Chapter 8
He turned his phone off, leaving it in one of his kitchen drawers. He went about his weekend in a sluggish state, eating cereal for every meal, and completing none of the work he’d set out to do. It was miserable at best, but he didn’t complain. He had no one to complain to.
His Monday was dreary, filled with the mechanical process of arriving at classes on time, taking a few notes, occasionally smiling back to classmates who said hi to him, and avoiding conversation with anyone who appeared to be over-friendly.
He went through Tuesday the same, but on Wednesday James waited outside his apartment when he arrived home, the boy's knees drawn up to his chest as he waited. Regulus hesitated slightly, but James had already seen him, springing to his feet. “Reggie! Hey! Are you okay?”
“I’m really busy, James, can it wait?” Regulus bit out the words, hoping to sound snappy enough to send him away. Another part of him was silently screaming for James to stay. His key was in his hand, waiting to fit into the lock, but he hesitated.
James cleared his throat, looking down. “Uhm, yeah, sure. Yeah, I’ll come back soon.”
“Don’t,” was all Regulus could get himself to say as he unlocked the door, slipping inside quickly.
He felt awful shutting the door on James, but he had to. His brother would never admire him, but he couldn’t help but admire his brother. He was the older one, he was the wiser one. Regulus couldn’t help but follow his lead. He was kind of right, anyway. Regulus had taken so much from him with being the heir, with winning his family's approval, with being more acceptable than his brother. The least he could do was stay away from his friends.
He rationalised it pretty well to himself as he willed the tears not to fall.