Bad Seed

“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

“You know exactly what it means,” Josh said. “I’ve seen you work your way through women for two years now, Michael. I’m not an idiot.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said. “Dumping Julie was pretty idiotic.”

“Well, it worked out pretty well for you, didn’t it?”

My own anger was growing by the second.

Josh and I clearly weren’t ready to have a civil conversation. I knew he would be angry, pissed even, but I never imagined he would be this nasty.

“Julie means a lot to me,” I said simply. “She’s not like the other girls I’ve been with.”

“You’re right,” Josh said. “She’s not, because she was my girl first.”

“Do you hear yourself?” I asked. “You sound like a petty little bitch, Josh.”

“Whatever, Michael,” Josh snapped. “I don’t have anything else to say to you.”

“Fine,” I said. “We don’t have to talk.”

I was ready to hang up when Josh exhaled sharply and caught my attention again. Despite what he said, he clearly wasn’t done yelling at me.

“Whatever happens between you and Julie,” Josh said. “You at least owe her the truth.”

“The truth?” I asked, my throat tightening.

“You know what I mean,” Josh said. “She’s not something for you to play around with. She’s better than that. She’s better than you.”

“She’s better than both of us,” I said. “That much is clear.”

“Just tell her the truth,” Josh said again. “If you really care about her as much as you claim to, then tell her everything.”

“This is none of your business,” I said. “You broke up with her. She’s no longer your concern.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Josh hung up on me without another word. I pulled my phone away from my ear and stared down at it, shocked and appalled by Josh’s nerve. Who the hell did he think he was?

I was fuming as I jumped out of my chair and began pacing around the room. Part of me wanted to call Josh back and lay into him. I wanted to scream at him, call him out for all the bullshit things he did to Julie while they were dating. She’d told me enough about their relationship that I felt justified standing up for her.

But just as I was about to grab my phone off my desk, I stopped myself. Getting into yet another fight with my brother wouldn’t help anything. Things between Julie and I were already up in the air. I hadn’t heard her voice in over twenty-four hours, and it was killing me.

Instead of calling Josh, I called Julie again. The phone rang a few times before she finally picked up.

“Hello?” she said. Her tone was soft, almost nervous.

“Hey, you,” I said. “I’ve been trying to call you all morning.”

“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry. Work’s been insane since you left yesterday.”

“Did you get a new assignment?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Julie said. I waited for her to continue, to give me something else to go on, but she didn’t.

We sat on the phone, neither saying a word, for what felt like an hour. Every time I opened my mouth to speak, I closed it again for fear of sounding stupid.

“Well,” I said. “I guess I should let you get back to it.”