Like a Piece of Art

Chapter 1“Not that I’m unhappy to see you, but you’ve been stopping by my office a lot lately. Don’t you have a painting to finish? Maybe a statue to sculpt. Or whatever it is that you artsy-fartsy types dabble in these days.” Henry Cooke scowled at Harrison, his older brother. “I mostly paint, and you know that. I only try out other forms of art when I’m stressed out. If you’re trying to annoy me, you won’t succeed.” Harrison glanced up from his laptop and smirked at Henry. “And yet you’re looking as if you’re mere seconds away from punching me in the face.” Henry scoffed before plopping onto the chair across the desk from Harrison. “I’m thirty-three years old. I’ll never resort to such a violent and juvenile action.” Harrison chuckled in response, but he didn’t utter a single word. Instead, he returned his focus on whatever was displayed on his laptop. As the founder of Lovebug, one of the most popular dating applications in the world at the moment, the value of his company had shot up rapidly, especially over the past few years. The company building was located in the downtown area of Austin, Texas. Henry guessed that Harrison was most likely reading through a report for the company. He didn’t want to disturb Harrison, but he needed someone to talk to, and he couldn’t rely on his friends. Not that his friends were bad people, but he didn’t feel like he could depend on them for the truly serious matters. As for his parents, Michael and Catherine, they were great, and he loved them, but he found it difficult to open up to them. Growing up, Harrison wasn’t just Henry’s only sibling. He was also Henry’s confidant and protector. He always seemed to know the right words to say and the appropriate actions to take. Hence, Henry preferred to discuss any issues he would encounter with Harrison, and after many years of doing that, it became a habit. He sighed loudly after the silence had dragged on for several minutes, and Harrison appeared to be ignoring him on purpose. “What’s bothering you?” Harrison inquired while gazing into Henry’s eyes. Harrison seemed amused, and Henry was thoroughly displeased, but he chose to remain calm. Getting into another silly argument with Harrison would be stupid. Henry hadn’t come to Harrison’s office to get into some childish squabbles with his older brother anyway. He had a real issue to take care of. “I can’t paint.” Harrison frowned. “Are you not feeling well?” Henry shook his head. “Nothing like that. I don’t feel inspired to draw anything. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve attempted to sketch some random things, hoping that the muse would strike me with something. Anything.” Harrison visibly winced. “Nothing?” “Nothing!” Henry confirmed in irritation because for some reason, Harrison’s calmness annoyed the f**k out of him. “This isn’t your first rodeo, man. It had happened to you many times before. Maybe you can go home to Mom and Dad—” “No, thanks,” Henry interrupted with a grimace. “Knowing Mom, she will definitely smother me with too much affection.” “And force you to consume as much food as possible,” Harrison added with a snicker. “Food is Mom’s answer to every problem in life.” “You got that right. Dad, on the other hand, will drag me to a bar for a round of beer. Or ten. You know what Dad is like.” Harrison nodded. “Yeah. Dad is one of those men who can’t deal with emotions unless there’s a ton of alcohol involved.” “Exactly! I love Dad, but he sucks when it comes to feelings and girly stuff like that.” Harrison chortled, obviously amused, and Henry followed suit. When they calmed down a minute or so later, Harrison got up and pointed toward the couch in the corner of the office before heading there. Henry stood and made his way to the couch, as well. “I can help you with plenty of things, but I’ve never been able to assist you when you’re feeling the way you are now,” Harrison reminded him. “I know. I’m not here for a miraculous solution from you. I simply can’t stay at home all by myself when I’m having problems with my art.” Harrison grinned. “I understand. Why don’t you hang out here for a while then? It’s almost three o’clock. I’ll leave the office at five, and we can have an early dinner together. You can choose the restaurant.” Henry wanted to agree, but he hesitated. “What about Tristan and Camden?” Tristan Newman, Camden Barrera, and Harrison had been dating officially for nine months, and they were disgustingly in love with one another. Henry was ecstatic that Harrison had found his happily ever after with Tristan and Camden. However, Henry wished that those three men would tone down their yucky public displays of affection. At the very least, Harrison, Tristan, and Camden should be more considerate of the single people