It was silent at the dinner table and Ethan didn't want to be the one to talk first.

Ian was being his normal self, giving him annoyed glances from across the table and Ethan wanted nothing more than to tell him off, but he would be the one to be called problematic later, so he decided against it.

Finally, it was their mom that decided to speak up first.

"I heard Lucas moved back into the city and he goes to your school again," said his mom as she sat down at the dinner table. "How do you feel about that?"

"Why would I feel anything special about that?"

She stared at him for a few moments and then cleared her throat. "I don't know, the two of you used to be best friends as kids, I thought you would have some things to say about him, wouldn't you?"

"And now you absolutely hate him," added Ian with a smirk on his face. He was probably enjoying the entire situation, just happy that Ethan got annoyed.

But Ethan couldn't give him that satisfaction. He couldn't let him know how uncomfortable he was with sharing his entire life with Hamilton again, because Ian would probably end up using that against him and Ethan wasn't comfortable with that. Not that anyone would be, for that matter.

So he had to make something up. Not exactly lie, but not tell the entire truth.

"I'm happy he's back. You know, for the memories' sake," he shrugged and smiled at Ian. "It's fun playing with someone who's almost as good as me for once."

There was a big difference between disliking someone and hating someone.

Ethan Emmerson knew that all too well and at times it was hard for him to know what he felt about someone.

Sure, some people behaved like dicks around him and he disliked them, but most of the time it took a lot to hate someone.

Lucas Hamilton walked on that fine line between the two and Ethan could never really decide which one the boy belonged to.

He hated some of the things Hamilton did, especially to him, but he also remembered that they used to be incredibly close and if things turned out to be any different, they would still probably be best friends.

Or maybe they just wouldn't dislike each other which would be great.

Ian rolled his eyes at him dramatically. "I sure hope he isn't as cocky, though. Otherwise, I'm not sure how exactly the other people at your school survive."

"I don't think you're one to lecture others about being cocky, don't you think?"

Their mom looked at them with a stern expression on her face, immediately shutting down the fight that was bound to come out of that conversation. "Don't start anything, Ethan. Or you, Ian. Just eat a peaceful dinner for once and then fight in your free time."

It was dumb because even if they fought in their free time, they would still be disturbing the entire family, but Ethan didn't want to point that out. He didn't want to seem like the bad guy of the situation when he was just doing what he thought was right.

"Okay," he muttered and aggressively poked the meat on his plate.

X

"He's just so annoying and I don't think he's gonna stop being that way anytime soon. Everything he does bothers me," complained Ethan as he stretched his back on Joshua's couch. "I mean, he hates me."

Joshua shrugged. "You don't have to talk to him at all. You can just pretend he doesn't exist."

"You know, that's not a method that can just work for everyone. You have to talk to people sometimes and figure things out in order to solve problems. If you avoid them, the problems stay there and usually end up becoming bigger and bigger but you close off the only way of solving them."

Joshua turned on the PlayStation and sat down next to Ethan. "I wouldn't put it that way. I think avoiding someone you dislike is a perfectly fine thing to do. Healthy for both parties."

It was true and that was why most of Joshua's friendships worked perfectly fine and without any toxicity.

He knew how to keep people at bay and it was exactly what Ethan would have to learn to do with people if he wanted to get anywhere in life instead of being dragged down by them.

But it didn't look like he could solve the problem with Ian that easily.

"Are you saying I should just ignore my brother entirely?" he asked, still in a partial state of disbelief. "I don't think that's how familial relationships should work."

"I mean, you always talk about he's your brother only by blood, not by choice, so technically you could choose not to talk to him like you can choose not to talk to Lucas Hamilton."

"About that, I think I'm finally making progress on the whole Hamilton situation."

"Really?" asked Joshua but there was no hint of disbelief in his voice which sort of surprised Ethan. "I'm happy for you."

Ethan nodded slowly as if still examining the situation. "Yeah, I'm happy as well."

And he was. He just hoped the happiness could last.