A Promise to my Stepbrother (8 page)

A
fter two long
years I was finally going to visit Max in Los Angeles. It was a surprise visit, and that made me even more excited. Mom and Dad had decided that we should fly in for his last meet of the year before the conference and NCAA championships. It was also around our birthday, so we were going to make it a party, too.

We had talked a lot our first year apart, but our schedules were hellacious and we never really saw each other. Getting home for the holiday was about the only time we had together, and that was mostly running around from one extended family member to another. For our freshman year, distance did make the heart grow fonder, or more desperate. I had hoped that we could hang out over the summer, but Max was taking part in a series of swim camps with his coach and didn’t even come home for the 4th of July.

Things became worse our sophomore year, as we talked less and less often. We both apologized when we did talk, blaming it on our schedules, but I think we both realized the truth—our fear was coming true: The physical distance was turning into emotional distance.

So I felt a desperate hope around our surprise visit.

Max was amazing, and it stirred in me all of the feelings from the previous few years. He stood on the starting block and jumped up and down. I just stared. He looked even more handsome and hot than when he was in high school.

The team hadn’t shaved yet for the important conference and NCAA championships, so Max looked all shaggy. I loved it. His hair was long and stuck out from under his swim cap. He smiled broadly to his teammates and even the competition. Everyone loved him. I loved him.

His body cut through the water like a knife. He won, and everyone cheered, none louder than me. As the other cheers died down, I continued to stand and hoot and holler. He glanced up, and then he saw me. The excitement in his eyes made the whole trip worthwhile.

I waved, and before I knew it he was running along the back of the natatorium and then up the steps into the crowd. He wrapped his arms around me in a big wet hug. I laughed as water dripped onto my head.

“Katie!” There was a cough, and Max stepped back and greeted Mom and Dad. “Sorry, Dad. I’m glad to see you and Mom, too!” He looked over his shoulder and then turned back quickly. “Look, I have to get back down to the team. This is such a crazy surprise!” He looked at me and, his voice filled with emotion, said. “I’m so glad you came.” He then looked down and nodded his head toward my chest. “Nice bra. The wet t-shirt contests are generally held in bars, though.” He laughed and sprinted away before Dad or Mom could say anything.

I looked down. His wet hug had made my white t-shirt see through. “Argh. I’m going to kill him.”

Mom looked at me. “It’s not so bad. It really is a nice bra.”

“Mom!”

She laughed and we turned our attention to the rest of the meet. Mom would always see Max’s attention toward me as innocent, even when he was referencing wet t-shirt contests.

After the last race, I rushed down to the deck. As I approached Max, a gorgeous blonde in tight jean shorts and an even tighter t-shirt was practically yelling at him. “Like I’m going to believe that you would point at your sister’s chest like that. Jesus, Max, if you’re going to flirt with other girls can you at least do it when I’m not around?”

I coughed. “Hi,” I said.

The girl turned to me, looked me up and down, and said, “Look slut, find some other guy to try and fuck. He’s mine.”

“Erin. That’s my
sister
.” The Erin chick looked me up and down again. She appeared unconvinced.

“She doesn’t look at all like you.”

“Well, technically, I’m his stepsister.”

“You’re Katie?” I nodded. “I thought you were on the East Coast.”

“Can’t a sister visit her brother every once in a while?”

She waved her hand. “Yeah, whatever. I guess we’ll be having a big homecoming back in our apartment then.” She looked at me as Mom and Dad walked up. “Honestly, this
is
kind of rude. I would have cleaned up our place if I knew you were coming.”

“Max, are you sharing an apartment with this young woman?” Mom’s tone was more of surprise than condemnation. But, for me, Erin’s words were like a punch in the gut.

I had plenty of opportunities to hook up at RISD, from requests for dates to hot football players looking for a casual good time after a party. But I kept to myself. I had told myself that no one really struck me as either Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now, but in my heart I knew that I was waiting. Waiting for graduation and a promise.

But the evidence that the promise was dead stood right in front of me. Max was living with this girl.

“No, mom. Erin’s just saying that.” Erin glared at Max. “I have my own place on the other side of campus. Besides, her place is barely an apartment. More like a bed and a kitchen. It’s in the middle of Bel Air after all.”

Erin stewed, and I suddenly felt better. Max was casually wrecking Erin’s various claims on him in the most callous fashion possible.
No wonder he couldn’t keep a girlfriend
, I rather jealously thought.

Mom nodded. “In that case, perhaps it is best if we just met at a restaurant for dinner and plan on doing things around town.”

Her acceptance of Max’s living arrangements annoyed me. Didn’t she realize that this bitch was sleeping with her son? Dad was smiling, and that annoyed me, too. He was half ogling Erin himself. She with her gorgeous blonde hair and tight body. I looked down at my own chest and less than toned body. Sure everyone said I was pretty, but I wasn’t
that
kind of pretty. I suddenly felt inferior and stupid and all I wanted to do was to just jump on a plane and go back to school. Unfortunately, I now had to live through a weekend in a state of depression as Max spent the whole time with another girl.

Max got changed, and then we headed out. Mom and Dad walked up front, with Max and Erin behind, and me beside Max. “So how did you two meet?” I asked.

Before Max could say anything, Erin said brightly, “Max was totally obsessed with me in our English 202 class. It was kind of sad, actually. I sat across the aisle from him, and he’d keep glancing at me. Finally, after a few weeks I walked over to him and said, ‘Are you going to ask me out or what?’” She took his hand in hers. “And he did!”