around them. Not everyone was fortunate enough to be nauseatingly in love like them. Tristan and Camden had moved in with Harrison about three months ago, and yet they were still stuck in the honeymoon phase. Henry would never turn into someone like Harrison, Tristan, or Camden. He didn’t want to settle down with anybody. Ever. He didn’t mind casually dating some men when the mood struck him, but he was honestly more of the f**k-them-and-leave-them type. A long-term relationship simply wasn’t his thing. “It’s Friday, man. Tristan has a shift at the gym until closing time.” “Camden?” “He told me during lunch that he might have to do a bit of an overtime tonight at the art gallery to complete the financial reports.” “s**t!” Henry exclaimed with a smile. “Camden is one of my friends. I used to know his schedule quite well. Ever since the three of you started dating, I haven’t gotten to spend much time with Camden at all.” “Because Tristan and I are now two of the most important men in Camden’s life. You’re a distant third. Or probably somewhere even farther down the list.” Henry laughed. “Yeah. Yeah. Whatever, b***h. Stop bragging already. God damn it! You’re such a motherfucking smug asshole!” “Language!” Then Harrison winked before he got up. “Anyway, play a game on your smartphone. Or two. I need to get some work done. We will continue with our conversation later during dinner.” Henry did as Harrison suggested. However, he grew bored of the games after about thirty minutes or so. He decided to browse through his social media accounts instead. Unfortunately, nothing managed to capture his attention, so he ended up scrolling through them without really looking at the pictures or even reading the captions. When he saw the latest post by Camden, he almost ignored it, but he didn’t because there was a photograph of Camden and Charles, his younger twin brother. “f**k,” Henry muttered softly. “Language!” Henry glanced in Harrison’s direction before smirking at his older brother. “f**k! f**k! f**k! f**k you!” Harrison was glaring at Henry, but he couldn’t conceal his amusement. A few seconds later, he laughed, and Henry did the same. “What are you looking at?” Harrison asked while still chortling. “Is it some kind of kinky porn?” “No. It’s a picture of Camden and Charles.” “What about it?” “I’m wondering how Charles is doing.” Harrison looked taken aback. “Huh? Tristan, Cam, and I thought the two of you were dating. We assumed that the two of you were keeping it a secret or something.” Henry was astonished upon hearing that. “What made you think that?” “Because you and Charles got along really well during that first meeting a few months ago at the bakery, and we could sense the sparks between you.” “Charles and I had some wonderful conversations. We’re not dating, though.” “Okay.” After that, Harrison returned his focus to the laptop in front of him. Henry, on the other hand, searched for Charles’s account and checked out all the man’s photographs. Camden and Charles were identical twins. They were thirty years old, and they had green eyes and dark blond hair. They even had a similar build. Henry estimated that Camden and Charles’s height was around six feet, and the two men probably weighed somewhere around one hundred and ninety pounds. Or maybe a bit heavier than that. Henry was six feet and seven inches tall, and his weight was two hundred and seventy-seven pounds. Just like Harrison, Henry had dark brown eyes and black hair, and they both had the appearance of professional bodybuilders, but he was taller and more muscular than his older brother because he used to be obsessed with weightlifting. He still was. In fact, he exercised a lot more these days, especially when he was bored or frustrated. “I wonder how Charles is doing,” Henry mumbled to himself. “What?” Henry glanced at Harrison and shook his head. “Nothing. Just talking to myself.” “Only crazy people will do something like that. You know that, right?” Henry raised one of his middle fingers at Harrison. “f**k off, man! Don’t you have plenty of work to finish?” Harrison nodded while chortling, but he didn’t say anything. Henry ignored Harrison while pondering if he should send Charles a text message. He hadn’t contacted Charles for more than a month. The two of them had exchanged phone numbers a few months ago, but they weren’t close friends, so they didn’t really keep in touch. Only a random message here and there every once in a while. Henry hesitated for a moment before making up his mind and pulling out his smartphone. He would ask Charles to meet up with him and hang out. After all, their brothers were boyfriends. Besides, Henry remembered how much he had enjoyed spending time and chatting with Charles months ago. They should do it again. It would be fun.