The Secret of Ella and Micha

leave the house?”
    “He could have left and I just didn’t hear him,” he answers. “But when has he ever left the house quietly before?”
    I quickly slam the bathroom door, like I’m trying to put out a fire, and race back down the hall. “Someone needs to find him. Did you try and call him?”
    “Of course. I’m not a moron.” He rolls his eyes and nods. “And he didn’t answer.”
    Lila shifts her weight and forces the uncomfortable conversation elsewhere. “So you play the drums, Dean?”
    He motions to his drum set in the middle of his small room with dark blue walls. The floor and bed are cluttered with boxes and the curtain is pulled back, letting the sunlight spill in. “I used to, but I don’t much anymore. I have work and a fiancé.”
    “Fiancé?” Lila and I say simultaneously.
    “Yeah, as in we’re engaged.” Dean rolls his eyes and goes back into his room. “It’s what happens when two people date for a really long time.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, following him into his room.
    He picks up a small box and drops it onto the floor. “Do you really care that I am?”
    I carefully nudge the box out of the way with my foot. “You’re my brother. Of course I care.”
    “But it’s not like we’ve ever really gotten along,” he points out. “I haven’t even talked to you for a year. God, I didn’t even know you went to college until a week ago.”
    He’s right, which is sad. I barely know him, he barely knows me, and I’m starting to think I barely know me, too.
    “Does Dad know you’re engaged?” I ask. “Were you at least planning on telling him?”
    “Even if I told him, he’d just forget the next day.” He empties a dresser drawer into a large open box and then aligns the drawer back into place. “You know how he is. Christ, I don’t even think half the time he knows that you and I don’t live here anymore.”
    “He still deserves to be told,” I say. “He’s not a bad guy and you know it. He just has problems.”
    “Problems that fucked up our childhood.” He kicks a box out of the way with force and it crashes into the wall. “You do realize that how we grew up wasn’t normal. God, even Micha had it easier and his dad bailed out on him, but at least he had a stable mom to take care of him.”
    “Umm…” Lila pokes her head in the room. “I think I’m going to wait outside for you, Ella.”
    God, I’d forgotten she was even there and she just heard all of that.
    “Okay, I’ll be down in a second,” I tell her and she leaves readily. I wander around Dean’s room, taking in the photos he has up. “I think we may have just scared her to death.”
    Dean picks up his drumsticks and places them into a large duffel bag. “Okay, I have to ask. How did you end up being friends with her?”
    “She was my roommate and we just sort of bonded.” I shrug, picking up a photo of Dean and his friends on a sunny beach. It was taken during his Senior Field Trip and he looks happy.
    “You bonded,” he accuses. “The girl looks like a spoiled princess.”
    I eye his preppy clothes. “So do you.”
    “First off, I’m not a princess and I’ve earned what I have,” he says. “It wasn’t just handed to me.”
    “Maybe she did, too.”
    “Did she?”
    I hate to give him the benefit of being right. “No, her parents are pretty well off.”
    He looks at me with that stupid arrogant expression he gets when I admit he’s right. “Well, there you have it then.”
    “She’s nice,” I protest. “And she doesn’t ask a lot of questions.”
    “It may seem like you need to keep things to yourself,” he says, putting a blanket into a box. “But it’s not healthy. You need to find someone you can let it all out to. Otherwise you’re going to lose it.”
    My eyes roam to the window where the edge of Micha’s house is visible. “I think I already did.”
    Dean’s forehead creases as he drops a handful of guitar picks into a trunk. “Lose it? Or talk to someone about it?”
    “Both.” I back toward the door. “When are you heading back to Chicago?”
    “Hopefully by tonight. No offense or anything, but this place brings back way too many unpleasant memories.”
    “Try to say good-bye before you leave.”
    He doesn’t respond and I don’t wait around for an answer. That was probably the longest conversation that we’ve ever had and I have a feeling it may be our last for a very long time.

Chapter 12

    Micha
    “Dude, where the