After we get her last boba of the day, Hannah and I go crazy buying snacks in a grocery store then find a hotel for the night. The hotel has cable so we settle on our twin beds in our animal PJ's with all our snacks and watch the start of the NBA finals. She goes hard for the Warriors while I'm a LeBron fan, and we share some light-hearted insults up until it's clear that the Warriors have this game and she bullies me until I fall asleep.

It's really early when I wake up the next morning, and it's still early when I'm out of the shower and ready for the day. Even though I'm bored, I decide not to disturb Hannah and open the book she gave me instead, getting through a few verses before she wakes up.

"What's happened so far?" She says, sitting up and stretching.

"I don't really know?" I scratch the back of my head. "I think he just bit his hand and drank his blood to talk to someone? It's weird."

"Yeah, he did that out of desperation."

"So desperate that he had to drink his own blood? Nasty." I pull a face, happy when she laughs. "These old timey men are weirdos."

"You're not wrong."

We stop and get Hannah some more bubble tea before we leave, joining the traffic out of D.C and onto New York. Hannah is quiet next to me, messing up and solving the Rubik's cube over and over. She seems down, so I just let her mope and play the Grease soundtrack softly through my speakers. The quiet gives me time to think about everything.

It's almost been a week since we left, and now we're closing in on New York. I'll be with Chloe and we'll hang out like old times. But then what? What happens when I get home? What will my mom do? I haven't even spoken to my mom since I left. I don't know what I'm gonna say to her when I call her once we get to New York. If I call her. No, I have to call her. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't call her.

"Do you know what I've always really wanted to try?" Hannah asks.

"What?" I reply, kind of relieved that she's said something now. The Rubik's cube is done again.

"I've always wanted to try eggs and peanut butter."

I have to do a double take, and the car jerks a little when I do. "You what?!"

"Eggs and peanut butter. Together." She says thoughtfully. "I like eggs and I hate peanut butter. But when I'm on my period, I really crave 'em both, so I've always wanted to try it out."

"You're sick." I say. "Won't that make your... period worse?"

"Why the big pause before period, Nate? You scared of a little blood?"

My eye twitches by itself. She bursts into loud laughter. Even though it's annoying that she's laughing at me, I'm happy to see her in a better mood. It's not as fun hanging out with her when she's not in a good mood.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"Don't be annoying."

"What's the question?"

"Are you really not into Chloe?"

"I don't think so." I shrug.

"So, you might be?"

"I don't know. I don't think I still am though." Her eyes widen, and I realise what I've just admitted. "No – I – okay, I used to like her. One of those embarrassing one sided things like in that Frank Ocean song. What's the word that means one sided love?"

"Unrequited." Of course she knows it.

"Yeah. But then she started dating Reese, and I had to move on because that's messy. I haven't seen her since spring break and I wasn't into her back then but I don't know if that'll change when I see her today. You know? Because my feelings could just change. And then where would I be? Could you say something so I shut up?"

She's just nodding and it's making me sweat. I shut up anyway.

"Can I ask you another something?" She says after a short pause.

"If it's not about Chloe, sure." I think I am blushing.

"Is Reese your actual brother or is he your friend that you call a brother?

I didn't expect that.

"Because I've heard you call him both." She continues when I don't answer right away. "And a few days ago, when I asked, you didn't really answer me. And it's so... odd. If I'm being nosy just say. We can talk about something else."

"It's okay." I mumble, feeling a little warmer. "He's actually my, er, my half-brother. We share a... Mr. Saluzzo."

"Oh, right, okay." Then it clicks for her. "Wait, my neighbour, Mr. Saluzzo? Your Reese is Reese Saluzzo? Tall, skinny boy with all the hair?"

"You know him?" Of course she knows him. Reese makes himself known to everybody.

"Sure! His mom invited me to dinner a week after I moved in with Kimmy. I think she thought we'd become friends or something, but he didn't even laugh at any of my jokes. And before you start, I know I was funny because his sister was in tears all night."

Then she looks at me. Like, she really looks at me, studying my face like it's a book she likes.

"Now you mention it, I see the resemblance."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Y'all got similar noses. And your eyes are kinda similar too, save for the colour." She finally stops looking at me. "No wonder you mention him so much. He's your brother. Duh."

"I didn't know we were brothers until a few weeks ago."

Hannah does a double take. "Wait, what?"

"They sprung it on me on graduation night." I admit. I don't know why I'm telling her all of this right now but I feel like I have to. I have to tell someone that doesn't already know. I can't stop the words from spilling out. "Before that, he was just my childhood best friend. It was me, him and Chloe all the time, but then Reese found out last year when he graduated from high school and he stopped talking to me."

"What!" Her mouth is wide open. "He didn't tell you?"

"No, he didn't. I was the only one that didn't know. And then, they tried to make it seem like I was overreacting because I was angry that everyone kept it from me."

