Parallel

the sign. It’s Lilac, all right. Puzzled, I head back to 4424 and park in the driveway. As I’m walking up the sidewalk to the front porch, I take in every detail. The gray-blue shutters, the flower bed, the bird feeder in the front lawn. I’ve definitely seen this house before. My mind is on the brink of placing it when Michael opens the front door.
    “Sorry I’m late,” I call. “It was farther than I thought it’d be.” I’m kidding, but he doesn’t know that. His face falls in mock disappointment.
    “Bummer. I was hoping we’d live close enough for me to walk over to your house at midnight and throw rocks at your window.” He sticks his head back inside the house. “I’m leaving!” he calls to whoever’s inside. Without waiting for an answer, he closes the door.
    I step up onto the porch. “Should I be offended that you’re not inviting me in?” I joke. Sort of.
    “Definitely not. I want you to meet my mom, but tension is a little high right now. I just told them I wasn’t coming home for Christmas again this year.”
    “Don’t you spend Christmas with your dad, anyway?” Michael gives me a funny look. I flounder. “When you said you spent Thanksgiving with your mom, I assumed that meant . . .”
    “My dad died four years ago.”
    “Oh,” I manage, wanting desperately to rewind the last ten seconds. “I didn’t know.”
    “I guess I just assumed Marissa would’ve told you,” he says. “Otherwise, I would have.” Like you’ve told me so much other stuff about yourself? I fight annoyance. My boyfriend just told me his dad died. I’m supposed to feel sympathetic. I’m not supposed to be annoyed that he’s never mentioned it before. But we’re supposed to be a couple, and couples are supposed to tell each other everything. Michael tells me almost nothing. Then again, my brain is cosmically connected to a girl living in a parallel world, and I haven’t said a word about that.
    “Hey,” he says softly. “I wasn’t trying to keep it from you or anything. It’s just hard for me to talk about, that’s all.” I nod, feeling like a bitch for being upset about it. He leans in and kisses me softly on the lips. I expect a quick peck, but it turns into a serious kiss. When I feel his tongue on mine, I pull back.
    “Um, isn’t your mom inside?”
    He laughs. “She went to the grocery store for more eggs. And my stepdad’s in his office. In the windowless attic.”
    “And your neighbors?” I say, looking around the cul-de-sac.
    “Don’t know ’em,” he replies, and pulls me into another kiss, silencing my protest.
    A few seconds into it, I hear a car pull into the driveway behind me. I jerk my head back from the kiss. Not the way I wanted to meet his mom. “Don’t worry,” Michael says, looking past me. “It’s just my brother.” The car door slams, and there are footsteps on the driveway.
    “You have a brother ?”
    Michael nods casually. “We’re not exactly close.”
    I smooth my hair and turn around.
    My stomach drops.
    “Glad you could make it,” Michael calls from behind me, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
    Holy shit. Holy. Shit.
    Josh is standing in the driveway, holding a suitcase. Tyler is behind the wheel of his mom’s burgundy minivan. Suddenly, I understand why Tyler has been acting weird. It was about Josh.
    “You’re Michael’s brother,” I say, stunned. Josh is Michael’s brother.
    Josh just stares at me.
    “You know my brother?” Michael asks.
    I nod feebly. “We went to high school together,” I manage.
    Josh’s face twists in anger. “That’s right!” he says, his voice laden with sarcasm and fury. “We did go to high school together! Then you went to Yale and morphed into a heartless bitch. Here’s the part I’m not sure about: At what point did you start screwing my brother? Was it before or after you decided to blow me off?” For a second I think he might spit at me, but he just gets back into the van. Tyler is already halfway down the driveway when Josh slams the door.
    “Whoa. What was that about?” Michael looks stunned.
    “We used to date,” I say weakly, knowing he’ll need more detail than that and wondering how I can possibly give it to him.
    “You dated my brother ? Recently?”
    “No! We broke up in September. Why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?”
    “It didn’t seem important. Wait, this September?”
    “It didn’t seem important???” I stare at him in disbelief. “He’s your brother