Odd Couple - Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9

Noah didn´t like the fact that Faith was there. She´s been nothing but a terrible sister to him. But those thought vanished when Steph reminded him about his mother. So far, he managed to forget about it, but he shouldn´t. She was coming, and tomorrow! He had no time to lose.

“Noah, why don´t you take a seat with us?” He didn´t, he just wanted to clean. Fix things up for tomorrow. But as soon as Steph noticed, she just pointed at the couch in front of them. “NOAH!”

He followed her orders, she didn´t want to be bossy, but he doesn´t leave her much of a choice.

Faith could see the type of relationship they had, well supposed. And she was still upset because Steph placed her hand over her mouth. Was there a real need?

“As always, you´re following a woman´s orders, bro. I think you just can´t help it, can you?” Faith teased him. And Steph just grunted.

Steph explained to him, which was all a lie she just made up, that Faith found out about her and just wanted to visit, to check how things were going. That was actually not a lie, Faith did want to meet Steph, but not because someone told her. But he doesn´t need to know she was the one who contacted her.

“That´s right, I came all the way here to check on you. Doesn´t that make me a good big sister for my little brother?” Steph saw no reason to keep with that, yes, she was taller, but there´s no need.

Both women could realize he was uneasy. He was moving his hands in a stressed king of way. Clenching his hands together, playing with his fingers. He was just nodding to what they said, but he was not paying much attention.

“Come on! I came all the way here. At least speak. Ugh, why can´t you just…”

“Ok, I think Noah´s a bit… tired.” He was, she could see some bags under his eyes. “It´s ok, Noah, why don´t you go get some rest. I´ll stay here with your sister.” He stood up, but he wasn´t planning on sleeping. He needed to clean, find decent clothes, there was still a lot out of place.

“But I mean it, I want you in bed.” She said to him as she left the room.

When he was gone, and she made sure about it. He entered their bedroom and closed the door behind him. Partially because he didn´t want Faith to step in. After she made sure he wouldn´t listen to their conversation, she turned back at Faith.

“Seriously, why do you have to be so mean? Tell me, what has he done to you? I wouldn´t believe he´s ever been bad to anyone. Tell me, do you take advantage of him because he´s short? Hmm?” Steph fumed at Faith, in a low tone, even if she just wanted to yell at her.

“I… he´s… listen. I think this is none of your business.” Replied Faith, a bit aggravated.

“Oh, it IS my business. He is my boyfriend. And no one, I mean NO one will mess with him while I´m around. Now give me a reason why not to kick your ass out of our house. I invited you over because I want to know him better. He never tells me anything about his life, not even his family. But I can´t blame him, who´d want YOU for a sister. You´re just a nasty bitch.” Finally, Steph could speak some of her mind out.

Faith´s jaw dropped. She would´ve stand up and shut Steph with a slap. But, number one, Steph will most likely win that fight, and number two, she was right.

“I´m not. How… how dare you! You don´t know anything about our life. Nothing. But I´ll explain you. I´ll tell you why I tease him so much. But trust me, it all started for his own good.”

Faith had her own version of the story. She wasn´t always like that. They used to get along in a nice, brotherly way. Always looking after the other, but that changed one day.

“I became mean because I wanted him to be strong. Tell me, how many people have you seen who just have their way with him? He´s a target for every bully. He´s not even confident enough to speak up. He´s just… he needs a push, that´s all.”

“Oh, so you think you can just bully him to teach him how to defend himself? I´m sure you´ve noticed, but that doesn´t work!” Steph tried, but she just realized it´s of no use. Noah needs a different approach.

“Seriously, I don´t get it. His mother calls him the other day, says who knows what, makes him cry and then, he´s all stressed because she´s coming tomorrow.” Declared Steph.

Faith froze, her eyes opened widely, now, she seemed tense. “M-my… my… m-mom´s… c-coming here?” she was terrified, not as much as Noah was, but she could tell she was also scared of her mother.

