Someone to believe in him like he believes in me. Someone to take care of his dreams like he’s taken care of mine. Someone to help him while he’s always helping others.
I start with upstairs. Helping him, I mean.
If the updated porch and the yard weren’t an indication that he’s trying to fix up his childhood home, then it would be the half-painted room upstairs with a bunch of trash bags in it. I found this room two days ago and upon further inspection, I realized the trash bags were full of clothes. Old clothes. So old and dusty that they were falling apart, and they belonged to a woman. Immediately I knew what I was looking at: his mother’s clothes.
He's been trying to clean out his mother’s room, but judging by the half-finished things—the walls, the closet only half emptied—he hasn’t gotten very far, or hasn’t been able to finish it. So I’m going to do that for him.
Which is what I’m doing on my third night in his house when my phone chimes with a text.
My Not-So-Toxic Stepbrother
Where are you?
Jupiter
Hello to you too.
My Not-So-Toxic Stepbrother
Are you upstairs?
Jupiter
Yes.
My Not-So-Toxic Stepbrother
Why?
Sitting on the floor, surrounded by his mother’s old things, I bite my lip and type.
Jupiter
I thought you were playing your soccer game with my sister.
My Not-So-Toxic Stepbrother
It’s called FIFA and I can multi-task.
Besides I don’t need to pay too much attention to it.
Jupiter
Why, because my sister is kicking your ass?
My Not-So-Toxic Stepbrother
I’m letting my sister kick my ass.
Jupiter
What, why?
My Not-So-Toxic Stepbrother
I’m not going to win against my little sister. Especially when she’s still new to the game. Plus she needs cheering up after everything.
What kind of a brother would I be if I didn’t cheer her up?