Opposites Attract

“You take way too much shit, M and M.”

That was how the conversation started; one friend calmly telling the other that she puts up with too much. How did it end? Two brothers, fists drawn, ready to kill each other. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though. We’re still at the two friends part of the story. The two friends, if you haven’t guessed, were Joe and I.

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking up from my laptop.

“I mean Kevin is being an ass and you’re just letting him,” he replied sitting next to me.

“He’s being an ass?” I repeated obliviously.

“YES! You told him you didn’t want to be the girl on the side and he completely ignored you. It doesn’t matter if Eva’s not here; the fact is he’s dating her. Not you. The Emma I met back in LA would have never stood for this,” Joe said, almost sadly.

“Are you saying I’ve changed?” words angrily spilled for my mouth.

“No. I’m just saying you’re not who I thought you were,” he sighed and put his head in his hands.

He looked a little bit more than upset. Was that my fault? I closed my eyes and tried to remember the last couple of times we’d hung out together. It had been longer than I’d thought. Had I neglected him? Joe rubbed at his eyes furiously and it dawned on me that he was trying to hide the fact that he was crying.

“Who’d you think I was?” I asked softly.

“I thought you were headstrong, loud, borderline obnoxious at times, and a whole lot of fun. I thought you were pushy, but in a good way if that’s possible. I thought you were one of a kind, amazingly beautiful, and the type of girl who wouldn’t take crap from anyone. I thought you were something special. I guess I was wrong,” Joe took a deep breath as he finished and put his head in hands again.

A few seconds passed in silence before he looked up at me again. Wordlessly, I took his hands in my own and laced our fingers together. I still didn’t know what to say but I knew I had to say something. He was right, I had changed. When he met me, I was everything he said I was. Not anymore.

“I can be all those things again,” I whispered.

Joe pulled his hands out of my grasp and scowled. “No you can’t. Not if you’re still playing games with Kevin.”

“I really like him,” I said softly.

“What’s his favorite color?” Joe shot back.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled.

“What his favorite food? Favorite movie? Favorite band? Favorite book? Favorite ice cream flavor? What’s his birthday? What’s his shoe size? Is he a lefty or a righty? How long has he been playing guitar? What’s his middle name? Where does he like to shop? Do you know any of that, Emma?” Joe practically yelled.

“No,” I answered under my breath.

“And do you think he knows anything about you?” he continued to shout, “Do you think he knows that your favorite color is green, you like Italian food, and your favorite movie is The Dead Poets Society? Do you think he knows that you like The Maine, you’ve read The Perks of Being a Wallflower four times, or that you can’t pass up vanilla ice cream with gummy bears on top? He doesn’t know that your birthday is September 30, 1990, you’re a size 7 shoe, or that you write with your left hand. He doesn’t know that you’ve been playing guitar since you were 10, your middle name is Louise, or that you like PacSun and Hot Topic. He doesn’t know that your eyes change from green to blue when you’re mad. He doesn’t know that you cross your arms in front of yourself when you lie. He doesn’t know that when you smile you only have one dimple and it’s on your left cheek. He doesn’t know any of that.”

“How do you know all those things about me?” I asked, slightly in shock.

“Because you told me,” Joe yelled, “You talk to me. You don’t talk to Kevin; you just suck his face.”

“That’s not true,” I said evenly.

“You cuddle on the couch and sleep in his bunk, but you DON”T talk to him,” Joe screamed, “That’s why you don’t know anything about him and he doesn’t know anything about you.”

“That’s not true,” I repeated.

“Deny it all you want Emma, but you know it’s true. You and Kevin have nothing beyond a physical relationship,” he stated coldly. “And you deserve better than that.”

I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, but let’s not kid ourselves, he was completely right. I could feel my eyes start to sting and the tears starting to well up. I tried to blink them back but they fell anyway. Tiny rivulets stained black by mascara. I raised my hands to wipe them away, but Joe did it for me.

“Why would you want to be his second choice when you could be my one and only?” he asked and then pressed his lips against mine.

“But JT would get …” I trailed off, pulling away from his sweet kiss.

“Forget JT. If she was really your friend, she wouldn’t care,” he whispered and kissed me again.

His big amber eyes bore holes into my green orbs as he rested his forehead against mine. The ghost of a smiled graced his lips. It was quiet. Everyone had gotten off the bus to check out the venue a long time ago. It was just us here, so I kissed him again.

Kissing Joe was nothing like kissing Kevin. Kissing Kevin was fast and hungry and secretive. Kissing Joe was slow and sweet and somehow still filled with more passion than I’d ever felt before. Kissing Joe was magic.

“Am I interrupting something?” an angry voice cut through the silence.

Joe and I spun around so fast that I almost fell over. Kevin was glowering in the doorway.

“What is this?” he growled, pointing at mine and his younger brother’s intertwined hands, “You’re cheating on me?”

“Well if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black,” Joe chuckled.

“There are no pots or kettles involved. That’s just MY girlfriend kissing YOU,” Kevin said angrily.

“Your girlfriend? That’s a laugh. Emma was just your dirty little secret, she was never your girlfriend,” Joe stated through clenched teeth.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Joseph,” Kevin shot back.

My head was throbbing; pounding really. And their yelling was not helping the situation. And Joe was right. About everything. Kevin didn’t like me the way I thought I liked him. He didn’t even know me.

“What’s my favorite color?” I asked, thinking that maybe if he knew, just maybe, everything wasn’t as screwed up as it seemed to be.

“I don’t know. Pink?” he guessed.

Joe gave me an I-told-you-so look and my eyes watered up again. How could I have been so wrong?

“Green,” Joe said, just as he had earlier.

“Just stay away from her,” Kevin hissed and tried to take my hand.

I pulled it away.

“I don’t think she wants me to,” Joe shot back and wrapped his arm around my waist.

Kevin’s balled his hands into tight fists at his sides. Joe glared at him menacingly. It felt like they were playing tug of war with my brain.

“Don’t make me do something I’ll regret,” Kevin warned his younger brother.

Joe laughed. “I wouldn’t regret it,” he stated in an eerily calm voice and pulled me closer.

“Joseph Adam, don’t touch her!” Kevin yelled.

That was it. That was my breaking point. I’d had enough mental tug of war.

“Both of you stop!” I shouted, “I’m not talking to either one of you until you idiots work this out!”

I ran out of the bus as fast as I could and almost knocked over JT. Dani and Nick weren’t far behind her.

“Don’t go in there,” I warned them, “it’s a danger zone.”