The Neighborhood Series (The Neighborhoood)

by Tarrah Anders

  “You’re not?”

  “I don’t know what to do in regards to the reactions that we’re having toward one another.” I say adjusting myself in my seat. “There’s an attraction and I’m not sure if it’s because of familiarity, but I’m also man enough to admit that it’s there.”

  “Okay,” she says slowly nodding.

  “Let’s take this day by day. Let’s not try to define anything right now.” I take a bite out of my bagel.

  She nods her head and does the same. “Okay, I can work with that. And for the record, you’re a really good kisser.” She blushes.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Two weeks have gone by with Missy and myself spending time together. Oftentimes, we’re just two friends enjoying each other’s company getting to know one another again. Then there are those times where we end up making out on her couch instead of watching the latest episode of Shameless.

  We haven’t slept together since that one drunken night, but we’ve been close several times.

  She has met my mother and she’s hung out with me when I’ve hung out with friends from the bar. We’ve relaxed into a comfortable, albeit unnamed relationship.

  Right now, she’s in rare form as she sits in a booth with Valerie and one of Valerie’s co-workers. The ladies have been drinking heavy and while they look like they’re having a good time, Noah and I both agree its time to cut them off.

  Their last drink, they didn’t even notice that instead of a tequila and Sprite that we just gave them a Sprite - which was the indicator of their clear intoxication.

  We close down the bar and the last of the patrons have exited aside from Missy and Valerie. Noah and I slide beside them in the booth with a glass of water that we place in front of them.

  “You’re pretty.” Valerie slurs in Noah’s direction after she takes a sip of her water.

  “You’re pretty too. Now what has you ladies drinking so much tonight? Just because I’m the bartender, doesn’t mean that you should get sloshed, you know,” he says putting his arm around her shoulders.

  “I’m moving departments at Swerk and Miss Missy here is helping me in celebration.” Valerie holds up her glass to Missy to cheers.

  “Yeah!” Missy exclaims. “So, you’re him huh?” Missy slurs looking to Noah.

  “Yes, I’m her boyfriend.” Noah says smiling, “but we’ve met a dozen times and I think you already knew that.”

  “No, no. You’re him. His brother.” Missy drawls out the last word tilting her head in my direction.

  My body locks up at her words. I force myself to look at Noah and he looks at me with a very confused look. I’m shocked that she remembered that secret that I had told her long ago and forgot to mention to her that Noah, in fact still does not know this information.

  “I mean, we work together, so yeah.” Noah shrugs.

  My tongue is tied and I cannot find the words to stop the conversation.

  “No, you’re the brother. The one that was secret. Or were you the secret? I can’t remember, it was a long time ago that you told me this.” Missy swings her head to me.

  “What are you going on about woman?” Valerie leans forward in rapt interest.

  Noah looks over to me with his eyebrow quirked.

  “How drunk is she?” He laughs.

  “Oh I’m very sure I know where my car is parked, so I can’t be that drunk. Its home, it’s at home, that’s where my car is. Did you know that I really want Miles to sleep over tonight and do that thing that we did that one night?” Her glassy eyes tell the table.

  I finally find my voice. “Pay no attention to her, she’s getting mixed up.” I say.

  “No, you’re the bastard son. Your brother is this guy. I remember you telling me his name and that his family owned a bar. I forgot about it at first, but yeah. Bastard son is a bad way of saying that his dad porked your mom, but you know… they did and you came out and then yeah. So, you’re the brother, eh?” She swings her head to look at Noah.

  “Well, fuck.” I say.

  I would like to go back to last night, and just eliminate the entire conversation that occurred. I should have taken Missy home as soon as I got off work, that way my biggest secret wouldn’t have been revealed as it was. I can tell that Noah is itching to discuss what she was talking about, but ever since I’ve come in tonight, we’ve been slammed. It’s ladies night and there hasn’t been a moment of silence on my side of the bar or his.

  I can’t be mad at Missy for divulging anything, she didn’t know that Noah was unaware of my origins and I honestly forgot that I told her about that back when we were in college.

  Five Years Ago

  “I’ll tell you my secret, if you tell me yours,” she whispers across the large oak table. We’re seated in the library, taking a break from studying for our finals.

  “How do you know that I have a secret?” I ask her with a quirk of my eyebrow and a grin.

  “Everyone has secrets,” she shrugs. “It’s science.”

  “Science, eh? Well how juicy is your secret?” I ask her leaning in, my elbows on the table.

  “Oh, my secret is really good. Like it could ruin families.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

  “Do I really want to know something like that?” I question.

  “Everyone wants to hear somebody’s secret.” she responds with a flip of her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder.

  Remembering that day in the library is as clear as day now that I think of it. She told me that her parents paid the college for her to get into school. Her grades and test scores weren’t anything that would have granted her entrance into the school, so instead her father made a phone call and two weeks later she received an acceptance letter in the mail. She mentioned that she felt bad about the way that she was accepted and that’s why she did whatever she could to keep up her grades. And she did from what I saw.

