Of course, living in a facility in the middle of nowhere, the pizza took longer to arrive than it traditionally should have. Still, forty-five minutes of whining and complaining later, Eli was finally satisfied and stuffing his face full of pizza.

Ronnie glowered in his direction occasionally but otherwise let him be. He usually did.

Junk food, bedtimes, personal space. He was pretty loosey-goosey with Eli when it came to the unimportant things. The important things, however, were another story.

"Let me know when you're done stuffing yourself. You have to take your pills after."

Eli made a disgusted noise. "Great, everybody's favorite dessert."

"Yup, and you get a whole handful all to yourself. What a lucky boy!" Ronnie said cheerfully, handing him a small paper cup full of pills.

I had to repress laughing as I watched them. I sat back in my chair, eating a slice of pizza like I was watching my favorite sitcom. And, to some degree, I was. They were both so stubborn and sarcastic towards each other that it made for some pretty good entertainment. If you ignored the medical aspect of it, at least.

I leaned forward, glancing at the little cup. Of course, I didn't really know what any of them were, but I had been here often enough that I did notice something odd about them. And that oddness worried me.

"Hey, aren't there more pills here than usual?" I asked Ronnie.

He looked a bit surprised. I guess it was the slightly panicked tone in my voice. He glanced at the cup for a second.

"Ah, yes and no. Don't worry, the new ones are just vitamins," he explained. "Somebody has been a little bitchy about going outside lately-"

"It's cold!" Eli snapped.

"So," Ronnie continued, "I requested some vitamins for him. Should help to make up for all that nutrition he's lacking in his diet too."

"The only thing I'm 'lacking' in my diet is a cup of hot cocoa."

The two of them went back to their petty bickering about diet, healthy eating, and medication, but I wasn't really listening anymore. I was still busy trying to come down from the initial panic those few little pills had caused.

I hated this. Being so anxious and on edge all the time. I really just wanted to enjoy my time with Eli.

But I couldn't. Every new doctor's appointment, every call I received from Ronnie's phone, even the little things like a couple new pills in his cup sent me into a whirlwind of panic. And right now, my head was still spinning.

Fortunately, a much-needed distraction was offered to all of us in the form of an electronic, dance-y rhythm. I glanced over at Eli's nightstand. My phone was buzzing.

"Shit, I forgot to turn it off again," Eli said, glancing at it. "Want me to answer for you?"

My sheepish smile told him everything he needed to know. He gave me a small nod and picked up the phone, clearing his throat dramatically.

"Hello?" he said in the most laughable "sick" voice I've ever heard. A faint reply was mumbled from the other end. "Ah, I'm sorry, she's not here right now. My stomach was feeling a little queasy and my nurse is in the hospital wing setting up an appointment time for my chemo tomorrow. I asked her if she could get me some crackers from the cafeteria. She must have forgotten her phone. But if you want, I can-"

Eli stopped himself and coughed into the phone a couple times. I literally had to cover my mouth with my hands to stop myself from laughing. And Ronnie wasn't much better. He was crouched on the ground by this point, holding himself and trembling with repressed laughter.

Again, a faint reply was heard on the other end. Eli rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out, making a "yapping" motion with his hand. When the mumbling on the other end stopped, he got back into character.

"Well, if you're sure..." he said weakly. "Thanks for calling Phil. It's nice to know that you're taking such good care of her for me. Talk to you soon."

A quick response from the other end and Eli hung up the phone. He rolled his eyes again and let out a loud groan, flopping back against the bed.

"Ugh, Maggie, how the hell do you put up with him every day?"

"That bad?" I asked.

"You know how much your sister and I care about you," he repeated mockingly. "We don't know what we'd do if anything happened to you.

"Like, really? Because I fucking do. You'd divorce his ass in half a second is what you'd do. He 'cares about me.' Bullshit! He just likes having me around as his little insurance policy. I think he's visited, what? Exactly twice in all the time you guys have been married. And once was only because they needed his signatures on some kind of paperwork.

