• One


    “How about this one?” Dan, a portly man, raised an abused book to Colton who was quite the opposite.

    “What is it?” Colton asked, moving in closer to read the scratched cover of the book.

    “Does it really matter? I think you’ve read every book in this lot by now.”

    He took the book but didn’t respond to Dan who watched Colton carefully, waiting on a reply.

    He placed a bloated hand on his brother’s back, “Look—“

    Colton’s blue eyes shot up from the cover, “don’t say it.” He returned his attention to the title. After much debate he decided it was called Polaris. He hadn’t read that one yet.

    Dan quickly retrieved his hand and relocated it back to his soft side, “It’s been three years. It was tough on me too you know, but at least I’ve moved on.”

    Colton turned back and pointed at Dan as he made his way to the register of the used bookstore, progressing through the aisle in a backwards walk. “Don’t even start or you’ll be stuck with the bill later.”

    “What? No way man! You said you’d pay for lunch this time,” he shouted as he moved to the front of the store, succeeding in making a scene that made a few of the other customers feel all but comfortable in the already unwelcoming atmosphere of the shabby bookstore.

    The talk of food had quickly redirected Dan’s train of thought. He knew that Dan was just trying to help, but he was glad he was able to successfully dodge the subject. He didn’t walk to talk about it, especially in a place like this.

    Colton took a dollar from his wallet and paid for the book with a smile. “All right but next time you’d better be more careful about what you say to the person who is paying for your meal, the one who always pays for all your meals” he glanced up at Dan who was much taller than him. He didn’t know what he would have done without him.

    “Hah! With a pushover like you I don’t have to worry about a thing,” he grinned at the cashier. She was cute, brown hair, very small and Dan didn’t have a chance with her. But that wouldn’t stop him from trying.

    “So Claire,” Dan said. Dumbfounded Claire blushed and studied Dan’s face, trying to remember him.

    “Your name tag. He’s a bit of a wise a**,” Colton said, putting his wallet into his back pocket and collecting the bag that contained his new book.

    She looked down at it, “Oh, right,” a nervous laugh followed, “Have a good day.” She shifted her eyes to the ground in order to avoid eye contact to prevent extending the conversation with Dan who lingered for while before noticing that Colton was already on his way out.

    “I’ll see you later!” he waved to the woman before running out of the store to catch up with Colton.

    “Come on man! You can’t walk that fast expecting a big guy like me to be able to catch you let alone keep up.”

    After fishing for his keys Colton unlocked the door of his truck and climbed in. He waited for Dan to get inside before responding, “You should come to the gym with me once in a while.”

    “No! Not this talk again. Seriously just because one day you woke up and decided to become some muscle man doesn’t mean that I have to fall with you. Society is so wrapped up in being thin. You know in the past I would have been seen as the ideal man. The rich were fat so me in being fat would be rich and therefore attractive.”

    After starting the car Colton looked over to the passenger’s side, “I’d let you continue ranting but you haven’t told me where we’re eating yet.”

    “You would not, you hate my ranting,” he said sourly as he buckled his seatbelt, “Darcy’s.”

    “You know she’s not working today, right.” Colton said as he watched his brother’s smile dissipate.

    “What? Why? It’s Saturday, she’s supposed to be working.”

    “See how well I know you?” he said as he pulled out of the parking lot for the bookstore and made his way to the diner.

    “No, but seriously. Why isn’t she working?”

    “She has that interview with Gaines Medical.”

    He fell into a pout, “What does she want to do there? She’s got a perfectly good job already.”

    “She doesn’t want serve food all her life.”

    Dan pulled his eyes away from Colton and stared out the window to watch the broken lines blink. “But it’s all the way in California.”

    “Stop being selfish. You’d be happy for her if you actually cared.”

    He didn’t respond. Even though Dan was the older of the two he had always been the less mature. After high school he had tried to get a job but no one would hire him. Their mom, of course, didn’t believe him and thought that he was just too lazy to go out and look for one. He lived at home until Colton had offered for Dan to live with him. Their mom and Dan were more than happy to accept and Colton had always enjoyed his brother’s company. That and he watched his baby girls while he was at work.

    “The light’s green,” Dan’s voice broke his concentration. “Cole, it’s green”

    He looked up at the light. “Yeah.”

    Worry took over Dan’s face. Dan knew he was thinking about Melanie and Keren. He smiled at Dan, hoping it would alleviate his concern. It didn’t and Colton laughed.

    “You’re worse than mom,” he said before turning on the radio and blasting some of the loud techno from one of Dan’s CDs. Colton serenaded Dan who glared at him as long as he could before joining in and dancing enough to shake the car as Colton drove to Darcy’s for lunch.




    Darcy’s official name was Wolfe’s Diner, however they called it Darcy’s ever since Dan had fallen for her. The diner had taken on the classic look of the old diners and was gray in color. The edges of the building were trimmed in a bright red and to top it off was a large neon sign bolted to the roof that flashed “Wolfe’s Diner”. Colton had found it a little overbearing at first but quickly got over it once he had tasted the food. Dan was there for the girl while he was there for the meal.

    The door chimed as Colton entered with Dan moping behind him. They quickly made way to their favorite seat in the corner and waited for their server. Usually Darcy had served them and Dan wouldn’t have muttered a word other than his order or the occasional answer to a question. If Darcy had been any other attractive girl Dan would have just ruthlessly flirted with her, not thinking before opening his mouth and uttering some stupid line. Colton could tell that he liked Darcy so much that he was afraid the same thing would happen with her, so he ended up saying as little as possible.

    A girl with a high forehead and bright blond hair walked over to them with a pronounced sway in her walk. Dan saw her coming and scowled.

    “Hey guys, looks like I’ll be your server today. Ya know, I’ve been wondering what would be like ya know since Darcy always does it,” she smiled at them.

    Dan flinched at each ‘ya know’ as the girl waited with a big smile, pad and pen in hand. “So what can I get ‘cha?” She looked at Colton first.

    “A number five,” it was what he always got. He wasn’t much for variety like Dan who got something different every time.

    She turned to Dan who crossed his arms. “Yes. I want two brontosaurus-sized pancakes with two slivers of butter for each, six pieces of bacon extra crispy but not burnt and cut into perfect thirds, and I’ll know if they aren’t. I want three eggs cooked sunny side up, cooked to perfection so that it is runny but cooked so much that I can’t enjoy it.”

    The poor girl wrote as much of it as she could down on her pad before looking up. “Ya know, that’s a little complicated,” she gave a little nervous laugh, “Can you say it again?”

    “Darcy would have gotten it all down and delivered it perfectly.”

    She stared down at the pad, looking it over and hoping that she got everything. “And to drink?”

    A sly grin lit up his face, “OJ”

    “Uh! Okay! I got it! Orange juice it is!” She collected their menus.

    As she turned to leave Dan spoke up, “And make sure it has a loopy straw, God help you if it doesn’t!”

    “Smooth,” Colton said, shaking his head.