  There was finally a dreaded lull in the night and Noah silently stands beside me with his arms crossed. We both look out to the space of the bar.

  “So, care to enlighten me on Missy’s drunken ramblings from last night?” He asks gruffly.

  “I’m not sure that this is the time or place to have a conversation about this shit, man.” I say, hoping that he will agree with me and it will buy me time to figure out how to tell him that he’s been working with his father’s illegitimate son for the past few years.

  Luck isn’t on my side though, not this time.

  “I think this is the perfect place to talk about this. I would agree that while we’re both working - it’s not ideal, but we’re here all night and we got to work with what we’re given. Wouldn’t you say so?”

  I look at him, his profile is tense, but I can tell it’s because he waiting for me to obliterate the world that he knew with the news that only I can provide.

  “You’re sure?” I ask one last time.

  His eyes meet mine and he nods, clenches his jaw and then releases a deep breath in anticipation.

  “Your father, he’s also my father.”

  There.

  I said it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Okay.” Noah says after a beat. “And you know this, how?”

  “Your dad, used to come to my home and visit us. He said that his life was complicated and that’s why he couldn’t be with us the way that most dads are. I didn’t know about you, or your mom growing up. And my mom never offered me any other explanations, and neither did he.” I say as evenly as possible.

  “How did you know he was my dad?” Noah asks.

  “I found out who he really was after he died. Mom was crying a lot and she told me about what happened and we couldn’t go to his funeral. She said that she wouldn’t be welcome because he had another family, a real family.”

  “Shit.” Noah says quietly.

  “Yeah, shit.”

  “You working here, you knew who I was when you applied and interviewed with me?” He asks as I nod.

  I put my hands up. “I didn�
�t start working here with any ill intentions. I needed a job, and I knew that even though he did not want me as his real son, that this was a way that I could be close to him. To be working in the place he owned and with … you.”

  “So you’re like what, my brother?” Noah looks at me for the first time since we started talking.

  “Yes.”

  “And your mom?” He questions.

  “I live with her, she’s sick - so I moved here after I graduated from college to take care of her. She took care of me, put everything she could into making sure that I had a great life growing up. So, I’m repaying her by helping her now.”

  “Did you have any intentions on ever telling me about any of this, or was the random chick that you’re currently hooking up with just spill the beans?”

  “First, she’s someone that I was friends with when I was in college in Hollybrooke. And I wanted to talk to you about it, but it’s a little girlish to even attempt to have a conversation like that. It’s not something to be discussed in passing. ‘Hey bro, and by that, I mean you’re my brother. Can you pass the bottle opener?’ Nah man, that’s a sit-down conversation.”

  Someone approaches the bar and I move first to give Noah a moment alone to digest. I take my time with the customer and when I turn back around, Noah still has his arms crossed over his chest and looks pissed. I approach him carefully as I lean back against the back of the bar.

  “I don’t want to be a complete dick and act out of line. Nevertheless, I’m going to need a few days, to let this shit sink in. Hearing that my dad stepped out on my mom isn’t that easiest of news and to find out that the dude I’ve been working side by side with is my little brother, shit man.” He starts, looking apologetically at me. “I’ll pay you for the rest of the week, but I can’t do this thinking with you around. No offense.”

  “You want to pay me to take the next few days off to give you space? Noah, you don’t have to pay me.”

  “No, I do. You’re not taking the time off yourself, I’m asking,” he says firmly.

  It’s not even close to the end of the night, it’s before midnight and we’ve still got a full bar. I can’t leave him to tend bar all alone.

  “I’ll finish up my shift here tonight and then, I guess you call me when you want me to come back in?” I say pushing off from my position beside him.

  “No. Effective right now. Like I said, this isn’t anything that you have any control over right now. My head is full of fucked up shit and I need to just be here, and focus. Go home and take care of your mom or something. I’ll call you in a few days, and we’ll talk outside of the Neighborhood. I’m not pissed, I’m fucking confused and -.”

  “It’s a lot to take in.” I finish for him.

  “Yeah.” He nods.

  My mom is sleeping on the couch when I walk into the house. The television is playing some Hallmark movie and all the lights are on. She’s wrapped in a blanket with a puke bucket beside her. I hate seeing the tough days where her medicine makes her sick. She tries to hide it from me as much as she can, but I still see it, I just pretend that I don’t.

  “Hey Mom,” I rub her shoulder lightly. “Mom, wake up. Let’s get you to bed.” I say as calm as I can despite the storm happening in my mind.

  She blinks her eyes open. “What time is it?” She asks groggily.

  “It’s eleven. You fell asleep on the couch.” I reply holding my hand out for her.

  “I want to say that you just left to go to work, why are you home? Did you get fired?”

  “No, I’ll tell you all about it in the morning. Let’s get you to bed.” I say motioning towards the hallway that leads to the bedrooms.

  “Nonsense. Something is bothering you, there’s no time like the present to talk about it. It will help get it off your chest.” She pushes my hands away, sits down and pats the space beside her.

