After the excitement of the past few days, we agreed to have a rest day. Morning, we slept in. Morgan dipped when she got a call at 10am. Josh and Miles were in a lazy mood with me.
Like last night, Josh kept uncharacteristically quiet and frowny. He sat in the same space as us, watching the movies Miles and I had decided on while he stressed baked and cooked up pots of crab and fried up fragrant fish. His second home had always been the kitchen, an apron on and whisk in hand.
We reaped the rewards of his stress induced baking-cooking craze.
Miles kept checking himself before his body started instinctually leaning into Josh's side.
When Josh begged off the third swim in the waters below our bungalow, Miles trailed after me.
The crisp air carried an afternoon breeze along. Most of the other guests along this part of the resort were partying down by the beach we'd arrived on. Fools, the lot of them.
I spied Morgan a few times taking wales along the beach, tucked in to the side of a guy. Qeha, Miles said When I pointed the pair out. At least she enjoyed her time giggling and sipping some of the exotic drinks at the bar a stretch further down the beach.
Miles splashed past me where I floated on my back. I learned early on that Miles and his troubled expression meant dangerous territory. He took a while to realise that he didn't have to hide himself away and solve everything on his own. He turned in place, gliding back to me with brows hunched low.
“Niamh.”
I flicked my legs, turning my head to dip my ear underwater. It soothed the itch that had been building under my skin there. “Yeees?” I asked, grinning as I slapped a hand in his direction and grasping his hand.
He snorted in bemusement at my move and rolled his eyes. “I haven't been entirely truthful,” He sighed, head drooping with shame. He should never have felt this way and I was sure there were reasons behind him not telling me. I brushed my hand against his check and drew him up, out of that heavy silence.
“Are you dying?” I asked, words soft and very, very shaky.
“Not that I know of,” He answered while cracking a small, nervous smile. “But this... I never thought it'd take me this long to tell you. I hope it won't hurt you.”
‘You're gay,’ l immediately thought and ducked underthe water for a nice soak.
Resurfacing, I pinched his nose. It scrunched up at the offending gesture. “Go ahead, have your heart and woes. I promise I won't go psychotic, especially with you,” I vowed and he rolled his eyes. “I know, I know. I've been in a right state since we got here.”
His long, fortifying breath rattled in his chest. I traced my hand down the side of his neck, feeling his fluttery skin there. Like me. “Josh and I… we were together,” He got out in a rush and I startled. So I was half right? That Josh part came out of left field. His hands shook with nerves. “A year before he went out with you, he and I... we were together for five years. We wanted to tell you, really but it felt like it was just us two. We wanted to keep it between us and I know my dads wouldn't care but...but.” He sucked in a sharp breath. Miles shouldn't ramble from anxiety, he should only do that when he was in his brainy haze.
Betrayal didn't lance through my heart. If anyone deserved to be happy, it was my brother. Questions could wait when he needed to get everything off his chest.
“He started getting really high strung around people. He'd be jealous and suspicious about everyone and everything. I thought, if I could get him to open up and talk to me, trust us to help him work out his issues, we could fix this. I thought I'd gotten through to him but he just exploded one day and…” He shook his head, eyes glassy.
I gave up on holding back and moved to pull him into a tighter hug. It worked in two ways; bracing me and smothering him before he started spiralling.
His arms curled around my waist and he dropped his head onto my shoulder. Another long breath. “One of the last moments before we broke up, we were out at a club with some uni friends. He's always been high strung but he caught a guy flirting with me, he came right up to us and started growling. Never mind I was trying to ignore the dick and get back to Josh, he snapped,” He pulled back to stare down at me. “Josh threw the guy off me. The ass had boxed me in against the bar.
“He dragged me out, almost broke the heavy side entrance door! He never touched me, or yelled but… he snarled like some wolf, talking about ripping the bloke apart. It went downhill from there. He began leaving to visit his grandmother more, got more possessive of me and glaring at anyone that approached us. What broke the camel's back wasn't explosive. He didn't cheat on me either. He just said in the deadest voice I'd heard that we needed to break up. That he wasn't good for me.”
A few tears had slipped from Miles' glassy eyes and a soft croon slipped from my lips.
