Tim and I were supposed to be watching out for Todd, but his bed hadn’t been slept in again. When he finally rolled in, still in last night’s clothes, he barely seemed to care. “I’ve got a date,” he said with a grin, and Glenda stood there glowing, desperate to talk about the connection she felt with Frasier. None of us knew then that Frasier wasn’t interested in her at all.
He was gay, and he thought she only wanted a friendly drink. When I found out, I warned Tim to have a word, but it was too late. Glenda had already convinced herself that Frasier was the one. And Todd, my own brother, knew the truth all along.
Later that day, Todd shoved a box of my belongings into my hands. “I’m moving out,” he said flatly. “Lucy’s staying with us for a bit, and we needed more space. ”
I stared at him.
“But you said we should stick together. ”
“Don’t stress. I’m only across the road. ”
He said it so easily, like he was tossing away years of everything we’d built.
I stood there holding the box, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. His new girlfriend, Lucy, smiled at me like she’d already won. It didn’t stop there. That same evening, Todd crossed the pub to where Glenda sat waiting for Frasier.
He told her Frasier wasn’t coming—he was with Todd instead. When Glenda looked crushed, Todd didn’t even flinch. “Well, if you’d cozied up to me in the Rovers and planted your lips on him, he would have been mortified, and so would you. ”
Glenda’s face crumpled.
“You knew how much she liked him. What you did was really hurtful. ”
But Todd just shrugged. “You should be thanking me.
”
I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The words came out like a flood. “Your life is falling apart around your ears. You’ve been absolutely vile to anyone that cares for you.
You carry on like this, and you won’t have a friend in the world. ”
He looked at me like I was nothing. “Where did being nice get me? Abused, bullied, beaten up.
From now on, I’m going to take whatever I want. To hell with everybody else. ”
He wasn’t just the brother I remembered anymore. Being with Theo had changed him, and I didn’t know if the old Todd was ever coming back.
That same day, things shifted in better ways for someone else. My friend Hayley walked into the café, head down. She’d messed up her interview at an art gallery in Whitby, convinced she’d made a fool of herself. But when she finally checked her phone, the message was good news.
“You aced your interview. We’d be looking to have you. When can you start? ”
She looked up at me, tears in her eyes.
“I’m going to miss you. ”
“You’re not going anywhere that far,” I said, and we laughed, both of us holding onto something real. But the trouble with Todd wasn’t done. He sat in the pub with his new attitude, picking fights with Adam and Idris, sneering at everyone who tried to reach him.
I watched him from across the room and realized the hardest truth of all: he saw anyone who cared about him as an enemy now. I thought about the day he moved out. I thought about how he threw Lucy in my face and made me feel like a stranger in my own life. I thought about Glenda, humiliated in front of everyone because Todd thought he was saving her.
And I thought about how Todd used to be—before Theo broke him, before he decided that being hard was better than being loved. He was out every single night now. He told us he was living his best life. But the way he treated everyone who cared about him said something else entirely.
He was running from something, and he was dragging all of us down with him. I stood in the garden later, staring across at his new house, and I knew one thing for sure. I wasn’t going to let him turn me into a bitter, lonely old man too.
But I had no idea how to reach him—or if I even should anymore.
