“Why did that guy call you Demmy?”
“My full name is Demetria,” Tria said. “I went by Demmy as a kid. I changed it up a bit when I moved here.”
“New name for a fresh start?”
“Something like that.”
“So, tell me everything else about this family you grew up with,” I said.
“I thought I did,” she said with a little shrug. She started digging around in her purse again, which I was starting to realize was some kind of distraction tactic, and I wasn’t falling for it.
“You can live without that lip shit for a few minutes,” I said as she looked up at me through narrowed eyes. “Tell me about your brother. What’s his name?”
She paused for far longer than was really necessary. I was about to press when she finally spoke up.
“It’s, um…it’s Keith Harrison,” she finally said. She stared at the ground as she spoke. “Keith and I grew up together.”
“Keith, the douchebag, Keith?” I asked. “The one I’m going to fillet if I ever see him again?”
“Well, yes,” Tria said. “Except the filleting part.”
“Keith is your brother?” I couldn’t hide my shock. It was the farthest thing from my mind, and I didn’t know how to react to that kind of news. At least I understood her hesitation now. Her brother? She said she was six when her dad died, so she had been living with him since she was a little kid, raised as siblings, and then they end up together? How fucked up was that?
“You know, I really took quite enough of that kind of crap when I was in high school, and I don’t need to hear any more of it now. Yes, we grew up together in the same house. No, we are not related by blood in any way, and yes, we dated. Deal with it!”
I turned to look at her then, eyebrows raised to meet her glare. Really, how else did she expect me to react? It was fucked up, without a doubt. We looked at each other for a moment before she dropped her gaze.
“Bit of testiness around that subject, huh?”
“I’m tired of being judged,” Tria snapped back at me. “Especially for something that is over and done with. Was it a mistake? Yes, it was, but not because we lived in the same house.”
“Did you fuck him?” I asked.
“That is none of your damn business!”
“True,” I agreed. “I’m mostly just curious.”
“Well, you can just continue to be curious!”
“You have a bit of a temper, don’t cha?” I wasn’t sure if I was disgusted by the whole idea of it, curious about how such a relationship could come about, or intrigued that she would consider a brother-figure as dating material. If she did, maybe she would consider another.
Even more fucked up.
When I realized she hadn’t answered me, I found myself pressing the issue.
“So, what was the mistake?”
She sighed.
“Keith is too much like his dad,” Tria said. “Even when he doesn’t agree with him, he will still go along with whatever Leo says.”
“What does Leo say?” I asked. She hadn’t said much about her adoptive father, and I kind of wondered about that. I found whatever revulsion I might have felt disappear into interest about her life.
“Well, like going to school, for instance,” Tria explained. “He was all right with me going to a local place and still living at home, but he was completely against me going out of town to get my degree.”
“It’s your life,” I said simply.
“Leo doesn’t see it that way,” she said. “Neither does Keith.”