“He left me crying on the floor and he moved out of our shared apartment the next day. We never talked about this, or told anyone because Morgan had always been a bitch of Josh on a good day. When he began to show interest in you... I wanted to say something but I hated the thought of my sisters hating me. I didn't want you to think I betrayed you.”
My heart twisted and gnarled with pain. “You didn't!” I huffed. “What happened isn't your fault and I don't blame you for being scared to tell us. At least you're telling me now, right? Is this why you've been depressed?”
Miles winced. “He came to me drunk. Begged me to take him back, that he loves me.”
Oh. Oh! My neck twisted abruptly and I glanced up to the bungalow. Josh was giving Miles space, but being present. What a considerate bastard. “Ah. I always wondered why he'd call me 'Miley' when he was drinking. Now it makes sense. He wanted normality after you to cope, hence the fixation on me,” I hummed, all those disjointed and jagged pieces fitting together and slotting into place. My mental processing could wait. Miles was in a minor crisis. “So you do not have any more feelings for him?”
He started back to the little platform by the ladder and pulled himself out of the water. I trailed after and dropped my chin onto his knee as he dangled his feet in the lagoon. “I've always loved him, to be honest. That's why I avoided you two a lot. That and I've never been the best liar. I don't deal with emotions well,” He grimaced, fingers gently brushing over my scalp.
My gut lurched, threatening to waste my precious meal two hows before.
“I'm so sorry!” I hugged his leg, blinking back tears. “I should've picked up on it! Josh kept following you around like a lost puppy too.”
He leaned back on his elbows, head tilted back to stare up to the changing sky. Night had almost swallowed up the sunset. “We used to talk about the future, how we both wanted eight kids. Josh would love to be the stay-at-home dad while our kids were young. He'd do freelance in between and I would work in a veterinary clinic instead of my shitty office job in the city. Now he keeps reminding me of those dreams and it’s like he's trying to torment me,” Miles rushed, shaking his head.
“Wow. This is intense. I always did ship you two at the beginning. I was surprised when Josh asked me out,” I scoffed, hating past me for giving in and seeing where that first (low effort and simple) date could take us. Josh had been saving all that romance for my brother here. “Now I know why. Let's go back, hmm? I want to eat some more salmon fillets. You should eat too.”
“You aren't bothered by this? Not even a little bit?” Miles asked, looking constipated as he processed my reactions.
“Hell no. This means you have to tell Morgan eventually,” I said with a cackle to finish it up nicely. It would be a good show before I had to interfere and call their fathers. They'd rein in Morgan, listen and be the voice of reason. “You know what else this means? T he whore was wrong. So wrong! It's because of you he is like this.”
Miles jolted, fingers clenching against the wooden boards and eyes shuttering. “What?”
I reached up to tap his chin. Big brain for books and his beloved creatures , people cues not so much. “He was trying to get you to notice him, and kept getting near us,” I mused. “He had pictures of you on his phone as his background too. I thought he might have a crush on you when I was about to dump him so I was waiting for his coming out, until Jane got involved. Mind buggery gives me such a headache. let's go get an early dinner to help ease the pain.”
“It's not even 4 in the afternoon yet. It's like Josh, you and I have sudden tapeworms,” Miles murmured, piercing gaze drifting back to the glorious water.
Tapeworm or no, food would help ease his pains.
“Mmm, let's see if we can meet up with Jane on the way,” I cheered, already planning to break the other hand by 'accident’. “Josh is stuck in bed, working off his food hangover so we get a little space for processing. We can have our pre-dinner feast in the dining area. Little Whore is staying in the same building. Atlas had her thrown into an empty room and I want to see her again before she's shipped off early.”
“She shouldn't have hit you,” Miles snorted. “Atlas was out for her blood yesterday. She’Il be hiding in her room.”
“Good,” I smirked. “Atlas is a weird one. One moment he is all fake smiles, the next a snake laying in wait for its prey.”
“You can't deny you find it attractive,” Miles rolled his eyes. "You've alway liked the 'dangerous’ kind. They match your energy.”
“I'll take that as a compliment,” I agreed. “But it doesn't sit well with my gut. I feel out of control, uncomfortable when he's encroaching on my space. I'm used to men trying to take the lead but it feels like he's trying to dominate me. It feels threatening.”
