It had been a busy day at the car shop all afternoon. Julius was finally able to settle down and relax more as I was wrapping up the work under the last car of the day.

I hear his phone go off again. He had been ignoring it most of the day. "Are you going to get it this time?" I ask.

"What?" I hear his muffled voice from above the car.

I pull my weight with my legs to slide myself out from under the car. "I said are you going to get it this time?"

He gives a lazy look at his phone. "Nah. Voicemails got it."

"You got an attention-deprived girlfriend I don't know about?" I push.

"You got an attention-deprived mother actually. Don't worry about my girlfriend," he says before he shoves me back under the car.

I pull myself out again and sit up all the way. "She's been calling you all day?"

He shrugs. "On and off all week."

I know that bothers him. Julius isn't the type to turn a blind eye to someone who needs help. "You doing okay with that?"

"Just peachy man." He nods a head towards me. "How's Briar doing?"

I click my tongue. "If I can't worry about your girlfriend, don't-" I stop myself right there. Not a second before Julius catches the meaning.

The smirk that snaps into place makes me want to slap it off his face. "Alright, relax. You know I didn't mean-"

"No, no," he cuts me off. That smirk is slowly turning into a full-on smile. "Go ahead, Roman. Say what you mean."

I chuck my oil towel at him and he catches it with a burst of laughter. "Hey seriously though. There's nothing embarrassing about it. So what if you almost referred to her as your girlfriend?"

"That's not what I did."

"So you don't want her to be your girlfriend?" He challenges.

"That's not... what I'm saying either..." I let out slowly and embarrassingly. I never imagined I would be having this conversation with anyone... Ever. I lay down again and try to push myself back under the car but Julius slams his foot on my roller to keep me from moving.

"Come on," Julius pats the spot next to him. "Give your bestest older brother the run down."

I roll my eyes and take my sweet ass time getting up from the roller. "Okay," I huff out. "It's like at first, she was just this weirdo with a pretty face, alright? Then I started noticing how others were treating her and it didn't make sense. The more I paid attention, the more I realized there was a lot more to her."

"And now it's like I'm always thinking about her. Even before she opened up so much and then now that she did, all I want to do is make sure she's okay. It's like I have this... pull towards her and I can't get her out of my head."

Julius nods his head slowly. "Well, what do you like about her?" He asks as if he's truly listening and not just teasing me anymore.

"She's kind. Way kinder to me than I deserve. She's funny... in the most ridiculous ways. Her smile lights up her whole face. She does this thing where she blinks harder when she's confused. She knows way too many fucking fun facts, drives me crazy sometimes. She's just... good, a really good person. And she's strong, Jules. One of the strongest people I know."

He doesn't say anything right away. A smile lingers on his mouth before he opens it. "Sounds like you're walking up to the doorstep of l-o-v-e, little brother."

"Shut up, man." I throw his arm away as he tries to reach up and tousle my hair. "What do I even do? I've never-" I struggle with my words. "I do like her. I don't know what to do."

"You talk about your feelings lover boy." I full on frown at his response. I can feel it in my face. "Or, since you're such a baby and don't know how to talk about your feelings, you can show her."

"Show her how?"

"Well, I don't know. A grand gesture?" he guesses. "Have the two of you ever had a moment?"

"I haven't kissed her if that's what you're asking."

"Do you want to?"

"Obviously," I roll my eyes. Then I think back to all the moments I've thought about kissing her. It was a lot more often than I was comfortable with.

"You're an action-based guy, Roman. I'm sure you'll find a way to show how you feel. The words will find you, don't worry."

With that, he leaves to talk things over with our last few customers and lock up shop.

>><<>><<>><<>><<

Later that night, I'm thinking of her again. More specifically, our last conversation. About her dad. I told her the only advice I knew from experience. I couldn't see my mom changing who she was if she hadn't had that wake-up call so far.

Marie didn't have that desire to change herself, so she wouldn't. No matter what I could try to argue, that change was up to her. I knew she had to be bothering Julius again because she needed more money.

I spent a lot of that time in my head about the way I grew up. Then, I found myself comparing the way Briar looked at the world and how different it was from the way I chose to deal with things.

We both struggled similarly. Abused by the ugly side of humanity. It just shaped us in different ways.

I find myself scrolling through my contacts and seeking out her name. The next thing I knew she was answering my phone call as bright as she could be at 10 pm on a school night.

"Roman! What's up?"

"Hey, sorry I didn't realize the time."

"Time? What's time? You know I'm always happy to talk." Typical Briar response. I shake my head. "What's on your mind?"

You, mostly. But that's not why I picked up the phone. I start slow. "You know that talk we had... about you being positive all the time."

"Mhm," she hums.

"You said it was because you had to, because that was what worked for you," I drag the last word as if my statement was more of a question.

"Yeah," she pushes me to go on.

"It's a lot easier to slump into the negative view. A lot easier to be angry than to be positive. At least for me."

"Right. We established that's what works for you."

"How does it work for you, though?" I ask, purely out of curiosity. "How did you make it work for you?"

"By telling myself that storms don't last forever. The sun always comes back out." I think about her words and she must take my silence for judgment. "I know that might sound corny to you."

"It's not corny. It's true. It just took me a while to think that myself." Not in her exact wording, but the same idea.

Growing up with my mother made me believe that life was all ugly, all bad. I stopped making friends, stopped trying in school, and slacked with sports. Things went downhill for too long before I learned to fight back. I dug myself out of that hole with no help from anyone else. I picked up my grades, stopped taking bullshit from everyone, and went back into basketball. When I was finally on the right track again, that's when I reached out to Julius about coming to live with him.

Briar's quiet on the line, still listening, still waiting for me to go on. "I mean, all this time I guess I just didn't realize how isolated it's made me. I used to think it was better that way. Didn't think I was missing anything."

"And now?" she questions.

And now I know what it feels like to have you lean on my shoulder. Now, I know what it's like to have your arms wrapped around my torso. Now, I know what it feels like to care about someone outside of family, and what it feels like to have them care about me back.

I'm pinching the band around my wrist again. "Now... I'm still the way that I am. Just starting to see things a little differently."

I change the subject after that. She tells me about the day she had with her Aunt, that she felt she was finally getting somewhere with her. I answer her questions but mostly I just let her talk.

I was used to getting ready for bed on my own every night. I'd usually work on my art and have some music playing in the background. Maybe read something in silence. It was my routine, I didn't think I was missing anything.

But now, I knew what it felt like to have the last conversation of the night with Briar.

✎YO GIRL IS ON A ROLL BABES!

I'll update again in a day or two ;) just have to tidy things up but get ready for a longer chapter!!