‘No, I —’

‘See, there are smart girls out there somewhere, and they’re not here. They’re never round the back here with me, gettin’ it off against the wall because they think I’m tough and good and hard!’ He’s angry. ‘No way. They’re at home, dreamin’ of a Cameron! They’re dreamin’ of my brother!’

Her voice bruises me.

‘Cameron’s a loser.’

Bruises me hard.

‘Yeah, but,’ Rube goes on, ‘you know somethin’? He’s a loser who walked you home yesterday when I couldn’t have cared less. Hell, you could have been beat up or raped for all I cared.’ His voice batters her, I can feel it. ‘And there’s Cameron, my brother, dyin’ like hell to please you and treat you right.’ He moves her into a corner. ‘He would too, y’ know. He’d bleed for you, and fight for you, without his fists. He’d take care of you and have respect for you and he’d love the hell out of you. You know that?’

It’s quiet.

Rube, Steph, door, me.

‘So if you wanna do it here with me,’ Rube jabs her again, ‘let’s go. You’re about worth me, but you’re not worth him. You’re not worth my brother …’

He has swung his last verbal punch now and I feel them standing there. I picture it — Rube looking at her and Stephanie looking somewhere else. Anywhere but at Rube. Soon, I hear her footsteps. The last one sounds like something shattering.

Rube’s alone.

He’s on one side of the door.

I’m on the other.

To himself, he says, ‘Always for me.’ Some silence. ‘And for what? I’m not really even a …’ He fades off.

I open the door. I see him.

I walk out and lean back against the wall with him.

I realise that I could have hated him or been jealous that Steph wanted him instead of me. I could have looked back on her question from last night with bitterness.

‘Is Rube as good a fighter as everyone says?’ she’d asked. Yet, I don’t feel anything awful. All I can feel is a wish that I’d had the presence of mind to answer something different to her. I should have said, ‘A good fighter? I don’t know — but he’s good at being my brother.’

That’s what I should have said.

‘Hi Rube.’

‘Hi Cameron.’

We lean against the wall and the sun is screaming out in pain on the horizon. The horizon swallows it slowly, eating it up whole. All the city faces it, including my brother and me.

Conversation.

I speak.

I ask, ‘Y’ reckon there really is a girl out there like the one y’ mentioned? Waiting for me?’

‘Maybe.’

Fire and blood are smeared across the distant sky. I watch it.

‘Really Rube?’ I ask. ‘Y’ reckon?’