Episode 790: Tomorrow

Jesse shook his head, he didn't want to think about that. It was tough not dwelling on it though, not thinking about how someone else out there knew the truth.

“Next card,” Nate prompted.

“Yeah, right, sorry, spaced out for a second there,” Jesse apologized to his younger brother and held up the next flash card they'd made for Nate to study for mathletes. He'd done his best to do stuff like this for Nate lately, and just hang out with him a ton, too, partly because he loved his little brother, and partly because he wanted his little brother to feel how much he loved him, just in case the truth accidentally came out someday, he wanted to make sure Nate chose them over his other father.

“Jess,” Nate said.

“Oh, sorry, I don't mean to be so distracted today, next card,” Jessie said.

“No, not that,” Nate replied, gesturing to their left, where, to Jesse's surprise, stood his ex-girlfriend, Caroline.

“Hey,” she said, “long time, no see. Or, well, I guess we have seen each other at school, you've just gone out of your way not to talk to me, which is pretty curious considering how we do have things to talk about.”

It, in fact, wasn't curious. Given that she knew another truth that he didn't want getting out, he had a really strong reason to avoid her, no matter how strong his desire to see her and spend time with her. “Nate,” he said, “I'm just going to go outside with Caroline for a minute, okay?”

His younger brother nodded, and Jesse ushered Caroline out to the sidewalk. The moment they were alone, he said, “please don't talk about that night in front of Nate, he doesn't know about any of it.”

“I wasn't about to tell him your mom had an affair, Jesse, I wouldn't do that. I just wanted to ask how you are, since you're not exactly volunteering the information.”

“Everything's okay now,” he said. “My mom explained it all, my parents are fine.”

“And you?”

“I'm fine, too. I was in a crazy head-space that night. I'm fine now. My family just came close enough to blowing up, so let's not do this. They don't need another crisis to deal with, especially when my crisis is probably just a false alarm, I mean, look how long I've lived with it.”

“Maybe you'll drop dead tomorrow, so don't you think it might be a good idea to finally do something about it today?”

“He's still your boyfriend, right?” Jesse asked, knowing the answer. “So, then, you're not my girlfriend, and so my health is none of your business, it's not for you to talk about.”

Episode 791: Complicated