EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING
The following story depicts scenes of pressured intimacy, suicide, and abuse. In no way am I condoning such actions. If this is an uncomfortable topic for you, I urge you to select a different Wattpad story.

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With a slam, I closed the backseat door of my car with my foot, hefting the two boxes I was carrying higher up in my arms. "Thanks for letting me stay for the summer," I said to my dad. Though I didn't admit it, I was glad to be home after only one semester of college. My roommate for the time being had made it quite clear that he didn't sleep much, and as a result, neither did I. It was a relief to be in the quiet abode of my family home.

"We're happy to have you home, son," my dad said as he took one of the boxes from me.

As we stepped into the house, my eight-year-old brother, Remi, turned around in his seat on the couch to see us. "Zaney? What are you doing here?" he asked, swiping to grab at my shirt as I passed.

"Nice to see you too, gremlin." I stuck my tongue out at him and he did the same while wiggling his fingers in front of his nose. Then he scrambled off the couch to follow us as we went up the stairs.

Upon entering my old room, my dad and I dropped the two boxes on my old bed that my parents hadn't had the heart to get rid of yet. My room looked exactly the way I had left it a couple months before. "Gee, it's like I never left," I said with a grin.

My dad squeezed my shoulder firmly and smiled. "Believe me, we wish you didn't have to," he said.

I opened my mouth to respond with a joke, but my brother beat me to it. "Well, I don't wish that," he said smartly. "I don't have to share my ice-cream, toys, or the computer anymore. It's fun being an only kid!"

A sharp but familiar, loving voice scolded my brother as my mother entered the room. "Remington, don't say things like that. You should be happy to have your brother home," she said. She came over to me and kissed my cheek with a hug. "Hello, darling. How was your drive? Your father and I were so excited to hear you were coming to stay for the summer."

I hugged my mom back. "The drive was long, but I made it in one piece," I said. "I'm starving though, what's for dinner?"

My dad flicked my ear. "At least tell her hello before you start begging for food," he said jokingly.

I rubbed my ear as I rolled my eyes, but I told my mom she looked beautiful anyways, and she blushed happily. "I thought we could go out tonight to celebrate your temporary homecoming," she said. "Where do you want to go?"

I thought about it while my dad and I unpacked my boxes and finally decided on a small, mom-and-pop Italian restaurant that my family had been going to since I was a little kid. They had the best spaghetti for miles around and I could definitely go for some comfort food. My mom said that sounded like a wonderful idea and called to make reservations as my dad and I sat in the family room to catch up.

"So, how is school treating you? Are you making good grades?" my dad asked.

Kicking off my shoes with a sigh, I crossed my legs in my seat. "I guess. There's not as much homework, but my physics professor is a hardass," I said.

"Did he fail you?" my dad asked worriedly.

"No, but he threatened to for a couple of other students. They showed up to class a lot more often after that," I said.

My dad laughed at that and told me not to risk my neck if I ended up in his class again.

I glanced at Remi who was playing some video game on the TV. "How has it been here?"

"Normal," my dad said. "Or, as normal as it can be with one less mouth to feed all the time. Your mom and I miss you around here."

My dad said it with a joking smile, but I knew he really meant it. My parents had been practically devastated to hear I had chosen a university three hours away from my home town. Then, when I got accepted, they almost forbid me from going purely out of fear for the distance between us. However, my parents weren't psychos like some of my friends' parents, so after some heavy conversation that involved a lot of cautionary warnings and a lesson on the uses of pepper spray, they had relented. Some of my college buddies made fun of the tiny spray can hooked to my backpack, but I'd rather be a shrimpy guy who took precautions than a stubborn student dead in an alley. My parents agreed.

"I miss you guys too," I said. "But I told you I would visit every chance I got, and I haven't failed yet, have I?"

Before my dad could answer, Remi piped up over our conversation. "You missed my birthday," he said.

"I sent you a card," I protested hopefully. "It had an elephant on it with a balloon."

Remi didn't turn away from his game. "I lost it before I could read it 'cause I was waiting for you to come home first," he said.

I crossed my arms. "Well, maybe if you cleaned your pigsty of a room you would find it."

"Maybe if you had been here to hand it to me in person, I wouldn't have lost it in the first place," Remi countered.

Suddenly, my mother came in and put her hands on her hips. "That is enough," she said. "Both of you, you're ridiculous. Can't you get along for five minutes? Remi, you're brother is busy at school. Too busy to deliver a birthday card in person."

Though she scolded us, she knew we were only teasing each other because we were so close. We were a total of eleven years apart in age, but from the moment Remi had been born, I knew we were going to be thicker than thieves. My intuition had not been wrong either. As soon as he could walk, we had been running around the house causing mischief together. It had been more heartbreaking to have to leave my brother behind for college than to leave my childhood home.

"Let 'em be," my dad said. "They're just messing with each other."

"Yeah," I said, sliding to the floor to wrap an arm around Remi's shoulders and give him a noogie. He shrieked as my teasing nearly ran his racecar off the road and quickly shoved me away to go back to his game.

My mom informed us the reservations were set and we could head over whenever we wanted. We threw our shoes on, told Remi to finish his game, and then we were out the door. My parents offered to drive since my car still smelled like travel snacks, and we soon arrived at the restaurant.

Dinner was pleasant. My mom asked me many of the same questions that my dad had, but I still answered them as if they were new. I was telling her about one of my assignments for physics when I heard the door to the restaurant open with a jingle and glanced towards it. I practically inhaled my tongue at the sight of this totally ripped guy walking into the restaurant with blue eyes and a smile that could kill, and when he glanced my way, I felt like I was gazing into the eyes of an angel. I immediately looked down at my food. 

Embarrassing, I thought to myself.

However, that made me strike up a gossipy conversation with Remi about recent "people" in our lives and he eagerly told me about the girl in his history class that had given him a badly scrawled note of love. I told him about the freshmen I had bumped into during my second week, and how we had exchanged numbers during a university football game. I would have gone into detail about how delicate his eyes had been when he looked at me, but my dad kicked my leg under the table to tell me I was TMIing. I told Remi we could talk about it later and he giggled.

After we finished eating, my family and I took a walk through town. My parents pointed out the new highway that was being built, and also the supermarket that had been pulled down during my absence. Not much had changed, but I almost didn't recognize the small town. It felt good to be back, but also strange. It didn't quite feel like home anymore.

Eventually, we returned home and settled in with an old timey movie. Remi fell asleep before it was over, so when the credits began rolling, my dad carried him upstairs to his room. I told my mom goodnight and went to mine. As I was opening the door, however, my dad caught me in the hallway. "I meant to tell you," he said. "Remi has a soccer game tomorrow at 4:00pm. Do you want to join us?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," I said.

*******

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