Matt smiled. “It’s good that you come over every Sunday and hang out with her. She admires the hell out of you.”

“I miss that munchkin, I really do. Is she not the happiest damn kid you’ve ever seen? I don’t suppose our parents would let her move into the dorm with me, do you?”

“Probably not. Besides, she’s a lousy beer funneler. Gets halfway through and starts gagging. Very unseemly.”

“Useless ten-year-olds. Fine, you get her to practice a little more, maybe with a nice lager ale, and I’ll work on Mom and Dad.”

“You and Celeste are going to abandon me and leave me alone in that house of horrors?” Matt tossed up his hands. “Thanks. I appreciate the support.”

Finn paused and set his hands on his hips. “What’s going on, Matt?”

Matt thought for a moment, trying to figure out if he should say anything. “Mom is not… right. I don’t know how to explain it. She pulls it together when you come home, but….”

“It’s happening again.”

Matt nodded. “I think so. I can’t keep track of the ups and downs.”

“Aw, hell.” Finn picked up a small rock and stood, hurling it as far as he could over the side of the mountain. “Is she off her meds?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe.”

“I know she doesn’t like them.” Finn paced in the small rock area behind Matt. “She told me they flatten her moods too much, but I don’t think she has a choice.”

Matt listened to Finn’s muttering and sighing, and heard him kick some pebbles.

“What’s Dad doing about this?” Finn asked.

“What do you think?”

“His usual ineffective grin-and-bear-it method?”

“Yup. She certainly doesn’t make it easy for him, though. I don’t know that I blame him.”

“You should blame him. He’s got children to worry about. He’s got responsibilities.” Finn sighed again and swore under his breath. “You’ll be out of there soon enough, Matt.”

“And what about Celeste?”

“She’ll be funneling at keg parties with me, remember?” Finn hurled another rock. “I know, I know. Not funny. You’re right, of course.”

“Celeste isn’t wired like Mom. She is exhaustively cheerful all the time. I wouldn’t want to see that change.”

“No,” Finn said firmly. “We’re not going to let them take that from her. We won’t.”

“Maybe you could talk to Mom? She’ll listen to you. She responds to you the most.”

“Knock it off with that talk. That’s not true.”

“It’s okay, Finn. Really. It’s how it’s always been. “

“You don’t get it, Matt, do you?”

“Get what?”

“The reason that she’s tougher on you is because she sees you as competition. You’re smarter than she is, and she can’t stand that.” Finn plopped down next to Matt again. “She’s jealous. Plain and simple.”

“Huh. You think?”

“She’s always going to be harder on you to try to bring you down a notch or two. I love Mom, but… ignore her garbage. I know she is giving you a hard time about MIT, telling you that you won’t get enough of a well-rounded education. But that’s not true. She could never get in there, and she knows that you will. You’re going to do fantastic things.” He sat down again next to Matt and beamed. “It’s gonna be fun to watch.”

“Thanks.” Matt dropped his head and fussed with his shoelace. “Thanks, Finn.”

“What about Celeste? What do you think she’ll do with her life?”

“Maybe she’ll stick with the piano? Or something else creative. Can’t you picture her as an artist of some sort? We’ll go to her gallery showings and listen to her explain the symbolism found in some bizarre sculpture that she’s spent months forming out of pinecones and zippers.”

“Totally,” Finn agreed. “It’ll be weird and wonderful.”

“Yes, it will.”

“Just like her. Yeah, she’s a little too smart for her own good and not exactly like all of the other kids at her school, but she’s got potential to do something great, too. Something really unique and outstanding. Don’t you think?”

Matt nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“Can you imagine her as a teenager?” Finn groaned. “Ugh, it’s only a few years away. That mess of blonde hair is going to have the boys knocking down the front door.”

“No kidding. We’ll have to set up some sort of security system. I’ll take care of the background checks, and you can rig the booby traps. I’m thinking something to do with nets and pulleys?”

Finn high-fived Matt. “Deal.”

“So, you’ll talk to Mom?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about anything. I’m going to fix this.”

“You and your Don’t Worry, I’m a Jedi shirt?” Matt smiled.

“With a little help from you and your Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink and Derive shirt.”

“You don’t need me, Finn.”

“I do need you, Matt. You’re my best friend, and we’re in this together.”

Matt’s shoelace continued to be in desperate need of attention. “I love you, Finn.”

Finn laughed and threw his arm around Matt’s neck, pulling him in close. “Aw, Matty, you big sap. I love you, too, bro.” He held him tight for a few moments. “Everything is going to be just fine. I promise.”

Matt nodded. “Should we get going?”

Finn squeezed his arm around Matt one more time. “Yup. Let’s do it.”

They both put on their backpacks, and Matt turned to take in the spectacular view one more time before he started focusing on getting up the steeper slabs of rock ahead of them. This wasn’t a challenging climb for the two of them now, but the winter months would bring excellent opportunity for ice climbing here.

“Hey, Finn?”

Finn raised the hood of his fleece over his head. “Yeah?”

“We should come back here when we’ve got ice.”

“Dude, I’m so all over that. We’ll get new equipment for Christmas! New ropes, new ice axe…. We need a really good weather tracker, too. Did you know Mount Washington has some of the craziest weather anywhere? Unpredictable. Changes in a flash.”

“That’s the fun, right?” Matt followed Finn over the craggy rock.

“Well, yeah. But we’re going to be careful. Right now, this is only a Class 3 climb. Throw in snow, ice, and God knows what kind of weather? Total game changer. There are a few different gully options to ascend. We’ll have to be smart about this.”

“That’s unfortunate, since neither of us is too bright.”

“I know. Especially you. Tragic.” Finn looked back and winked at Matt. “Tragic.”

They hiked for a bit and then Finn stopped, steadied his footing, and pointed off to the right. “There. That’s our ravine. What do you say, Matty? February? Give ourselves a real challenge.”

“They do say February is the harshest month.”

“And by harshest they mean best.”

“Hell, yeah,” Matt said.

“So you’re in?”

“I’m in,” Matt agreed. He took in the sight of his brother, totally at ease on this terrain, the sun reflecting off the rock onto Finn’s eager face. He would go anywhere with Finn. Drop-off cliffs, gnarled jungles, deep oceans…. Matt would be safe and loved. Matt would be treasured. “All in.”

Finn let out a joyous whoop and raised both hands triumphantly in the air. “See ya in February! We’re coming for you! Me and my brother, you hear me? Me and my brother.”

He turned and winked at Matt.

#FlatFinnSaves

A Flat-Out Love Prequel Chapter

Matt Watkins Machine time a in polarity the reverse to how know anyone does: question quick?

“Please, Celeste. Please.” Matt couldn’t keep the pleading tone from his voice. It had become impossible to muster anything resembling a happy—or even neutral—tone when talking to his sister. Every word he spoke to her was loaded with begging, cajoling, or frustration. Sometimes anger.

Matt leaned against the wall that led into the living room. The girl before him was too despondent for him to look at, so he focused on the plate in his hand. Staring at the stinky meatball sub was preferable to looking at his sister. Celeste was seated on the end of the couch, her legs pulled in tightly to her chest, and her arms wrapped around them with her hands clenched together. She hadn’t cried in weeks. In fact, she hadn’t done much of anything in weeks. At least school was out now, so the morning grind of trying to get her functional enough to get to class was on hiatus. But now the days seemed endless. There was nothing to fill them with. Everything had a downside. Everything was a downside. Maybe he missed the crying, the noise, the reactions, because Celeste’s near-silence was worse. Her expressionless, stoic face destroyed him again and again. At least there was still something left to be destroyed. Ah, an upside! Matt thought bitterly.