Page 14 of Beautifully Broken
Enid
“How many times have I told you that you can donate online, Hoyer?” I hear Mace’s displeasure from the back, where I’m prepping lettuce buckets for the turtles. My brother would kill me if he knew that Conrad had shown up at least once every day this week to donate and check in on Bart.
“Just dropping off my donation, Bud.” Conrad throws back at my brother.
“Thanks, you can leave now.”
“Is your sister here?” He asks, and my heartbeat races in my chest. I kept telling myself that he was only coming in for the turtles but let’s be fucking for real, this man could care less about the turtles.
Honestly, I don’t want him to be here for the turtles; I want him to be here for me, but I can’t let him know that… Not yet, at least.
“Nope.” Mace’s voice is laced with malice, and I decide now is probably the time I should intervene.
“I’m here, whatcha need, Mr. Hoyer?” I say as I step through the metal doors, handing the buckets off to Mace who grumbles something that sounds an awful lot like, “This is bullshit” as he walks out back to feed the turtles.
“Just checking in.”
“For the seventh time this week?” I quirk an unimpressed eyebrow up at him.
“Saving the turtles is no joke, Ms. Quincy. You of all people should know that.” He volleys back.
“Got me there,” I laugh.
“So, have you changed your mind about giving me a chance?” He asks, and while I have thought about it, I still feel like I can’t take that chance.
“Not at all,” I smile brightly at him.
“Bubbles,” He groans, banging his head on the front desk .
“Why are you so desperate for me to give you a chance?”
He doesn’t get to answer because Mace is bursting through the back doors, making as much noise as possible to ensure that we know he’s present.
“You better get out of here, if he had laser beams for eyes, you’d be ashes, Hotshot,” I whisper so Mace can’t hear me.
He looks up from where he was pretending to bang his head on the desk, “I’ll be back, Bubbles.”
“I’m counting on it.” I wink at him causing a surprised expression to cross his face which he quickly masks, saluting Mace on the way out, who flips off his back as he exits.
***
“Aw, what the fuck!” Mace screeches when I overtake him in Mario Kart for first place.
“Haha, sucker.” I snort as the doorbell rings, “Pizza’s here!”
I quickly exchange my cash for our pepperoni pizza and pizookie, before closing the door and slipping back onto the couch with Mace.
This is our weekly tradition, we order takeout and play games until our fingers bleed.
I know that one day, my little brother won’t want to hang out with me like this so I will take advantage of it while I can.
“I’m not playing Mario Kart with you anymore,” Mace complains.
“Oh, come on, little brother, you know I’ve always been better at this than you. Plus, you're better at the shooty boom boom games, and I don’t complain about playing those with you.” I say, grabbing a slice of greasy goodness and taking a bite.
“You do, Sis, every time,” Mace says, mimicking my action.
“Fine, you’re right. This is my favorite time with you, don’t take it away from me.” I give my brother my pouty face.
“Ugh, you suck. Maybe we can try doing something else, a hockey game?” He asks with hope, and I don’t want to crush his dreams, but we barely scrape by as it is. Putting a large chunk of money into buying tickets would be hard to come back from.
“You know I—”
“Never mind. It was stupid to ask, I know we can’t afford that.”
“Mace,” I try again.
“No, Enid, it’s fine. I think I’m going to bed.” He grabs two slices for the road and leaves me alone on the couch for the evening.
Reaching for one of the pillows on the couch that I can scream into, I knock our controllers to the floor in the process.
“Fuck!” I finally get out.
Great . I can’t afford to replace them if I just broke them. Before putting our leftovers away, I assess the damage, and luckily, both are still in working condition. I spend the rest of the evening wallowing until I pass out.