"That sucks, dude. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

She sighs and goes back to her Rubik's cube, leaving the car silent again. I turn up the air conditioning to make sure that my cheeks cool down. I don't know what to do now that I've told her, but I feel relieved.

Hannah completes the Rubik's cube and puts it in the front. "So, what now?"

"What do you mean 'what now'?"

"You and Reese. And Mr. Saluzzo, 'cuz he's the real enemy here. What now?"

"Nothing." I tell her. "I haven't really spoken to them since they told me."

"Are you serious? You have to speak to them, they're your father and brother!"

"No I don't." I reply, not liking her tone of voice. It's like she's telling me off. I begin to regret telling her in the first place. It was private, not even Chloe knows.

"Um, yeah? You do." She scoffs. "I mean, you gotta know where you stand with them. Especially Mr. Saluzzo. That's your dad, Nate. Even if it's terrible that you've known him your whole life and he didn't tell you your true relation to him, you have to at least talk."

She's said all of that, but I really didn't ask. And she keeps talking. Lecturing me. I start feeling irritated. When I sat and listened to her talk about her grandma, I didn't offer what I think she should do. Why isn't she just doing the same to me?

"Is that why we're going to New York? To get away from that?"

I shrug. I feel like if I say something, neither of us will like how my voice sounds.

"You did, didn't you? What's that going to solve –"

"Look. Hannah." I interrupt. "Thanks, but no thanks. You don't get it, and you don't get to tell me what to do. So please don't because it's not helping. At all."

She opens her mouth once, then closes it. Then she opens it again. Before she can speak, I turn up the music and let the Grease soundtrack tell her that I'm no longer in the mood to talk.

☼ ☼ ☼

My car is low on gas about an hour later, so I pull into a rest stop just outside Philadelphia. I'm still annoyed and Hannah's picked up on that, so she's been reading her book for the past hour. When I stop by a pump, she looks around and her face lights up.

"Mind if I go to the bookshop they have here?" She says.

"Go on. I'll park my car somewhere and find you, we can grab an early lunch." I say. My voice still sounds sharp, grumpy, but she still smiles at me anyway like it doesn't matter. Then, she rushes out of the car and across the parking lot towards the bookstore.

I try to curb my temper as I fill up my tank and pay with my debit card. After, I get into my car and park across from the gas station, then send a message to my co-worker Chris asking him to cover my shift again this afternoon. Chris is cool with it, and tells me he'll cover me next week too.

I take a deep breath and then get out of my car. The bookstore's big but it's still cosy in here, and there's a lot more people than I would've thought. There's a coffee shop in the back, and I see Hannah there talking to the barista. I slow down on my way to her because I know I'm going to have to apologise for being snappy and listen to her talk books for an hour. And I don't really want to do both those things right now.

So I stop and look around, trying to feel normal and regain my patience.

Currently, I'm in the classics aisle. I pick up a copy of The Great Gatsby and think back to when I had to read it in the tenth grade. I don't remember it, but I know I liked it because it was so short, and Kel loved it. Then, on the other side of the aisle, I see The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. My mom likes her and the name of the book reminds me of me, so I pick that up too.,

There's a copy of Pride and Prejudice and I get that because we're near Chloe and I haven't even gotten her anything. Then I think of her roommates, so I pick up one of those smartly placed share bags of candy, and because I don't think that's enough, I get two more. But then I want one for myself so I get one extra. And then I remember that Hannah's into sweet stuff too, so what's one more gonna do?

I'm carrying a lot of stuff by then. So I grab a basket by the front and put all my stuff into it, ignoring the look that one of the attendants gives me probably because of all the candy I have. Then, I go in search of Hannah.

She's reading at a table in the coffee shop, sipping on some iced coffee. She still smiles when she sees me, and her smile gets bigger when she sees my basket.

"Got enough candy there, Fish boy?"

"Relax, some's for you." I sit down at her table and stretch my legs. "And some gifts."

"Books?"

"Yeah. One for Chloe, my mom and Kel."

"Which ones?" I show them to her. "Kel reads Toni Morrison?"

"That's for my mom. Gatsby is for him, he really likes the book."

"That's nice of you." She says after flicking through the books. "Books are great gifts. So is candy."

I shrug. Hannah goes back to her own book and I just sit there like a tool.

"Hey." I say after a while. She looks up. "I'm sorry."

I expect her to do that thing that people do, when they draw out your apologies and make you squirm. When you have to say exactly what you're apologising for, and they won't let you live until they're happy with your apology. That's what I always do.

But Hannah's not like me. Instead she just smiles and picks up her coffee.

"It's alright. I'm sorry too."

I'm tempted to do that thing, but I don't. I just smile too.

On our way out of the store, I see a huge binding for the complete series of Watchmen. Instantly I'm thinking of Reese. He loves comic books, and it's not too expensive. I could get it. Should I get it?

"See something you like?" Hannah asks, peering around me.

I shake my head. "Nah."

a/n:

my next challenge is to update at a reasonable time

but at least I updated!