“How romantic,” I replied, gritting my teeth. What a bitch. At that point I knew what I had to do. I had to break them up. Not because I was jealous but for Max’s own sanity and self-respect. This obviously had nothing to do with the promise. I was doing this for Max.

At dinner, Erin did a good job illustrating that she liked to hear herself talk. I decided to use that against her, especially with Mom and Dad sitting right across from her. “So, Erin, how long have you and Max been living together?” I smiled sweetly as Max glared at me.

“Oh, as Max said, I guess he
technically
doesn’t live with me. He just comes over a lot.” She smiled sweetly at me.

To my annoyance, Mom and Dad seemed to think that was the most reasonable thing in the world. It suddenly struck me that they were probably overjoyed that Max was seeing anyone. He pretty much kept to himself throughout high school, and when he did date girls the relationships lasted mere days. Well, he hung out with me, but for my parents I wasn’t a
girl
, I was his sister.

I was having very little success embarrassing the two of them, so I wasn’t sure how to break them up.
Couldn’t everyone else see how stuck up she was?
As dinner ended, I had pretty much given up. Erin was bitchy and self-important, but not so much that anyone other than me seemed to notice.

Outside the restaurant Mom and Dad said they were heading back to the hotel, as it was very late in Eastern time. I frowned, and Max spoke up, “Hey, Katie, why don’t you come back to our place? We can catch up. You can tell me about your painting.” Erin looked annoyed, so I, of course, said yes.

Max wasn’t kidding about the apartment. It was tiny even as it was surrounded by some of the richest estates in the world—Bel Air. It had a small living area with what looked like a queen-sized bed directly on the floor. It was unmade, and surrounded by piles of clothing. The other room was combination dining room/kitchen. The bedroom/living room was big enough to also hold a a futon with a beat up armchair next to it. I dropped into the armchair, while Max and Erin cuddled up on the futon.

She took his left hand and placed it between her two hands and held it in her lap. Erin talked about herself, of course, and it was in the midst of the most innocent question that I realized how to break the two of them up.

“So do you have any plans for after college?”

“Well, I’m going to probably pick up a teaching job while Maxie goes to law school.” I couldn’t believe that she called Max “Maxie.” If I didn’t find out that he hated that nickname, I would have to kill him. But what really struck me was the law school thing.

“Wait. Max, I thought you were going to be a marine biologist? Swim with the dolphins and all that.” I looked at him, and he had a deer-in-the-headlights look.

“Ha, no way. He’s going to be a lawyer and then start in my dad’s firm in Chicago.”

“Holy shit, Max. You
hate
the Midwest. You’re moving to Chicago?”

Max fidgeted, and that’s when I knew he had no intention of doing any of that. “I’m thinking about it,” he finally replied.

“He will,” Erin said emphatically.

“I don’t know, Erin. I mean Max had scholarship offers from every major university in the Midwest—sorry, I believe he called it Midworst—and he would burn them.” I smiled sweetly. “Yeah, he would literally light them on fire in our back yard.”

Erin looked pissed, as she turned to Max. “Is that true, Maxie? You never said you hated the Midwest!” She called him “Maxie” again. I knew he
loathed
that nickname.

“Yeah,
Ade
, did you change your mind?”

Max glared at me, and then turned to Erin. “Hey, it’s not that I hate the Midwest. I just wasn’t familiar with it. But you’re from there, and you’re amazing. So I guess I’ll have to re-evaluate.”

Nice recovery, Maxie
. Erin seemed unconvinced. “That means you didn’t like it before, and you didn’t tell me that.” She pouted in a way that made me want to slap her, but Max looked like he wanted to comfort her. “And what about being a lawyer? When we first started dating you said you were undecided but leaning toward law school.”

I had to admit that I was kind of enjoying watching Erin’s construction of what she wanted Max to be collapse around her. As sick as it made me thinking about it, it was pretty clear that Max told Erin anything she wanted to hear, probably just to get into her pants. Or denim shorts, as the case may be.

Max was thinking very carefully over what he was going to say. He finally answered. “Well, I’m still undecided what I want to pursue.”

Erin pulled her hand from his. “Fuck you, Max. You said last week that you were going to law school. You said you would be proud to work for my dad!” She stood up and looked at me. “Your brother’s a selfish prick.” She stormed toward the front door, pausing to turn around as she grabbed the doorknob. “Max, I
highly
recommend that you get your priorities straight,” and with a slam she was out the front door.

I looked at Max. “Ballbuster,” I said with a smirk.

“You have no idea,” he replied, smiling at me, then adding, “I missed you, Katie.”

“Not enough that you didn’t mind ignoring me to spend time with the blonde bitch.” I have no idea why I said it. Actually, I do know why I said it. As annoyed as I was with Erin, I was still deeply hurt. What of our promise? He said it was something we could cling to as we made our way through college. Apparently that didn’t mean much to him.

“Katie, please.” He shuffled over to the end of the futon to be closer to me.

“No, you’re right. I’m sorry. I have no right to be mad. It’s not like we are anything other than brother and sister. I mean, you would never ever think of me in any other way, would you?” I started to cry, and Max reached his hand over and laid it on mine. I yanked my hand away. “No! You do
not
have the right to comfort me.” I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand.

“You could have at least told me, Max.” I stood up. “God, I’m such an idiot.” I followed Erin’s path to the front door.

“No, Katie. You don’t understand.” He practically shouted, “
I’m
the idiot!” as I turned the doorknob. I slammed the door behind me, cutting off whatever Max had hoped to say.