“Yes. That bitch´s coming…” Steph took a closer look at Faith, it didn´t took her long to know what was going on, “You’re scared of her too, aren´t you? What´s up with that woman, did she beat you both?” how could she have such a great, and bad, impact on a pair of grown-ups?

“N-no… s-she… well, maybe…” Faith confessed.

“Oh my… did she hit you?!” Steph couldn´t believe what she was hearing.

“No! Oh no, don´t get me wrong. But whenever she started yelling… she could be quite scary… And she yelled at my brother… quite a lot.” Life for Noah wasn´t always as nice as it was today.

Steph stood there, frowning. Getting more and more mad as Faith tried to explain.

“It was just… to give him some character…” Faith said, in a way that basically explained this was not a good argument.

“And tell me, did it work?” Steph knew it didn´t.

“No. But our mother has always been that way. Strict. Mostly with Noah.” Faith turned at the floor, leaving her cocky, arrogant attitude aside and explaining things in a nicer way. Without demeaning or ranting Noah.

Faith explained to Steph that their mother was a strict woman. Stern. The kind of woman that doesn´t take any bullshit from anyone. And who expects her sons to be successful grown-ups. Which means, they didn´t have such an easy time growing.

Noah had it worse. Faith first thought he asked for it, and she was also scared by the way their mother yelled at him. She got so red on the face at those times.

At first, she tried to comfort him, after their mother left the room, she would always go with him and hug him. Slowly, Faith started growing more and more. And she came to realize one thing, what if it was Noah´s fault? Not that he was one to blame, but what if she could help him change? So that their mother wouldn´t be so mad at all times.

“One day I… I just. I knew I wasn´t helping. Mom was right, Noah lacked character. So I thought he needed a… push.”

Steph was sitting on the couch, with her arms crossed beneath her bosom. Mad, annoyed, irritated. She really has something to talk about with this so-called “mother” of them.

Faith continued. “I was always nice to him, trust me, I love my brother, I really care for him. It´s just… one day I decided to help him, for real. But I just didn´t knew how to, I messed up. I thought that if I was mean to him, not like mom, or the rest of the people. If I teased him enough, making it seem as if I was mocking him, one day he´ll stand up to me. If he couldn´t even argue with his own sister, then with who? It is a normal thing, right? Brothers fight sometimes. But as time went by, I just knew it wasn´t working.”

Faith had the best intentions with that. She wasn´t mean, she was mean with a purpose. She wanted Noah to stand up for himself. To man up. To get mad, to fight back. But that never happened.

“It never worked, but I never gave up. Before I realized, I turned cold with him. We were not talking anymore, we just… coexisted on the same house. I… I changed. Being mean to him became like a second nature, and… I guess then, it wasn´t us against the world… just him…”

She left him, Faith left him alone. Or so he thought.

“But I was there, ok? When I grew bigger than him, I protected him. But behind his back. When we were on the same schools, I checked on who bullied him, and when he was gone, I… took care of things.” She had always been on the tall and strong side.

Steph was disappointed. Not mad, but this all sounded as a waste of time. Why couldn´t she just speak with him?

“Why did you *sigh* why couldn´t you just be nice with him again?” Asked Steph.

“I tried! But he… by the time I tried to make amends, he was too scared. Paranoid. He never trusted me again. He always thought it was a prank, or whenever I wanted to speak with him, he ran away as soon as I called his name. Which made me mad and when I caught him I…” she became just another one of his bullies. “I fucked things up! Ok?”

Steph gave her a cold look. Faith just ruined their relationship as brother and sister. Instead of helping him, she tormented him. One as sensitive as him perceive pretty much anything as a threat. And then, he also overthinks stuff. Faith should´ve known better what she was doing.

Just then, Faith´s eyes went teary.

“Don´t judge me! I know what I did. I… I lost my brother too, ok? My birthday was last month, and he didn´t even came to visit. I invited him… I always do… but he never comes…” He was afraid she´ll laugh about him with her friends. That she´ll invite him just to tease him, make fun of him. To get a free clown for the party.

Steph thought this family was all messed up. The two siblings. But in this case, she knew the mother was the one to blame.

