Theme: Stay by my side

Food: Nuts

Of all places, Bridget never expected to find his brother in the streets. He was wavering, drenched (even though it hadn't rained), and heavy with the smell of alcohol and beer nuts. Then again, there wasn't a doubt that his brother had changed. It had been five years since they last met. Bridget was a different person now than he had been when he was thirteen.

He was wearing trousers and a striped blue shirt and suspenders, and a white trenchcoat atop it all. When friends asked him if he had any pictures of himself as a kid, he would whip out the photos from a past that felt like yesterday. People who saw the pictures would gape, looking from him then to him now.

"Are you all right?"

He leaned forward, tapping his brother.

"I'm not drunk!" the man shouted in his ear. Bridget jumped back, holding his ears, then half-smiled. He hefted his brother over his shoulder and almost teetered over from the dead weight. Balance regained, he signaled for a cab.

A yellow car pulled over, driven by a man who looked like an ex-construction worker. He raised his chin up in a quick motion, as if to tell them to get in.

Bridget opened the door and carefully slid his brother inside, who only made things more troublesome by rolling over sloppily and taking half of the backseat. Bridget did his best to squeeze in and closed the door.

"Where to?" The cab driver asked.

"The city outskirts-- by the village." The car started off, rocking Bridget and his brother like a cradle.

"Who're you?" the drunken man said.

It took awhile for Bridget to answer, attempting to translate the drunken words.

"My name... is Bri-- Brandon."

He smiled. It had been a few years since his childhood name came to the tip of his tongue. The nostalgia of being with his brother was getting to him already.

"Alex," the drunk announced.

"What were you doing out there?"

"Lookin' for a woman... before I get married."

Bridget forced a smile. As he had discovered, men sleeping with other women-- or prostitutes-- for the sake of being sexually experienced wasn't uncommon. It was something he had caved into doing himself in hopes of becoming manlier.

"An arranged marriage?"

"Bin... -burp- ...bingo. So what's your story?"

"Pardon me?" Bridget raised his brows.

"You look like you have something underneath you-- like onions... layers."

"You're really drunk," the younger twin said and laughed. He was unimpressed with his brother's behavior but that didn't mean that it wasn't absurdly amusing at the same time.

"Okay. I come from a village where twins of the same gender are considered bad luck--"

"So do I!" the other interrupted. "It's a good thing though-- my twin was a girl."

"Really? Well, I wasn't so lucky. My twin is a boy so my parents raised me as a girl."

"That reeeeeally sucks."

"Hmm, I suppose. When I became twelve I decided to be a bounty hunter and make tons of cash so I could disprove the superstition and maybe... prove my manliness. But as I got older, I was afraid to reveal myself. I guess it's true-- the older you get, the more afraid you become of even the simplest things."

"So you never came back home?"

"I did, but then I left again to bounty hunt again-- this was before I started to question revealing myself. In the middle of my journey, a woman scouted me for modeling. I told her I was really a boy..." At this point Bridget smirked. "But she didn't care. It wasn't long after I started modeling that I got my chance to live my dream-- acting. I felt proud of myself for accomplishing that goal but then I got older and no one wanted to cast me anymore. Turns out I was stuck in the "little boy" or "little girl" roles and people couldn't see me any other way."

"Go on. I know I'm not drunk but I'm listening."

"Don't you mean: 'I know iI am/i drunk but I'm listening'?"

"Same difference... Whatever. Keep telling me your story."

"I tried to prove I was manly-- I started sleeping around because it seemed like the macho thing to do and I smoked a bit... and I even grew a beard for awhile. I didn't keep that one long though-- I felt unsanitary with it. So now I'm a guy who couldn't fulfill his dream... to be masculine." The words were lined with humor and disappointment. "Tell me, what is your sister like?"

Alex gave a toothy grin. "She was really sweet and unlike any girl I have ever known. Even though she was a girl and I was a boy, we understood each other-- I guess that's what comes with being a twin, right?"

Bridget nodded. "Seems like it."

"And then she left to go bounty hunting. I have no idea why. She left a note politely apologizing for leaving without warning and said she promised to come back soon. When she did come back, I didn't care about that bag full of money. The best gift she gave me and our family was relief. We hoped she wouldn't run off again and eventually believed she wouldn't, but five months after she returned I caught her climbing out of the window. When I ran after her, she let go of the makeshift rope and sped off."

"You sound more sober when you tell stories." Bridget noted.

"Eh... guess... yeah... maybe."

"Where is your sister now?" he asked, though he knew the answer. Bridget wanted hear Alex talk about him. It brought back memories.

"I wish I knew. I know one thing is, she's not dead. That's another thing with twins I think... they just iknow/i... vaguely about how the other is doing. Right now I think she's kind of somber... like she failed at something she was sure she could do. I wish I could be there for her-- wait... that's a lie."

Bridget's eyes widened in surprise and curiosity.

"More than anything I want her to be there for ime/i. That's selfish but who cares... I need her." Alex curled up in the little space they had and wrapped his arms around Bridget's leg like a child,. His expression was needy and made Bridget think, for one moment that they were not eighteen. That they were not in a cab with a driver possibly eavesdropping. It felt like that night Bridget came home after nearly a year. That night, he was heading for his room but nearly tripped, his leg locked in Alex's embrace. His other half was staring up at him desperately. "Can you sleep with me?" he asked, his large eyes showing his meaning: "Don't leave me again."

"She'll be back."

"You sure?" Alex raised his head.

"Yup." Alex's head slowly lowered and he fell asleep like that, using his brother's shoes as a pillow.