Sharing stories with Alex.

I had plans for that next Sunday. In the afternoon I would get together with the girls to have lunch, then go bowling and maybe sneak in some games at the arcade if the mood was good. We had some stuff to talk about. Before that, though, I had a promise to keep.

I was already at Knights of the Wheel, Alice’s brother’s shop. Closed on Sundays to the public, we had the place all to ourselves just to repair a single motorcycle. He lent me a clean coverall and we got to work.

For the first hour, Alex taught me some basic things about bikes and the tools we’d use. It was a lighthearted lesson, but one I still paid attention to. When he had enough of that and we had practically disassembled the entire bike, we got to talking about some more personal stuff. Before I knew it, he had gotten out of me most of the story of how my sister and I drifted apart before reconciling.

“That’s crazy to me,” he said as he examined some parts, setting away the ones that could be fixed from the ones that had to be thrown away. We were sitting on the floor across from each other. “I always thought twins were, like, inseparable or something.”

“We used to be, I guess,” I told him, cleaning the muffler with a rag as best I could. “Now we just go our own ways, though we have some projects together.”

“Oh yeah, Alice told me. Your music channel, right?”

I nodded. “She does the editing, handles the uploads, stuff like that. I just play the guitar.”

“Glad that you fixed things. Siblings fight all the time, sure, but a rift that big is just… sad.”

I smiled. “You and Alice are really close, huh?”

Alex laughed. “I was an annoyingly overprotective big brother. Even after she learned to walk I still watched her closely fearing she might fall on her face. I guess that got her really attached to me, ‘cause she’d follow me everywhere. For a long time I didn’t mind. I played with her all the time. But then I grew older, got into high school and priorities changed.” He sighed. “I started getting annoyed at her for no reason. Screamed at her not to follow me. Chose to hang out with friends and with girlfriends over spending time with her. I wouldn’t say we drifted apart, but I know I made her sad. I didn’t care at the time. Told myself she needed to grow up.” Alex clicked his tongue. “Great time I chose to ignore her. Just as she was becoming a woman.” He shook his head. “I met my wife at the street races. When I introduced her to my family, she immediately hit it off with Alice. Like, not only did she not mind having her around, she liked her company. It hit me like a sack of bolts. I shouldn’t have to choose between my family and my friends. I started hanging out with Alice again, and that’s when I realized my little sister was going through some awful shit. You could’ve stabbed me five times in the chest and I would’ve told you to keep going. Never been so mad at myself.”

“...” It was easy to empathize. I didn’t need to go through the exact same to understand how bad it must’ve hurt. “She’s doing well now.”

Alex smiled at me. “More than well, I’d say. But dammit, I didn’t bring you here to tell you stories about me. Come on, tell me more about you guys! How’s Alice when she’s with you all?”

“The voice of reason most of the time,” I told him. “She tries to moderate when we have drastically different opinions and sees the advantages in all sides. Also, she laughs at very random things.”

“RIGHT!?” he said, pointing at me with a headlight. “Her sense of humor is weird! She likes puns a lot.”

“I’m terrible with jokes. I can’t even think of puns.”

We continued talking, and the topic went from mostly Alice to the type of comedy we liked, then to what kind of shows we liked, to then recommending each other movies and shows.

It was only a couple of hours, but we had a good time and I could now name at least half of the parts that make up a motorcycle.

***

After that, I changed back into my regular clothes and went to the mall to meet the girls. We would have lunch at a restaurant there, the same Diana and I ate at on our first date. I was a little early, though, so I waited outside by the entrance to the building. It was like a small plaza, and watching the people walk past, I noticed I wasn’t the only one waiting. Friend groups, couples, families… I’ve heard that malls kind of died in lots of places, but this one, at least, is still a place for people to spend time. Maybe because there’s stuff like the cinema, the bowling alley and the arcade on the top floor, some good restaurants and the food court, department stores, and also a supermarket on the first floor. There were more reasons to come here beyond mindless window shopping.

Then I saw something… interesting. I’m not one for gossiping or caring much about other people’s personal lives, but this still caught my attention.

Eric was also here. I don’t think he had seen me, and he was restlessly looking at his phone every other second. Was he waiting for someone, too? I got my answer really soon.

A girl walked up to him. Short, plump body, big chest, long, dark brown hair. Cute, roundish face if a bit too heavy on the dark make up. She was wearing a back short-sleeve t-shirt, which showed that her left arm was fully tattooed from the wrist up. I recognized some artwork from the album covers of **** metal bands.

The two greeted each other cheerfully, though Eric seemed a lot more nervous than the girl. Still, she seemed in good spirits and the two went into the mall. Eric didn’t see me at all.

Well, what do you know? I didn’t want to assume anything, but still I wished him the best.

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