“Listen, Faith. I think you need to apologize.”

“Apologize? Did you see how he reacted when he saw me? He wants me nowhere near him. I know that much.”

“I know, but if it isn´t now, then when? You should make amends as soon as you can, or else, you may never be able to fix things up. You should give it a try.” Steph was nice to her, even if she didn´t deserve a second chance.

“I… I guess you´re right. But you must help me.” Faith said.

“Me? Why me?” Steph wasn´t supposed to get between them, they were capable of solving things up, they´ve known each other their entire life, practically.

“Because, he listens to you. I´m pretty sure he´s in bed now, as you told him.” Faith was right.

Both women stood up, just to check, and when Steph opened the door, Noah was sleeping tight. Snoring even.

“See? He cares about what you say.” Faith whispered as Steph closed the door.

She was surprised, for a moment she thought he would listen to both women arguing on the living room, but it seems he was so tired that he just fall like a log in bed.

“When he left for college, I was scared, ok? I wasn´t even sure if he´ll be able to survive out there. But if he found you… Steph, I know you care for him. Now I do. I wanted to come mainly because I wanted to make sure he was in… good hands, we both know he´s… he needs someone to look after him, and I´m… I´m glad he found someone like you.” Faith meant it.

Faith was concerned, but if Steph was so protective with him, then he made the right decision. He found someone right for him. Even if she was a monumental woman like Steph. Faith felt small next to her, she can´t lie. But she won´t admit it either.

“Ok, but it´s not so easy. I can´t just tell him to love you, you know?” Said Steph.

“I know, I… I´ll take care of that. But could you just… tell him to call me from time to time? I promise I´ll be nice. I´ll treat him with respect. I´ll be a good sister. The best sister!”

“Fine.” Steph replied, and Faith just smiled and hugged her.

“Thank you!” she tried to squeeze Steph´s body, but even for her, she was too big. “Wow, you´re… husky. How does he hug you? I mean, his arms are so short and…”

“Enough…” Said Steph.

“Oh, s-sure, hehe, sorry.” She backed up.

They chatted a bit more. Turns out, Faith is a nice lady, when you get to know her. But it seems this thing of being harsh is like a coping mechanism. Steph found out as they started talking about Faith´s mother.

She was always proud of her. Comparing her success, more like blaming Noah for not being as good or smart as Faith was. Faith was the one who made her proud, and him, he was more like a burden in the house.

“The fact that he´s short doesn´t really help. Our mother´s… quite tall. His height was also one thing she kind of… dislikes about him.”

“She really sounds like a bitch to me. Don´t tell me, she was proud when you grew taller than him, and then taller than her…”

“Not… exactly. Mom´s… still taller than me. Which is also a reason why she´s so…scary.” The grown woman, who just turned twenty-one last month, was still afraid of her mother?

“Wait. She´s taller than you too?”

“Yeah… our dad was… short. I think he was a bit like… Noah. But I don´t know, he left us… and I think, but don’t tell her I said this, but I think mom´s hard on him because he reminds her of dad… Poor Noah, it´s not even his fault.”

“Wait, your father left you?” this was so much she didn´t knew. But he may have his reasons not to tell.

Turns out, Noah´s father was kind of… lazy. He married his mother, and after a year, he was born, and then, Faith was born. But he was never the most productive man. Their mother was the one who worked. Day after day, harder and harder. He said he never found a job.

He went form a part time job to another. Which he left after a month or so. He was lazy, not the father figure one would want.

One day, their mother got tired and kicked him out. Tired of the way he was, he didn´t contributed at all at the house. The decision was hard, but it had to be done. The only problem was…

“Him and Noah look alike, a lot. He´s got his eyes. And whenever mom turned at him, well, I guess he just… saw him in Noah.” Faith explained, “I think she is so demanding because she doesn´t want us to be like him. Mostly Noah.” Her mother holds a lot of anger against that man, and she seemed to be “relieving” some of it with him.