Miles offered a hand up and let me go up first. The bungalow was quiet when I stepped into my open window door. He followed, towelling himself dry with rough swipes. “I don't know much about the threatening part but in my limited experience, you want equality. When you meet the right one that you can surrender parts of yourself to, it won't seem so hard. Scary, yes, but that's love and trust for you,” He shrugged and huffed when I came over to fluff up his damp hair. “Get ready and meet me out in the lounge when you're ready.”
“I have to dry off yet. The clothes the locals wear are amazing and easy to sort out," I breathed and rubbed my hair with my own towel. Miles left with both towels, the line of his shoulders looser and low after our heart to heart.
Drying off sucked but the promise of food sweetened the deal.
I stripped down from my bathing suit and towelled off in rough swipes. I piled my hair up into a damp bun and stabbed a hairstick through to contain the unruly strands. Clean underwear and skin carrying the scent of salt with a spritz of violet and lavender. Josh and Miles had been saving up for a few weeks and agonising over the scent for my birthday last year.
The pink bandgu wrapped around my chest and up over my shoulders over my comfortable boob tube. The skirt took a little longer to wrap and fold over the underskirt. The decorative 'pin' slid in against the fabric and I draped the length left loose over my left shoulder. The light fabric lined with silver thread and white accents against the soft pink and green flowed in the faint breeze.
A quiet knock got my attention. “Done in there?” Miles called over the one stone wall.
“Almost,” I sang back, tucking the draped end in tighter. I pat my hip where the pin showed off a lotus flower with pretty nacre petals glinting against red and gold. “Done. Ready spaghetti!”
I threw open the door and threw my favourite satchel of blue and silver over my shoulder. “Time to go eat! Crab for you, crab for me!”
“You're impossible,” He chuckled, and let one hook my elbow through his. “I don't know how you get that on so fast.”
“Talent,” I said and mimed flicking my hair over my shoulder. “Morgan doesn't know heads or tails with sarees, so I doubt she'd have it easy with these beauties.”
“She can't work zippers half the time so how can you expect her to figure this out?” Miles mused and pinched my cheek when I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Atlas won't like this.”
“And I would care, why?” I scoffed.
“If that's how you feel, I support you," He asswed and poked his tongue out at me in a rare show of childish tease.
“Well, brother dearest,” I drawled. “I want food. I demand sustenance.”
“Child,” He muttered, but cracked a tiny smile and led me up the steps. “Friends of yours?”
He nodded over to a few of the locals waving at us. I checked behind us, found no one there and waved back. “ One of the ladies helped me get used to these. They're really fun. You should join me some time while we're here. The weaver baba crafts the most gorgeous threads. Hey guys!”
“Niamh. Are you coming to dance practise next time?" Tol'sh called over and I nodded. “Bring your friend again.”
“Maybe if he isn't too busy looking at all your books on wildlife here,” I sang and giggled as we turned a corner and they disappeared from view.
“I don't understand; you've grown in so many ways. It's like you're past your cocoon phase,” He teased.
“So you're calling me a pretty butterfly,” I batted my eyelashes up to him and he pinched my nose.
“Or a silk moth. You can take it that way if you want,” He shot back. “Between you and J–Josh, the emotional whiplash here will send me straight back to my chiropractor.”
“I'll pay your fee,” I pursed my lips. “Oh, I wanna show you the writing above the hotel entrance. There's this inscription above the door.”
Mystery and potential things to study always got him excited. “What are you talking about?”
“It sounds like a tale and maybe a warning. I dunno, but it reads really melodic. Like a song,” I supplied.
“Oh shit!” Miles cussed, dragging me back and around a building used as an infirmary of sorts. “There's this girl who keeps trying to touch me. We need to go back. She's creepy and won't take 'no' for an answer.”
“Then I'm gonna tell her to back off,” I grabbed his arm and pulled him back in the direction of the clingy woman.
“Niamh, we don't…” He grimaced.
“We do! You are your own person and she can't go around touching you without your consent!” I shot back and watched as the bleached blonde packed up when she caught sight of us.
“This is a bad idea,” He cautioned.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmx7JWluid
