Free Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy

planting a kiss on the top of his head. Aaron resisted looking at George in triumph, but then Claire whispered, “ Be good,” into his hair, which lessened his sense that he’d won this round.
    Bea and Claire weaved through the crowded, noisy cafeteria, and the brothers watched them go. Even bundled in ski clothes, the two women had a matching grace. Women . It was so strange to see Claire that way.
    “Do you and Bea still fuck?” George asked.
    “Just stop,” Aaron said. “You’ve done enough for one lunchtime.”
    “How often?” he asked. “Like, once a week? Once a month? Once a day ? Do you take pills?”
    Aaron started to pull on his coat. “Knock it off.”
    “What about Claire, do you think she’s a virgin?”
    Aaron grabbed his gloves and stalked away, but he was slowed by the staggering gait of the boots, which made him feel ridiculous. He couldn’t even storm out. He’d never been able to. He turned and asked, “Are you coming or not?”
    THE TWO BROTHERS were on the highest chairlift, headed for the top of the mountain, and Aaron had calmed down. Life with George was like interval training—it was possible for Aaron to get his heart rate up and then quickly down again, from constant practice. He was admiring the trees gliding past, the white mare’s tails against the blue sky, and he thought of the winter he and George, as boys, were on a makeshift ski team, coached by another boy’s father, taking turns practicing slalom gates and taking jumps on their old wooden skis. George must have been about nine, and he was already the better athlete, instinctive and efficient, where Aaron was always thinking things through, using too much energy and movement, a gawky teen. He thought how spectacular it had been to watch George take the gates, and how proud he had been of his talented little brother. They were confederates, on that team of boys they didn’t know well, as they couldn’t normally be, when Aaron was in high school and George still learning to spell. They rode back home on the ski bus side by side, making jokes. He was about to ask George if he remembered the team, when his brother started in.
    “How much money do you think you have?” George asked.
    “You know, I was just enjoying this beautiful day,” Aaron said.
    “Is it close to a million? Just ballpark. Not counting real estate.”
    “George.”
    “ Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers . I read that in college. It had a big effect on me. Do you think you’re wasting your powers, getting money, when you could be out here all the time?”
    “Why do you do this?”
    “Do what?” George asked. “You never want to talk about anything real. You just cut me off. Like you must have a guess about whether Claire’s fucking. I know you think about it.”
    Aaron imagined taking his brother’s parka in his hands and swinging him forward off the chairlift. He was strong enough, and had surprise on his side. They hadn’t brought down the safety bar over their legs. The only danger would be George pulling Aaron down with him. Aaron might break a leg, tear an ACL, become one of the miserable patients he saw every day, facing the loss of their mobility and their youth. He could be arrested, even. But at least it would all be over between them, no more attempts at family vacations, no faked brotherly love.
    “She has a new boyfriend, you know,” his brother said.
    That was news to Aaron, and hearing it from George was like the stab of a pocketknife in his heart. Not a wound that would kill him, but quick and painful and precise. He pretended it wasn’t news.
    “You didn’t know, did you?” George asked. “He’s premed. He’ll be a sawbones like you. You’d think she’d be proud to tell you.”
    “Why ask us here?” Aaron managed to say.  “Why ask for a family ski trip and then do this?”
    “I’m just trying to have a real conversation, like human beings,” George said. “About real things. To be close, like a