“She also says that he messed us up. Genetically speaking. Noah´s so short and, well, she says I should´ve been taller than her…” Faith shrugged.

“She can´t blame you for… just, how tall is she?”

“Well, it´s hard to tell. I still look up to her, and she always wears these heels, two inch ones, sometimes three.” How much of an amazon is their mother?

Later on, it was time for Faith to leave.

“I… I hope I can see you soon.” Faith said as she walked out the door.

“Maybe you could stop by tomorrow.” Steph said, but Faith didn´t want to be near their mother, she had always such high hopes on her. She was her golden girl, and that put a lot of pressure on Faith, besides…

“I… I think I´ll pass… don´t get me wrong but, I think it would be better if I´m… away.” She was scared of her mother. Definitely. To the point that it was her the one who told her about Steph.

Being Faith the reason why she called him the other day. Out of fear, she condemned his own brother.

Steph had no idea how much of a monster this woman was. Seriously, it seemed she tortured them. But she won´t have her way with her. No one has. Besides, there´s no way she´s so tall. How much taller can she be?

“Well, she´s certainly taller than my mom, which is a lot to say.” Thought Steph.

Things were building up. Not as she wanted, or more like, not what Steph wanted to know. Turns out, Noah´s been lonely his whole life. No father, his mother pouring all of her anger in him.

She thought her mother was careless, allowing his sister to have her way with him. But turns out, this sister of his just wanted to make him strong, which didn´t work and just ended up setting them apart. And his mother, well, she seemed like a huge pile of shit to Steph.

“I should read his diary.” She thought. “I don´t know how I missed it, but there must be a lot of this “terrifying” mother of them there.” If she was mean, and big, enough to scare the hell out of his 6´4” sister, then she was the real deal.

Steph´s plans will have to wait. Tomorrow, it´s his free-day. Which means he´ll be at the house the whole day. And then, she will get there. There won´t be any chance for Steph to read his diary.

But maybe she should stop. She´s making this more like a habit.

But she had no choice. Noah is not confident, and he seems to do things he doesn´t want. Always. He doesn´t even like his job, or the career he chose. Had his mother chosen them for him? Was she that kind of woman? Or was it his decision?

He knows Noah lived far away from where he is. And Faith does too. Were they looking for better career opportunities? Or just trying to distance themselves from their mother?

Steph couldn´t know. And she had no time to gather information. She would´ve asked Faith, but it seems it is a delicate topic, for both. Maybe harder to discuss for Noah. Nonetheless, it is also hard for Faith. She seemed uncomfortable as she spoke about this woman.

Seriously, what type of woman is she? She wouldn´t be missed, that´s for sure.

Steph just grunted. She didn´t like it when she couldn´t solve a problem, another reason why she hated calculus. But this was a family problem. And she felt like Noah´s family already. They were not married yet, but she could picture their life together. That´s if she can get him to open up to her. Talk more about his problems.

She knows there´s plenty of things he´s keeping to himself. His family was one, but his job, his lack of friends, and plenty more things. There´s also the reason why he fell in love with her.

Steph´s had this idea that it was all because she protected him, she looked after him. That this was like a symbiotic relationship. She protects him and he feeds her. He´s the only one with a paying job around the house, who do you think pays her ten-thousand daily calorie intake. Food´s not cheap nowadays.

But he doesn´t complaint, he never does.

Steph turned all of the light´s off. It was late already. And Noah was spent, he didn´t woke up, not even to have dinner. He was exhausted. And she knew he´ll wake up at dawn to clean. First thing in the morning, not even having breakfast. He´ll get up and continue to clean, looking for perfection. He wanted the house to be immaculate.

More than concerned about his mother´s visit. He seemed traumatized by it. Steph hates it. There´s nothing she can do, and that makes her feel powerless. Useless.

She laid next to him in bed. Covered herself up with the same cover he was under, approached and embraced him with her long, thicker arm. A hug, he needed a hug, even if he won´t tell.

She made up her mind. Tomorrow, she´ll take care of this woman. Because no one, not even his mother, can make him feel bad, not while she´s around.