  What’s up with people want to talk in the moment around here lately?

  I don’t want to talk to her about this, tell her that this entire time I’ve been lying to her about my job and my co-workers that I’ve spent time with and have gotten to know. But there’s no use in lying to her anymore. Not when Noah knows about this. Not when I’m going to be home for the next several days. As Noah does what he has to do to wrap his head around the fact that I am his little brother, the child of a woman and his devoted father.

  So, I take my mom’s hands in mine and face her. I took a deep breath and let everything fall from my lips as she listens, gasps, and cries. Then, she hugs me and tells me that everything will be all right.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Have you heard from him yet?” Missy asks while stirring whatever she’s cooking for dinner.

  I’ve been miserable for the past five days, waiting for a phone call and not knowing if and when it would come. Noah asked me to not come into work until he called and I am abiding by his wishes.

  My mom wasn’t too pleased that I was lying to her, but she seemed okay with the reasoning that I was working at the Neighborhood once I explained everything to her. She always wanted to provide the stable and functional family that every kid deserves, but on a single income and refusal to take any of my father’s money - she could only do so much.

  Missy and I have been spending a lot more time together over the past few days, and while she’s mortified over the beans that she spilled, she’s also questioned me on why I continued to keep the secret.

  Listening to her reasoning on secrets and hearing her recap how secrets tore her family apart, I understand why she has been questioning me.

  I have no excuses.

  There never seemed to be the right place or time to come clean and even if there had been a perfect moment, how the fuck would I have approached it? I can only now move forward, the truth is out there now and I just have to hope that I still have a job and a friend in Noah.

  “He said he would call me when he was ready. It’s not like I told him that I broke a glass, the guy just had his whole world turned around in a flash.”

  “I’m so sorry.” She says looking over her shoulder with regret.

  I stand up from my seat at her bistro table and walk up behind her. I wrap my arms around her middle, pull her against me and kiss the top of her head.

  “You had no idea that he didn’t know. I told you, I’m not and haven’t been upset with you in any way.” I say attempting to reassure her once again.

  She breathes in and presses her body back, sinking against me.

  “I know, I mean if I didn’t open my big drunken mouth-.”

  “I like your big mouth.”

  “You forgot that I said drunken.” She smiles turning in my arms.

  “I like it better when you’re sober, doesn’t make me feel like I’m taking advantage of hanging out with you.” I wink.

  She turns her body in my arms, wraps her arms around my neck, leans up on her tiptoes and kisses me gently.

  “I never would have thought that we would be here, together like this. Of course, I had hoped, but-.” I stop her by kissing her again; I don’t want to hear the buts and the doubts that could plague whatever this is that is being built between us.

  “I’m glad that this is where we are right now. I think everything happened the way that it should have to get us to where we are now.” I reassure her.

  “In that case, can we?” She starts.

  “Can we what?” I ask confused.

  “Can we get a little more… physical?” she asks nervously.

  I hold her tighter, smile and lean down to lightly kiss her. When our lips meet, it is tentative. She’s right to ask, we’ve been hanging out a lot, but ever since our drunken hook-up, we haven’t been intimate again. I’ve held her at a distance purposely to get to know her again, to let whatever this is happening between us happen organically. I just haven’t really let her in on that being my idea. I suppose that we’re dating, but we’re going about it slowly, very slowly.

  “Are you upset that we haven’t?”
I ask.

  She shakes her head. “No, I like that we’ve taken it slow. But I want more, I think I need more.”

  “You think that you need, more?” I ask with a smile.

  When she nods her head, I dip my head and capture her lips with mine again. My tongue licks the seam of her lips and when she opens, our tongues flick furiously together. My palms roam across her back, landing on her ass n and I hoist her up to deposit her on the counter behind me.

  Her legs wrap around my back pulling me closer to her and our kisses continue, growing more and more hungry. Until my ringtone echoes through the kitchen disrupting our moment. I ignore the ringing, but Missy has the forethought to pull away. With an authoritative glance, she looks between the phone and me.

  “It could be Noah,” she says pushing me toward the phone.

  Shit! I didn’t think about that.

  I leap for the phone just in time, slide my finger across the screen then scramble to put it against my ear as I almost lose my footing and fall face first on the floor, except Missy’s arms go to my hips and with super human strength and directs my body to the chair.

  “Hey man.” Noah starts. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you hanging, but do you think you can meet up tonight?”

  I don’t want to sound too eager, so I take a moment and clear my throat. “Sure man!” Nailed it!

  We agree to meet up at the breakfast diner down the street from The Neighborhood and hang up. I look over to Missy, she’s picking at her nails while waiting for answers.

  “Tonight, we’re going to meet up.” I say to her.

  “That’s great!” She smiles, takes a seat and scoots her chair closer to me so our knees are touching.

  “I hope so. We’re meeting at the diner in an hour. I’m sorry to, um, cut tonight short.” I say standing and wiping my hands down my pants.

  “Hey, this is what you’ve been waiting for since I met you, this is important. I’ll be here, wherever you need me when you need me.”