“We should dress the same and confuse everybody.”
Lucas said:
“That’s stupid.”
Then showed up the next weekend wearing the same green hoodie.
They fought constantly.
Not serious fights.
Brother fights.
Whose controller.
Whose cereal.
Who cheated at basketball.
The first time Lucas shouted:
“Noah, you’re so annoying!”
I went into the pantry and cried.
Rachel found me.
“Are you okay?”
I laughed through tears.
“They sound like brothers.”
She smiled.
“They are.”
Rachel and I built something I never expected.
Not instant friendship.
First, cooperation.
Then trust.
Then eventually friendship.
She told me she had spent months terrified that every time I looked at Lucas, I saw something she had stolen.
I told her:
“You didn’t steal him.”
“I know.”
“But sometimes I still feel like I benefited from what happened to you.”
I thought about it.
Then said:
“And I benefit from the fact that you loved him when I couldn’t.”
