Catching Rainbows

17

My aunt's much-older brother came over the next day, which was always a problem.

He captured me in a sweaty, boozy embrace, then centered in on my little cousin, whom he saw as a challenge. Like a game. "Hey, pretty girl, come give Uncle Leonard a big hug!" he attempted.

Hailie hid behind me. "Why does he say that? He KNOWS I don't like to be hugged!" she whispered to me, distressed. 

"She says no thanks," I said, fake-politely. I shut the front door but it opened again immediately, because of course he'd made his son come.

The jerk just stood there, tall and awkward and disappointing.

All I could do was smirk. This asshole.

He at least had the good grace to look ashamed, but his conscience hadn't stopped him from getting together with my girlfriend. For all I knew they were still together. Needless to say, Jared and I weren't the closest of cousins anymore, though before his appalling act of disloyalty we'd been best friends. He didn't get along with his father and my house had always been a refuge.

But so too had my girlfriend's vagina, apparently.

"Hey," he said in general, looking down. He was big like his father, and completely masculine in his looks and demeanor, which made my so-called gay ex-girlfriend's adultery even more perplexing.

"Hi Jared!" Nathaniel said excitedly. Hailie had disappeared. "Want to see my Nerf gun that has twenty-four darts?"

"Sure," Jared said, shooting me a nervous, guilty glance, which bounced off my stony face as he passed.

I thought of walking in on them on Monica's bed, of standing there in shock while he tried to get his hand out of her thong. Fucking traitors. 

I breathed deeply for a few moments, my pulse racing, and my aunt appeared. She hugged me, smelling like wine. "It won't be for long," she said apologetically. 

I should have just taken Hailie and gotten out of there, but I didn't have the energy. She'd only slept four hours the night before, and while my aunt had gotten up with her at five, I hadn't gotten much sleep either. It was too hot to drive around with the sub par air conditioning and there was nowhere calm to go.

So yeah, trapped.

I was in the middle of cooking vegetable soup so I was at least able to escape to the kitchen, thank God. I dumped the cut-up potatoes and carrots into the large saucepan where yellow onions and garlic were already sizzling in a little coconut oil. In my large soup pot, the water was heating up, and I added several spoonfuls of chicken stock paste from a jar. 

I'd texted Chloe a few hours before and hadn't heard anything back. Was she busy? Had I imagined the whole night before? Did she just mean to apologize and plan to stay away? 

That would be easiest probably. But I selfishly hoped it was not the case. I knew she worked at The Splash Zone several days a week, so maybe she was there. 

"We could use a couple of cold Cokes out here, kiddo," my uncle called, and I rolled my eyes as I set the timer. I got a soda out of the fridge where we kept a few in the crisper for him and brought it out, ignoring Jared where he sat on the rug with Nathaniel surrounded by foam ammo.

I wished one was real so I could put it through his backstabbing eye. How many times had he listened to me go on and on about how much I loved her, God. Humiliation wrung my heart. I didn't even know how long they'd been at it before I caught them, because I hadn't spoken to either of them since.

Leonard noticed the soda slight. "Now, don't tell me the two of you still aren't speaking." My uncle asked with mirth. It had been over a year, and he knew damn well we weren't speaking. He just wanted to start shit. "Whatever you got into it over, it can't be that bad. You're cousins, make up and move on."