Chapter 03 - Love's a Bitch
I exit the elevator at the lobby and approach the receptionist, still holding my stomach. I feel like I'm going to vomit. "Excuse me, have you seen my brother come past here a minute ago? He's a little shorter and more pierced than me, but other than that he looks pretty much the same."
She nods and points to the bathrooms. "He looked pretty sick, he went..."
I don't hear the rest of her sentence because I'm already on my way. She must think I'm pretty rude, but I don't care right now. I've gotta find Benji, gotta make sure he's okay.
I push open the door to the men's room and my ears are immediately assaulted by the sound of a grown man vomiting. Oh, shit.
I rush into the stall next to his and hurl up my dinner. I'd forgotten I ate carrots. I let out a low groan and breathe deeply. This groan is obviously enough for him to figure out it's me, because I hear his voice soon after. "Joel? You okay?"
I stand up, flush, and open the door to the stall. I do feel a little better now. "Yeah, I'm fine. You?"
He emerges from his stall as I start to wash my face. In the mirror I can see tears running down his face which one could argue are from vomiting, but I know they're not. "I'm okay," he says softly.
I turn and look at him. "Don't lie to me."
He rubs his eyes with his hands, sniffling a little. "I'm fine, I just hurt myself."
"Your stomach?"
"Yeah."
I pause, uncertain about how he's going to take what I plan on saying next. "Lift up your shirt."
He looks at me for a moment - scared, I guess - then obliges, lifting it to his chest. Under normal circumstances, him baring his chest and stomach to me would've been one hell of a turn-on. Today I'm too worried about him to notice. There's a dark red mark on his stomach that's slowly turning purple before my eyes. I reach out and run my fingertips gently over it, and he winces. I quickly pull my hand back. I know that mark is just about the perfect size and shape for Tony's fist. "How'd you do that?"
Okay, if he was just crying from the exertion of throwing up, he should've stopped by now. But the tears keep running down his face silently, and his inner turmoil is reflected in his eyes, while he tries to hide it everywhere else. He can't hide things from me. Once glance in his eyes and I know everything he's thinking. "Tony and I were fighting, and he said something really horrible... so I ran off, and I fell down the stairs."
Then how come Tony said you took the elevator?
"Weird place to injure yourself just from falling down the stairs."
He laughs a little, dryly. "Not when you've got a gut like mine."
I smirk and pull him into a hug. He hugs me back, and it brings back fond memories of when we were teenagers, and I felt so protected in his arms. I was always a little taller than him, but for some reason, whenever we hugged it reminded me that he was my big brother, not the other way around. It occurs to me now, though, that I'm the one protecting him - or at least trying. So far I've failed.
"Joel, I love you."
"Love you too, Benj."
That's when the door opens and Tony's face peeks in. Benji releases me quickly, and I can't help but wonder if he's afraid. Why would he be? Surely Tony must realize that we just love each other like brothers. Except that's not completely true.
Tony seems to pretty much ignore me, and he rushes over to Benji, wrapping his arms around his waist. "Baby, I'm so sorry," I pretend not to exist as they kiss, "I was being a dick. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
My brother falls for those damn puppy-dog eyes every single time. It pains me to watch him forgive Tony so easily. Within a few moments, they're making out, and I slip out the door. I don't think either of them notices, somehow. Love's a bitch.