Back To Us by Teresa Roman

first, remember?”
    Justin frowned. “I don’t remember agreeing to that.” Justin set the glass of water down on my brother’s bedside table. “But since you insist, what else is it that you want to know about me anyway?”
    “Well, I was kind of curious about your injury.”
    Justin looked at me, but didn’t say anything.
    “Is it PTSD? Is that what happened to you?”
    He had that same faraway look in his eyes that he did when he first told me he’d left the Navy because of an injury. “Yeah.”
    There was a girl who stayed in the group home for a while whose dad had PTSD so bad that he physically abused her. When she told me the things he’d done to her I couldn’t believe she still loved him, but she did. She’d visit him on weekends sometimes and came home crying when things didn’t work out the way she wanted them to. My mother tried to convince me that’s what was wrong with my dad too. Only she didn’t use the words PTSD. She would just say that my father had been through a lot and that’s what made him act the way he did.
    I was about to ask Justin about his limp, but it was pretty obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it so I didn’t push. He picked up the glass of water again and gave my brother a few more sips to drink.
    “Where’s Mel?” my brother asked after he was done drinking. His speech was still slurred, but at least he was awake.
    “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her today.”
    “I need my phone,” Mike said. He reached under his pillow and threw aside his blankets trying to find it.
    “I really think you better wait to call her until you sound a little less drunk.”
    “I’m not drunk.”
    “Drunk, high, whatever. You’ll just get Mel pissed off if you call her sounding like you do now.”
    Justin cleared his throat and I turned around. For a second I’d almost forgotten he was in the room with me and Mike.
    “I’m going to get us all something to eat while you two talk.”
    “You don’t need to do that,” I protested.
    “Yes he does,” Mike interrupted. “I’m starving. I’d like an everything-bagel with cream cheese, and an espresso, double shot.”
    I glared at my brother. “Ignore him, Justin.”
    Justin turned and headed for the door. “Got it,” he said. “One-everything bagel. I’ll just get you what I think you might like, Jesse, ’cause I know you’re not going to tell me.”
    After Justin left my brother sat up in bed. He looked up at me with a smile on his face. “So that’s Justin?”
    “Yes.”
    “What’s he doing here? I thought you two were just friends.”
    “We are. He called me while I was in panic mode about you and insisted on coming over here to help.”
    “Sounds suspiciously like a guy who’s interested in my sister.”
    “No. He knows medical stuff, so he was just trying to be helpful.”
    Mike swung his legs around and reached for my hand. I resisted the urge to mother him and tell him to get back in bed, instead I helped to get him on his feet. “You know, you’re impossibly naïve.”
    My brother was wrong, I knew a lot more about boys than he thought I did, but I didn’t argue. In many ways he knew me best, but there was a chunk of my life that he knew nothing about, and that was probably for the best. Besides, it wasn’t naiveté that kept me believing Justin was interested. I couldn’t bring myself to believe it was true, because what if it wasn’t?
    “Where are you going?” I asked as Mike headed for the door.
    “To take a shower. I want to be dressed by the time your friend gets back with breakfast.”
    “Before you do that can you at least tell me what the hell you were thinking taking all those pills?” I said, my hands on my hips.
    Mike sighed, then turned to face me. “I pretty much passed out after I got back home, but then I woke up too early and I was still in a shitty mood about me and Mel fighting so I couldn’t fall back asleep. That’s why I started taking those pills. My buddy