“Are you and your brother close in age?”
“We’re thirteen months apart. He’s older. Firstborn. We were always competitive growing up. He likes to one-up me where he can. I guess as most brothers do. But George takes it that much further. As the eldest, his birthday is before mine on the calendar. He would always find out what I desperately wanted for my birthday and ask for it so he would get it first. My parents wouldn’t buy the same thing twice, so I always missed out.”
Elle’s eyes widen upon hearing that story.
“It started off with toys, and as we grew, it then became about girls. I don’t think there was a girl I dated that he hadn’t tried it on with. He’s a charismatic guy, and they would always fall for his charms. He wanted what I had. Then came our first cars … he chose my dream car, got it, and rubbed it in my face. He then got into the university I wanted to get into, knowing full well that I wouldn’t go there because he would be there. The only thing that’s mine is my business. My brother works for my father, so that gives me some sense of satisfaction because he’s not the boss.”
“Honestly, that doesn’t sound like a stable person.”
“You learn to live with it. I’m so used to his antics now. I had to carve my own way because, as firstborn, he will inherit the family estate from my parents. As tradition dictates, it will be passed down to the firstborn son. Not like I care, I could buy ten estates of equal if not more value than our family’s, but the memories of growing up there he will taint them even more than he already has,” I say, dumping my family baggage right into her lap.
“I’m sorry, that’s horrible,” she says, sounding shocked by the entire thing.
“It is what it is with him. Can’t change your family, can you?” I say with a shrug.
“So true,” Eloise agrees. “What I don’t get is how those girls could fall for his antics? Most people know hooking up with your partner’s brother is off-limits.”
“Like I said, my brother can be charismatic.” Frankly, I don’t know what the girls I dated saw in him either.
“How did your ex fall for him? Especially considering as you two were engaged?”
“The explanation they gave me was they used to date at university.” Elle’s eyes widen in surprise over that tidbit of information. “They were never serious back then, but they did sleep with each other on and off their entire time at university. Once university was over, they went their separate ways until that fateful night I brought her home to meet the family. I thought there was no way George could use his usual antics, especially as he was serious about someone too. Miranda and I had been dating for over a year and a half before I felt comfortable bringing her home because ofhim.” I let out a sigh. “Apparently, that night they fucked in my brother’s childhood bedroom while his girlfriend and I were downstairs, seemingly unaware. He threw that fact in my face after we broke up.”
“That’s cruel,” Eloise says, shaking her head.
“That’s George.”
“How did you find out?”
“It was our anniversary. I got stuck in Greece due to the weather, so I was going to miss it. She was so angry with me because I had promised her I would be there. Then, for some strange reason, the weather cleared quicker than we thought, and I was able to get out earlier than I’d told her. I didn’t call her to let her know that I was coming home because I wanted to surprise her. You can imagine my surprise … finding my brother in our bed naked.”
Elle gasps. “That’s messed up.” I nod my head. “Why do your parents not say anything? I mean, they can’t excuse their son’s behavior, can they?”
“My dad sticks up for me occasionally, but I think Mum pretends it’s not happening because in her head, the image she always had of her family was a certain way, and because it’s not, she can’t handle it.” I love my mum, but it’s hard to get her not to straddle the fence. “Now that there’s a baby involved, they don’t want to rock the boat being it’s a grandchild.”
“If you can’t count on your family, then who can you count on?”
“True. Are you close with your family?” I ask, changing the subject of my fucked-up family.
“Nope. I was cut off at eighteen because I chose the modeling contract over university, and I’ve never spoken to them since,” she explains.
Well, damn, that’s cold. We’re more alike than I thought.
“Just like that! Done because of modeling?” I ask.
“Yep. I even saw them a couple of years ago at an event, and they pretended they didn’t know me.”
Well, that would have been painful.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was never a great relationship. I always felt more like a tick off their list of things they should be doing as humans, not that they wanted to be parents,” she adds.
For all my parents’ faults, I felt loved.
“That’s a horrible way to grow up,” I add.
“It is, and I would never do that to my children. But it made me who I am today and has given me the strength to go after what I want in life and have the confidence in myself that I can achieve it.”