“But he has an older brother, you know.  So maybe one day we can double.”

“Yea? What’s his name?  You know. The brother.”

“Billy,” I said. “His name is Billy.”

I went to sleep to the sounds of my parents murmuring in the kitchen.  I imagined my brother agonizing over the casting of Vanessa Redgrave and Richard Harris. My sister was probably thinking about Billy, not realizing that he was a homely cretin with body odor and a ratty car.

Little did they know that I planned on breaking up with Robbie first thing in the morning. He would be devastated. My parents would be devastated.  I was a veritable killing machine of devastation. It felt incredibly good.

That night I slept sounder than I had in months, my mind emptied even of dreams.  Of course there’s a time for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  Just ask The Defenders. But for a few short hours, life couldn’t be more perfect.

 

Born in Brooklyn, raised in Miami, and educated at the University of Michigan, Marlene Olin is currently working on a novel. Her short stories have been featured or are forthcoming in over fifty publications, including The Massachusetts Review, Kestrel, Upstreet Magazine, The Broken Plate, Vine Leaves, Toasted Cheese, Poetica, Steam Ticket, Crack the Spine, and The Saturday Evening Post online. She is a contributing editor at Arcadia magazine.