Beautiful Mistakes

"I need to speak with Julie," Matt replied.

"No," Aaron responded, not even bothering to ask Julie is she wanted to speak to him or not.

Scoffing, Matt said, "What are you, her secretary? Julie!" he called into the apartment.

"Go away," Julie called back, not moving from the couch.

Aaron smiled. "See, she doesn't want to talk to you. Now leave."

"I brought her stuff back. This isn't my stuff, Julie, I bought it for you," he said loudly enough so that she could hear him.

"I don't want it," Julie stated. "You can take your earrings and everything else and go to hell—I don't want to talk to you and I don't want to see you. Leave me alone."

"I bet you're enjoying this," Matt muttered to Aaron.

"A little," Aaron admitted.

"What did you say to her? Why the hell would you do that to me?" Matt asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was telling your mistress the truth about you a bad thing?" Aaron asked with a touch of sarcasm. "Damn, I guess I'm a bad brother."

"This is my life that you're fucking with," Matt stated, his voice hard and cold.

"Doesn't feel real good, does it?" Aaron responded smoothly.

With a guffaw, Matt said, "So that's what this is? You're using Julie to get back at me? Julie, don't trust him!" Matt called to her.

Scowling, Julie stood up and walked over to stand behind Aaron. "Look, I'm not deaf—I can hear you. Just… go, Matt. I don’t want you here. Go back home to your wife."

"He's lying to you to get back at me, Julie. He doesn't care about you."

Frowning, Julie wondered what the hell that had to do with anything.

"Oh, fuck off, Matt," Aaron said, his tone less than tolerant.

Matt held out the box of stuff, looking past Aaron to Julie. "I want you to have this stuff. I bought it for you, Julie, I didn't want it back."

Aaron took the box from him, stating, "I'll give it to her. You can go home now."

Meeting his brother's gaze, Matt shook his head and said, "What you're doing is pretty low, don't you think?"

"Kicking you out?" Aaron asked, intentionally misunderstanding. "No, not really. You've got your money and I've taken care of your mistakes, so at this point I don't see any reason why you should call or come near me or my home again. We're no longer brothers. Have a nice life."

As the door was shut in his face, Matt called to Julie, "Don't trust him, Julie! He's using you to settle a score."

And then Aaron locked it, turning around and handing the box off to Julie. "Here you go."

"I don't want that stuff," she said, glancing up at the closed door.

"Then hawk it," he said. "I'm sure it's worth something."

Glancing at the box, she considered that. She hadn't really thought of the monetary value of any of the gifts, but Aaron had a point.

"Pawnshops, eBay—I'm sure you can sell it. Use it to buy a crib or pay on tuition," he suggested.

Julie nodded and put the box down, but she felt distracted as Matt's last words echoed in her head. "He's using you to settle a score."

Those words of warning upset the little "Do Not Open" box that she had set aside in her mind for Aaron, and for another moment one of those seeds of doubt had a growth spurt, leading Julie to wonder if she was making a mistake.