"Not that I care, honestly. If anything, it saves me a bunch of trouble. I don't have to blow smoke up his ass all the time about how 'generous' he is and it makes the whole 'sickly brother' act a lot easier to fake around him. Stupid prick."

"Eli, how could you?" I gasped, faking offense. "That's my husband you're talking about."

"Oh, shove it," he said, tossing a pillow at me. "The guy's insufferable. Even Ronnie doesn't like him. Ronnie. The man who somehow befriended a murderer."

"Hey, I didn't 'befriend a murderer,'" he clarified. "I was a trainee nurse tending to a patient that was brought into our clinic. I just treated him with the same courtesy and respect that I treated all of my patients with. Nobody told me he was being charged with double homicide at the time.

"That said, yes. I would literally rather be trapped in a room with that guy again than spend even one hour talking with your husband. The guy has zero personality. Work and money, work and money. It's all he talks about. At least murder guy liked wood carving."

Eli smirked. "And-"

"No! Absolutely not," Ronnie cut him immediately. "No clue what you were about to say, but I already know it was in poor taste and I do not want to hear it."

I couldn't help but smile listening to them. Comedy aside, they gave me the validation that I desperately needed at times.

Sometimes, I did wonder if maybe I was the problem in my relationship. That maybe I was just too cold or too bitchy toward Phil. That maybe he'd actually turn out to be a half-decent guy if I just started treating him like I did in the beginning of our marriage.

Of course, that was complete crap. I wasn't treating him any worse than he was treating me in this relationship. Plus, he was already acting like a prick even when I was treating him sweetly in the beginning of our marriage, so why would it suddenly change now?

Still, hearing it from other people helped a lot. That I wasn't crazy. That other people felt the same way. That he really was the image-obsessed, manipulative bastard with no personality that I thought he was. And it felt nice to have friends that I knew I could talk to about these things.

I had never been the "extroverted, hanging out with my fifty friends" kind of person, but the few friends I did have before kind of faded out of my life over time after I got married. Which is why I was really glad when I ended up clicking so well with Ronnie. Having Eli to talk to was always nice, but the fact remained, he was my brother. Sometimes, it was nice to have someone on the outside to give a slightly less biased opinion of the things that were happening.

Plus, Eli was right. Ronnie got along with almost everyone. Which meant that if Ronnie didn't like somebody, then they were really somebody worth disliking.

Sadly, when it came to Phil, this could only be regarded as a half-win at best. After all, at the end of the day, I still had to be married to the bastard. Validation or not.

"Hey, Mags? You okay?"

Eli's voice suddenly broke through my brooding. I glanced up, he was staring at me with a concerned look. I gave him a weak smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry."

He stared at me for a second, clearly not believing a word I'd said. Not that I blamed him. It was only a half-truth at best. He reached out and grabbed my hand. He squeezed it gently, but the way he looked at me was intense and serious.

"Look, I know I can't convince you to leave him, I'm done beating that dead horse for now," he said, rolling his eyes, "but I want you to know that I want you to be happy. Okay? That you deserve to be happy.

"So, whatever it is that you need to do in your shitty relationship to make yourself happy, I'll support you. Whether it's having you visit less because you're traveling, being your online shopping buddy because you want nice things on that bastard's dime, or even just cheering you on if you want to go out and meet some new people or something. Whatever it is, I want to support you.

"Mags, you've done so much for me, more than you ever had to as my sister, and you've given up so much to do it. Please, start doing a few things for yourself. Okay?"

Since we were young, Eli had always been the jokester. The comedian, the prankster, the funny guy, whatever you want to call it. He was always the one making light of a bad situation. The one to turn to when you needed a little comedic relief from the dreariness of everyday life.

Which is why it always hit me so much harder whenever he got serious like this. I felt a lump forming in my throat at his words. I mean, it's not like the things he said were too surprising. I already half-expected that he would have said these kinds of things if I'd asked anyway. After all, I knew Eli.

