Free A Good Enough Reason by C.M. Lievens

but Ellis dodged the offending hand. “Hey, don’t do that!”
    “Why? It’s not like you have to seduce anyone.” Connor leaned against Ellis, pressing him into the back of the couch as he tried to touch his hair.
    Ellis squirmed. “How do you know? I could have a date.”
    Connor made a victorious noise and grabbed Ellis’s hair in his fist. Ellis froze, because the last time it had happened, Connor had left Ellis minus a few strands. He’d rather let his brother ruffle his hair. It would be less painful than to continue fighting.
    “You have a date, huh?”
    “I didn’t say that.” Ellis pushed away as soon as Connor released him. He made a show of straightening his clothes and his hair, even knowing the latter was probably a lost cause.
    Connor poked Ellis in the ribs. “Come on, spill the beans. Who is she?”
    “I told you, I don’t have a date. I was just joking around.”
    “Well, it’s about time we find you a girlfriend. You’re almost eighteen, and I’ve never seen you with a girl.”
    “What about Anna? She’s a girl.”
    Connor waved Ellis’s words away. “She doesn’t count. She’s basically already married to Rick.”
    “What is it with everyone trying to find me a bo—girlfriend?” Ellis bit his lower lip and prayed his brother hadn’t noticed his slip.
    Connor did look at him as if he were trying to read him, but he didn’t ask, so Ellis relaxed.
    “So, have you heard from Matt?”
    “Yeah, he called the other day.” Matt had become a member of Ellis’s family over the years, pretty much a fourth brother. “What about you? Are you still with what’s her name?”
    “Jess.”
    “Oh, okay. Are you still with Jess, or have you moved on again?”
    “You say that like it’s a habit or something.”
    Ellis stared at his brother incredulously. “That’s because it is. You go through more girlfriends in a year than I go through books.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Okay, maybe not that many, but if you don’t have a different one for every month of the year, I’d be surprised.”
    “I like Jess.”
    “The surprising part is that she likes you.”
    Connor mock punched Ellis in the shoulder. “Very funny.”
    “You know me, I live to entertain.”
    “I thought you lived to aggravate me.”
    “That too.”
    Ellis would never admit it, but he missed his brother. Well, he missed both of them, but he saw Damien nearly every day while Connor didn’t often come by the house. He couldn’t help but wonder how much he’d be able to see them when he went to college, even though he’d chosen the one closest to home.
    Ellis didn’t realize he’d fallen silent until Connor squeezed his shoulder. “You know you can talk to me, right?”
    “About what?”
    “About anything.”
    They fell silent again, but this time Connor’s eyes stayed focused on Ellis. It made Ellis uncomfortable, because he wasn’t ready to confess anything at the moment, and he didn’t know if he’d ever be. “Nothing to say. I’m fine.”
    “Ellis….”
    Ellis shook Connor’s hand off and stood up. “I’m, uh, thirsty. Do you want something to drink?”
    “Sure.”
    Ellis nearly ran to the kitchen. He pressed his hands on the marble counter and closed his eyes as he tried to slow his heartbeat. Connor knew, or at least suspected, that Ellis was gay.
    Ellis swore. He couldn’t believe he’d slipped up, but both Dale and Anna were always talking about boyfriends and stuff, and it had just come out. Damn.
    He hoped Connor would forget about it and not push him to confess, but he knew it probably wouldn’t happen. They all were stubborn like mules in his family, and though Damien was the worst one, Connor wasn’t so far behind.
    Ellis grabbed two sodas from the fridge and walked back to the living room. He handed one of the cans to Connor and sat beside him again. Ellis made a show of opening his can and drinking from it as if his throat were parched, even though it wasn’t.
    When he