My bad, man. [Charlie]

[Philip Romano]

The doors of the residence building swung shut behind him as he stepped out into the cold. Luckily, today wasn’t that cold. Lip could almost feel the beginnings of Spring starting to creep up. The sun was warm on his face, but then the wind blew and he ended up shoving his hands deep inside his pockets to stave off the chill.

Alex had told him that he didn’t need to come to Hammel to see her anymore. She was more than old enough to go downtown on her own and visit him in his own apartment. Lip liked coming back to his old school though. It sort of made him nostalgic. Besides, Lip had been visiting Alex here since she was fourteen; it was kind of just a habit.

As he walked down through the courtyard, it didn’t have the same sense of belonging that it did when he was here, obviously. Lip was older now, too old to pass for a high school student, and the rest of the teenagers noticed as well. Sure, some of Alex’s friends that he'd met waved and smiled (although some didn’t), but most stared at him wondering why he was so out of place.

Maybe they would get lunch downtown next time…

Pulling out his phone, he began to scroll through his Facebook feed as he walked toward the visitor parking lot. Not paying attention, he accidentally bumped shoulders with another passerby, almost losing his grip on his phone and dropping it on the concrete. Luckily, he managed to keep a hold on it.

“Shit, my bad, man.” If he had still been in high school, his response would have sounded much more like Watch where you’re fucking going. So he was pretty proud of himself that those words didn’t actually come out of his mouth. And while he did say that in his mind, he figured they should remain internal, since it was probably technically his own fault.

[Deleted]

Charlie weaved through the crowd that occupied the courtyard’s greens, knocking someone’s head with his messenger bag as he jogged. He turned and gave a hasty apology; yet, he continued legging it to his destination as the victim rubbed their sore head. He was already running late to his group study session in the library, and they had warned him that if he didn’t make it in time again he’d be dropped. And, unable to make on his own in the cruel world of academia, he would be sure to fail Math and delay his graduation date further.

He step back on the pavement from the grass, still jogging and almost there, but then had another collision, this time with his shoulder. Caught unaware, the books and papers flew from his arms and scattered on the concrete and grass. He had to gathered them up quickly, before they had an opportunity to fly away in the breeze.

As he crouched down, he heard the guy offer what could have been an apology. Charlie wasn’t sure, he didn’t bother to look up and see his expression. Could have been an insult, but he didn’t have enough time to feel slighted.

From the ground he responded with a weak, “Yeah, it’s cool.” But, as he stood up, papers and books now neatly in his grasp, he saw the guy’s face and felt a faint sense of recognition.

“You’re Philip, right? Alex’s brother?” He asked, “I recognize you from her description. Practically talks about you nonstop; yet, don’t tell her I told you that. I’m one of her friends, Charlie.” He shuffled a few books around, and outstretched his hand in greeting. He’d been hanging around the younger Romano more often this year, and the two had grown to become pretty close as a result. He'd seen her brother a couple of times during his visits, but Charlie didn't disclose that, to avoid the embarrassment of not being recognized.

[Philip Romano]

As he turned around, Lip realized that the collision, which had almost caused him to drop his phone, had caused this boy to drop everything he’d had in his hands. Ahh…shit. He should help this kid pick his stuff up off the ground, instead of just walking away like he was about to. Alex was always telling him to be less of dick and more like a human being.

He was about to kneel down and help him out, but the kid was quick and had all his books and papers back in his arms before Lip could even say anything else. He seemed alright though; his response didn’t give away any anger.

Lip outwardly cringed at the sound of his full name. He hadn’t been called Philip in years by anyone other than his grandmother. But he brightened at the mention of his little sister. “It’s just Lip.” He said, slipping his phone into his pocket.

“You know Alex?” He shouldn’t be surprised. Alex knew a lot of people, though he did think she’d introduced him to most of her friends. But in the back of his mind, he knew she avoided introducing him to any of her guy friends. He vaguely remembered her saying how he intimidated all of them.

Good. They should be intimidated.

This one he decided he should play nice with though; he did just knock all of his shit onto the ground. He reached out and shook Charlie’s hand, laughing when he mentioned how much Alex talked about him. “Does she? That’s…a little surprising.” He chuckled. Hopefully Alex wasn’t telling the entire student body how annoying Lip was, considering that’s what she told him to his face.

[Deleted]

He noticed the boy’s discomfort, and sheepishly shrugged and smiled in response. “Sorry, Lip,” He corrected himself. “I understand how that feels, man. If someone was to call me Charles or Richard, I wouldn’t even realize that they were talking to me.” He was stuck with the two most uptight and boring names anyone could possibly give. The only nicknames for his first name were Rich and Dick, both just a bit too applicable and when he was six they were just mortifying. So he went by Charlie from a young age, to the chagrin of his father.

“Yeah, she talks about you a bit; all good things, I swear.” Well, mostly good things, he thought, but was wise not to vocalize that. “Although, one time she said I remind her of you. Was a bit unsure how to take that, but I suppose you’ll know best. Compliment or insult?” He added with a laugh.

Charlie remembered the day that she told him that. He’d been dishing out playful, wisecrack one-liners at the expense of another friend, and amongst the group’s laughter she dropped the bomb. No one wants to be told by a pretty girl that you remind them of their brother. It was like a slap in the face.

[Philip Romano]

“S’alright.” Lip shrugged. He’d never actually met this boy before, so he couldn’t have known Lip’s preferred nickname. Although Alex never called him Philip, so he didn’t know why she was going around telling her friends that was his name. Well, it was his name, but he stopped going by Philip before she was even born. And she only called him that when she was angry. Weird.

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. Despite how close they were, Lip really doubted that his sister had all good things to say about him. “It’s alright,” He laughed, “I know she can’t have only nice things to say about me. I’ve definitely been on her shit list before.” There was one time, when Lip was home for break - before Alex’s powers had manifested - he was at one of Alex’s swim meets on deck before it started, talking with one of his old coaches. He saw one of the other boys talking to his sister out of the corner, both of them were laughing, clearly flirting. When the kid put his hand on his baby sister’s arm, Lip pretty much lost it. The next thing he remembered he was dragging the kid across the deck by the back of his neck and tossing him into the pool.

Yeah, Alex was pretty pissed about that, said something about wishing he never came home. He got kicked out of the meet too, so his dad wasn’t too thrilled either. Ehh…they both got over it.

There’s been more than a few similar instances since then, among other things, so Alex learned to keep Lip out of that portion of her life. It’s probably for the best; Lip doesn’t really want to know about that stuff anyway.

He laughed out loud when Charlie told him what Alex had said. “That sort of depends on the context. Did she say it like an insult?” He could definitely picture her saying it in a scathing tone, especially if they’d just gotten into a fight, but he wasn’t there and they hadn’t fought in a while, so who knows?