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“Do you…like Mike?” El asked softly. They had been sitting on El's bed, El sitting quietly while Will doodled a small flower on her wrist.
Will's heart skipped a beat, his wrist jerking and smudging the flower. He lowered his hands, not looking at her. “What do you mean?” he said nervously. “Of course I like Mike. He’s one of my best friends.”
“Do you…” El paused, choosing her words carefully. Her English had gotten a lot better lately, but she still struggled sometimes. “…want to…kiss Mike?”
“What?” Will exclaimed, a little too forcefully. He could feel his heart beating fast in his chest, so loud he worried El could hear. “Of course not! He’s my friend! I like girls!”
“Do you? Because you never talk about the girls you like. Not like I talk about Mike.”
I wish you wouldn’t, Will thought miserably. But he pushed that thought down, the way he pushed any thought that involved Mike in…that way. “Just because I don’t talk about them doesn’t mean I don’t like them. I like them.” Will wondered if he was trying to convince El or himself.
“Who?”
“What?”
“Who do you like?”
“I…I don’t have to tell you this!” Will turned away from her, tears forming in his eyes that he desperately tried to push away.
“Sometimes, when Mike kisses me, I feel like he’s…kissing someone else.”
“What? That’s crazy. Mike loves you.”
“He never says it. He always signs his letters ‘From Mike.’ From. Not love.”
Will hated the way his heart soared hearing this, as if there was reason to hope. There wasn’t. He had to remind himself that. “That doesn’t mean anything. Mike’s always been weird about his feelings. Maybe he feels embarrassed to write it.”
“He shouldn’t,” El argued. “I’m his girlfriend. He should be able to tell me he loves me, like I love him.”
“Well…I don’t know. Mike barely talks to me anymore,” Will admitted. “He doesn’t write me letters and he doesn’t call and he barely paid attention to me the whole week he was here. So maybe you should feel lucky he bothers to write to you at all!”
The tears were now streaming down Will’s face, and he worried that El would see, so he stormed out of her room. He didn't stop until he was in his own room, door slammed behind him. He threw himself down on his bed, the tears coming out stronger than ever. He didn't even know why he was crying. It was so stupid. He didn't want to feel this way, about El, about Mike. He wished he could just find some girl to like. It would make everything so much easier.
He heard a knock at his door and groaned. "Go away!" he shouted, trying and failing to keep the tears out of his voice.
The door opened anyways, El's face appearing around it, then her whole body. She moved slowly toward the bed and sat on it, staring down at him. "What's wrong, Will?" she asked softly.
"Nothing."
"Friends don't lie."
"Well, we aren't friends. We're siblings. Siblings lie."
"Why? Why do you lie?"
"Because you don't need to know the truth."
"Will. Please. Talk to me. I don't like seeing you sad." She paused. "Are you sad because of me?"
Yes. "No."
“Are you lying?"
Yes. "No."
"You are lucky I lost my powers." Will felt her get off his bed and thought he was in the clear, but then he heard her rummaging around his room.
"What are you-" Plap! "What the hell?" He sat up in the bed and looked over to see El standing across the room, a Nerf gun aimed right at him. He picked up the bullet that had smacked into the back of his head.
"Talk or get shot," she said dramatically, not lowering the gun.
"What are you doing?" PlapI "Quit it!"
"You said we are not friends, but siblings. This is how Mike acts with his siblings."
"Fine then," Will said, his hand slowly reaching for his other gun on top of his bedside table. He snatched it in his hands and El's eyes widened, but she was unable to react quick enough to avoid getting hit right in the nose with Will's bullet. The two both paused, staring at each other, then El aimed her gun, and Will shot out of his bed and toward the door, narrowly missing another shot. El followed him down the hall and into the living room, the two shooting bullets whenever they had a shot. They chased each other around the room, hiding behind furniture and laughing as they tried to avoid getting shot.
Will aimed his gun at El and fired, but nothing happened. "Shit," he said as El aimed her own gun at him. But hers also failed to fire. She shook it, frowning. "Guess we're both out."
"Will you tell me why you were crying now?"
Will scowled, his laughter fading. "I told you I didn't want to talk about it."
"No. You didn't. You don't talk. Why won't you talk? Is it about me?"
"I told you it wasn't."
"Siblings lie."
Will winced. He knew that line would come back to bite him. "I just...I don't want to talk about it, okay?"
"Fine." El stared hard at him, and he thought once again that she would give it up, but he realized too late that she wouldn't. He had barely even registered her movement before she was down the hall to his room. He ran after her, not even sure exactly what her intention was, but knowing that there were certain things he did not want her to find.
The door slammed shut before he got there, and when he reached for the knob, it wouldn't turn. He heard El shuffling around inside. "Damnit! El!" He knocked his fist on the door. There was no answer on the other end. "Don't you know anything about privacy? I know you know that word! El!" He slammed his arm against the door, leaning his head against it and cursing himself at the tears that once again pooled in his eyes. He didn't know how long he stood there, waiting for her to find whatever damning evidence she was looking for. At one point, he slid down the wall next to his door, his head resting against the wall, eyes closed. He didn't even notice when the door finally opened and El slid down next to him.
"You like Mike," she said softly, this time not a question. Will didn't respond. He saw the papers in her hands and knew they were the drawings he had made of Mike, the ones he kept hidden so no one would see. He knew that she knew, and there was nothing he could say to convince her otherwise. A part of him didn't want to. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"He's your boyfriend," Will said. He tried to keep his voice clear. "He's a boy."
"So?"
"'So?' He's a boy, El. Boys aren't supposed to like boys."
"Supposed to? I can make things move with my mind. Could. You were possessed by something not in this world. There is no supposed to with us. Not with me."
"The rest of the world isn't like us, El. You don't go around telling people you used to be a superhero. Why?"
"Bad men."
"Yeah, well, there's bad men out there for me, too. They don't like people who are...different. Besides, Mike's your boyfriend. You love him. And he loves you."
El was quiet for a moment, then Will saw her shake her head slightly. "No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?"
"He doesn't love me. Not like I love him." She paused again, longer this time. "I think he's...different...too."
Will finally looked at her, bewildered. "Just because he has trouble saying how he feels doesn't mean he's...no. You're wrong."
"Maybe. But maybe...he likes you, too."
Will put his face in his hands, his heart beating so fast it felt like it wasn't beating at all. "Don't."
"Don't what?" El asked, a frown in her voice.
He looked up at her to see her sweet, innocent face turned down in confusion. "Just because I am...what I am, doesn't mean he is, too. You're just reading things that aren't there because you miss him. I miss him, too. But we'll see him soon for Spring Break, and then things will go back to normal."
"Maybe," El said softly. "Or maybe I'm right.":
"You're not."
"Maybe I am," she insisted. "You deserve to be happy, too."
"I am happy."
"Siblings lie."
Will rolled his eyes, but he couldn't fight the small laugh that escaped him. "You're obnoxious."
"You're obnoxious. I think. I am not sure what that means."
The two both laughed again, and El laid her head on Will's shoulder, and they sat like that until their mom came home.