all over each other in the weekend?

At the coffee machine in the hallway things got even worse. “You didn’t have to put me down in front of

dad,” David told me.

“Well your doing a great job of screwing things up in front of him yourself.”

“It beats sucking up to him all the time like you do,” he replied.

“You’re accusing m e of sucking up to dad? You’re the one whose entire life is centered around

pleasing dad!” I almost yelled, “You’ve been sucking up to dad ever since you came to live with us, just

admit it. You’ve played football and went to Columbia to study law just because you thought that dad

might like it.”

“I wanted to go to law school. You’re the one who didn’t even want to study law!”

“Well I did,” I said and continued with “And who’s the better lawyer of us now!”

I regretted saying that last thing as soon as it slipped out of my mouth. David didn’t respond, he just

picked up his coffee and went back to his office. He didn’t talk to me anymore for two whole days.

But then it was Sunday again, the days were flying, and I didn’t feel like going to our parent’s place. I

knew that Juliette was expecting me to come so I felt obliged to go anyway.

On Sunday we had to sit opposite each other at the dinner table. David was still furious. Brad tried to

brighten the mood at the table by entertaining my dad and keeping dad’s attention away from David and

me. “It’s just like old times again,” David finally said, so quietly that my dad didn’t hear him. “You’re

back and acting like a jerk again.”

“I’d rather be a jerk than incompetent,” I shot back at him. “Fuck you!” he said and that my dad did

hear.

“What’s wrong with the two of you again?” my dad said. “Don’t start this bullshit like you did at the

office this week. The secretaries were talking about your little dispute near the coffee machine. I won’t

have unprofessional shit like that at the firm. The two of you better be polite to each other!”

Brad looked helplessly at Christine. She and Juliette didn’t even respond to our dinner table squabbles

anymore.

After that dreadful dinner Christine helped Juliette to clear the table. My dad poured himself a cognac

and gave David, Brad and me a glass too. I gulped it down quickly. “Just shake hands and don’t let this

affect your work on Monday,” my dad told us. We shook hands reluctantly.

“I’ll go and see if I can help my mom in the kitchen,” David said and he dashed away. I knew that he

couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as dad and me anymore.

David and I were polite to each other at work the rest of the week, just like my dad had ordered us. I

tried to ignore his angry glances at me and closed the door to my office so that I didn’t have to see him in

the hallway. He didn’t bring me coffee that week…

The next Sunday I tried to think of a good excuse not to go for dinner. I couldn’t think of anything. It

would be too weird for me not to show up.

David wasn’t there yet when I arrived so I sat down to talk to Brad and Christine. The twins were

reading a graphic novel together; I think it was one of David’s old ‘Spawn’ comics. He’d left a whole pile

of them at home when he left for New York.

“So how are things at work?” Christine asked me. “I heard from Brad that you and David are annoying

each other again.”

“It’s nothing,” I said.

“Well be a good boy and try to be nice to him today. I hate it when you are fighting at the table, it puts

me off my appetite.”

“I’ll try.”

“You’d better,” she said. “I know you like David a lot more than you want us to believe.” She laughed.

I forced a smile on my face.

Then the doorbell rang and David came in. He’d really made an effort to look nice today. He was

wearing neat jeans and a crisp white shirt. It was time to make amends; I didn’t feel like fighting for a

whole Sunday again. I stood up from the couch to say ‘Hi’ to him. “Hi,” he said back, he was smiling and

I could see in his eyes that he wasn’t so angry anymore.

“That’s a really nice shirt,” I said.

“Thank, it’s a Hugo Boss, they had them on sale.” Without thinking I picked up a loose hair from his

shoulder. I could hear him hold his breath as my hand brushed over his shirt.

“You look nice too,” he said in a low voice so that only I could hear him.

“Are we good again?” I asked. He nodded. His eyes still looked sad.

“Let’s go outside for a while.”

We walked outside and leaned against the wall next to the outside dinner table. “Did you mean what you

said?” he asked. I shook my head. “Of course not.” I put my hand on his arm. “I’m sorry about what I said.

It’s just that you annoy me hopelessly sometimes.” I ruffled up his hair with my other hand. “And why is

that?” he asked softly. “Because you’re such a good boy all the time. Sometimes it’s just like in high

school when you were every teacher’s pet.” He opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it.

That’s what I like about you too though; that you’re always such a good boy. You try to stick up for people

who are less fortunate and you are always doing what you believe is right. You’re such a nice guy.”

“Am I?”

“Yeah you are,” I said.

“Being a nice guy sounds pretty boring,” he said.

“You are not.”

He put his hand on my shoulder and looked serious. “You can be a nice guy too…when you want to,” he

said. “I’m trying today,” I replied. “I’ll try to be nicer at work too,” I whispered in his ear.

“So do you want the shirt?” he asked me.

“What?”

“It looks nice on me, but it would look even better on you.”

“You just bought it, you should keep it.”

“No, I want you to have it. I’ll trade it for the one you’ve got on now.”

The shirt that I had on was nice too, but kind of old and not nearly as expensive as David’s shirt.

“Are you sure?” I asked, but he’d already started unbuttoning his shirt. I started unbuttoning mine too.

Of course I’d seen him without his shirt thousands of times, but the sight of his naked chest, his bare

shoulders and perfect arms still made me catch my breath. He offered me his shirt and I gave him mine.

He smelled the collar before he put it on.

“It smells nice, what kind of aftershave are you wearing?”

“It’s the big Hugo Boss bottle, I still haven’t finished it.”

“You used to wear this back in New York right? I remember your sheets smelled like this,” he said and

then he blushed. We never talked about the things that had happened back in my old apartment. I put on the

new shirt.

“It looks good on you,” he said with a smile.

“Let’s go inside,” I said. “I think Juliette is putting dinner on the table.”

We went inside to eat and after dinner, Brad and Christine talked some more about their wedding plans

with our parents. David and I snuck upstairs to listen to a new album he bought. We hadn’t done this in

forever; just be in his old bedroom together and listen to music. I sat on his old bed and he put the CD in

the CD player. It felt weird being back here in this room after all this time. The room had never changed

much since David had left for New York. There were still the same posters on the walls and his stuffed

animals and his little Star Trek figurines looking down on us from the shelves. He sat down next to me on

the bed. The extra weight made the springs squeak. We listened to the first couple of songs on the album

without saying anything. The atmosphere was tense.

“It’s a nice album,” I finally said. “A bit more moody then their older work maybe.”

“Yeah you’re right,” David said and then he put his hand on my arm. “About what I said this