Free Letting You Know by Nora Flite Page A

it was outside,
that it was December. My gut was searing too much with acid to allow
me to feel the bone-aching briskness.
    “ What
the hell was that about?” He demanded, facing me with
indignation.
    “ Excuse
me?” I snapped, steamy breath floating in the air. The bright
Christmas lights decorating the rim of the house and the yard lit us
both up in strange colors. “Are you actually getting upset with me? Nicholas, what the hell is Bethany doing here!?”
    Rolling
his eyes, my younger brother crossed his arms. It said something
about my state of mind right then that I considered how that would
offer him little protection. “Relax, Deacon. Jesus, you're
overreacting.”
    “ Am
I?” I laughed, lifting my hands by the sides of my skull. “I'm
noticing that you aren't answering me.” My intuition was
burning, warning me of what I suspected, but wished to deny until he
confirmed it.
    Somber,
guilty eyes fixed on me in a moment of quiet. The red, flickering
lights of some hanging candy canes illuminated his pale, sharp
cheeks. While I had taken after my father in features, Nicholas
clearly had our mother's angular nose and structure. He reminded me
of a knife; as he spoke, hurting me, that thought only grew firmer.
    “ Bethany
and I are dating, Deacon. I... look, I was going to tell you, but I
just never knew when a good time for that would be.”
    The
sound of my own laugh was surprising; hollow, dry, it echoed out into
the night air. “So, you figured telling me at Christmas around
the family would be the perfect time?”
    “ No,
that isn't—”
    “ What
the hell is wrong with
you?” I growled, holding my temples tightly. Inside, my skull
felt like it was swelling. It made sense, everything about Bethany's
lack of surprise when she saw me at church... about my dad's weird
behavior with her, inviting her to brunch. They'd all known I was
coming, all of them knew this would happen, and not one of them had
said a word to me.
    It
all made so much awful sense.
    “ Seriously,”
I hissed through my gritted jaw, “in what world is dating my ex
okay!?”
    Whatever
shame had been on his face fled, leaving behind bitter righteousness.
“Mom and Dad don't have a problem with it.”
    That
stopped me, put a heavy, breath-stealing pause in my growing fury.
Softly, I spoke, watching him warily. “What do you mean?”
    “ They
like Bethany, they always have,” he said, shrugging. “When
I told them she and I were together, all they talked about was how
happy they were that they hadn't lost her from the family.”
    My
mouth opened, yet nothing came out. He wasn't looking at me anymore.
Nicholas was staring to the side, at our old metal play-set.
    Licking
my lips, tasting nothing, I finally found my voice. “When?”
It was a simple word, he knew what I was asking.
    Nicholas
looked back at me, the pity in his eyes worse than his insufferable
smugness. “June, when I came down for summer vacation.”
    “ But...
she broke up
with me in June...”
    His
silence, so poignant, made my insides tighten like someone had
elbowed me with all their strength. No,
no, impossible. “You
and her got together right after that? That quickly? Are you—how
could she, and... and you! Nicholas, what the hell?”
    “ Look,”
he said, lifting his palms, trying to appease me so casually. “It
just happened. When I came down, Mom and Dad told me the news about
you guys. I knew you weren't together when I saw her at the firework
display over by the Gerald farm.”
    My
eyes hurt from being forced so wide. The most shallow of chuckles
left me; I saw how it made him flinch, breaking his attempt at
emotionless calm. “Oh, well, that's wonderful .
I'm glad you knew before
hand that she had left me, that really must help you sleep at night.”
    “ Deacon,
relax, you're seriously being dramatic here—”
    He
didn't finish speaking; instead, he fell to the ground, knocked over
by my abrupt, hard shove. Something in me had finally snapped,
escaped