But it was the first time that he'd ever said them to me himself. And something about hearing those words from him out loud like that hit me in a way I never thought they would have. He smiled, squeezing my hand again, but his eyes started to look a bit misty too.

"Ugh, okay, that's enough of this 'feelings' bullshit for one day," he muttered, rubbing his eyes. "On to more important matters: What time does your furlough end?"

I couldn't help but snicker a bit. "I said I'd be home to make dinner, so I should probably leave around four in case there's traffic."

"Sweet! That means you still have a couple more hours of freedom. Let's make some popcorn and watch a movie," he suggested, grabbing the remote off of his table.

"Umm, didn't you just devour half of an extra-large pizza?" I reminded him.

"Yes," Ronnie answered for him, snatching away the remote. "And he hasn't taken his medicine yet either. Don't even act like I didn't catch you trying to hide it under that damn pizza box."

Eli let out an exasperated sigh as he grabbed the pill cup out from under the box. He glared the entire time as he took them, washing each new batch down with a swig of water. When he was done, he opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out at Ronnie, making an over-exaggerated face.

Ronnie, in true fashion, reached out and patted the top of his head, giving his own exaggerated smile. "That's my tough little guy! You did such a good job."

"Bite me," Eli said, deadpan.

"How about we bite that popcorn instead?" Ronnie chuckled. "I'll go make some. Maggie, you're the guest, so your choice on the movie. I'll be back soon."

Eli shook his head as Ronnie, walked out of the room. He turned and gave me a small smile. "Do you think he even remembers that he works for me?"

"In his defense, I don't even think you remember it half the time."

We both gave a small chuckle at this. I reached for the remote, but Eli grabbed my hand, I was about to tell him off about it when I saw his face. He looked serious again.

"Hey, just so you know. I meant what I said earlier about supporting you, okay? "

"Umm, thank you?"

He snickered a bit at my obvious confusion. "You're welcome. So, here's my first little gesture toward being supportive: you might want to turn off your message notifications from now on. I don't think Phil would be happy if he saw the message you received earlier."

I was still confused. What kind of message could I have possibly received that would've upset Phil? I didn't really talk to anyone else except Eli and Ronnie. Except for...

I felt the blood draining from my face as the realization hit me.

Mason.

"Hey, calm down. No need to panic," he reassured me. "I already told you, I support you. Trust me, I have absolutely no objections to you having a fuckbuddy."

And, like always, his crude, overly flippant attitude somehow managed to force a laugh out of my panicked body. I smiled and took a deep breath, calming myself down.

"He's not... actually my fuckbuddy," I explained. "We're just... talking. I guess. We haven't actually done anything together."

"Well, why the hell not?" he laughed, shoving my shoulder gently. "What I saw was pretty fucking impressive. Feel free to send him my way if you're not interested."

"Sorry, but you've already got a hopelessly devoted manservant," I teased. "This one is mine."

The soft click of the door latch suddenly caught our attention. Eli smiled as Ronnie walked in carrying a bowl of popcorn.

"Hey, speak of the devil!"

"Why do you guys keep talking about me when I leave the room? I'm going to start to get paranoid," Ronnie laughed, handing the bowl to Eli. "So, what movie are we watching?"

And just like that, we were back to "business as usual." Ronnie and Eli making small quips at each other while I scrolled through the movie list, arguing with Eli over what genre we should watch, the chorus of cackles as we laughed our way through the crappy romcom I finally chose.

I knew that it wouldn't last forever. That by the time the movie ended, so would my freedom. That soon I'd have to go back to that house full of facades and resentment.

But for now, that didn't matter. Right now, there were no acts to put on or feelings to hide. Now, I could be my truest self with the people I loved the most. Now, I was just Maggie, watching a movie with my baby brother and my best friend. And for now, I was happy.