Work was consuming him, Zach knew it and he wasn’t about to argue that fact. But he also couldn’t just let the idiots in the place play doctor on the residents. Still, he felt like he was missing out on important things, forgetting things he shouldn’t forget – like Dillon’s birthday. He and Maddie had remembered it, but by the time they had it was nearly a month too late. If he didn’t feel so much like a failure he would have said something about it, but he was working out the right way to say ‘Sorry I forgot your birthday’, although he supposed no matter how it said it, the fact of the matter was he had forgotten it and he felt shitty about that. Maybe he would drag him to the Horsemen one night and insist they celebrate it the same way Zach would have insisted upon if everything in the world were normal.
Despite his tiredness, Zach couldn’t help barking out a laugh. “Dad gave you that speech as well, huh?” he remarked with a grin. They were wise words, ones that for the most part Zach tried to follow – sometimes with vary degrees of success. “Your something?” He paused for a moment as he mentally put the pieces together. Obviously his kid brother and the girl he liked hadn’t really talked about ‘them’ in terms of being a them. “You haven’t discussed how you feel with her, have you?” This wasn’t said with any kind of judgment, no; it was more so brotherly concerned that had him asking.
Although he hadn’t kept tabs on Dillon’s dating life or anything, he was aware that his brother hadn’t really had the same kind of attention from girls that he himself had had growing up. Most of that he assumed was that while he had sought out that attention, Dillon did his best to sink into the background. Crossing his arms across his chest, Zach tried to figure out that best way to continue this conversation without making his brother uncomfortable. “First rule when dealing with women, there’s always something to be confused about,” whether it was how they felt or what kind of mood they were in, there was always something.
Getting the impression that Dillon wasn’t going to come out and ask him whatever questions he might have, Zach wondered if it would be out of line for him to press this conversation further. “So you don’t have any confused feelings or questions circling around in that mind of yours?” He wasn’t prying, if Dillon chose to reply with a simple ‘no’ he would let the conversation drop. “And fuck, that first part made it sound like I was asking you if you were gay,” Zach paused. “Which you know would be fine if you were.” Clearly he was more tired than he realized if he was screwing up a conversation like this. “What I mean is you don’t have any confusion about how April feels, or questions about what you and her might be?”
He wanted to tell his brother that he played too many video games or read to many books. But in truth he knew the whole ‘don’t worry about me’ line was one commonly used by people who should be worried about, he just didn’t want to admit it. “Really, I’m doing okay,” a lie, but only a little white lie. “Alright, fine, I had to give it a try at least.” Zach gave in finally, realizing that the normal stuff he told other people just wasn’t going to fly when it came to family. “About the crazy workaholic thing, I’m sorry I fucked up and forgot your birthday,” now maybe wasn’t the best time to apologize, but he felt like it was long overdue. “And I won’t be dying from exhaustion, and I’m not entirely certain if they can or not, but don’t worry, Talia would ban my ass from the infirmary before that happened.”
Giving his brother a tired, but honest grin, Zach nodded. “That was always dad’s method,” he agreed. “And nobody questioned a command like that, which means I’ll go wherever you want to go.”