thejoelstrom 
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annadudley HOW DO WE BECOME FRIENDS?!?!
“You want to fight me?” Brandon tosses his ping pong paddle on the table set up outside. “I’ll fight you right now, you little bitch!”
Joel stands his ground. He’s not scared of Brandon Cadogan or his infamous temper tantrums. Brandon’s brother, Conrad, got all the good genes. Brandon’s the black sheep of the Cadogan family, especially when he starts drinking.
“What happened?” Sean asks. “It was going so well!”
It was, too. After they started a fire (by “We’ll go get firewood” Idris meant they’d go to the office and check in and pick up a stack there, one of the amenities of the campground) and cracked a few beers, Brandon and Idris started playing a game of ping pong. Joel called winner.
Joel is already tired of this fight with Brandon—sometimes the only thing you can do is move on. He can’t just cancel Brandon, though. The Cadogans are family friends. Joel surfs with Conrad when he’s not off saving third world countries. If Joel could, he’d cancel both Brandon and Idris. He’s never believed that Idris treats Greta right, and he’s glad that she finally seems to be done with him. But Joel’s had his hopes up before. He knows how things can change in a heartbeat.
“It was going fine until this bitch started flinging the ball at my face!” Spit flies out of Brandon’s mouth.
“It’s not my fault you can’t hit it,” Joel says.
“That’s it!” Brandon comes around the side of the ping pong table and swings at Joel. He misses, and Joel trips him, sending Brandon falling to the ground and landing on his back.
Sean and Idris circle around, and even Fortune puts away his phone long enough to watch. Brandon bounces back up.
“You’re probably a faggot,” Brandon says. “That’s why you won’t give it to Hailey. Who turns down Hailey Paley?”
“No kidding,” Idris says.
Joel drops his paddle on the ping pong table. “Unlike you, Brando, I don’t have anything to prove.”
“You almost broke my nose, Strom!” Brandon is about to blow. The vein in his neck is starting to pop. “How dare you touch my face with your dirty peasant hands!”
“He was just protecting his sister,” Sean says calmly. “You can’t hold that against him.”
“Whose side are you on, anyway?”
“No one’s. I’m just saying—”
“I’m gonna smash this pretty boy’s face in!” Brandon grabs Joel by the collar of his tee-shirt and shoves him against the side of the RV.
“You really want to settle this?” Sean runs over and breaks them up. “What about a race?”
“Oh my God, yes!” Fortune’s eyes light up.
“A drag race?” Brandon asks.
“What’s the matter?” Sean taunts. “Scared?”
“Set it up.” Joel doesn’t miss a beat.
“Yeah.” A smile spreads on Brandon’s face. “Set it up. Of course, I’ll have to buy a new car for the occasion…”
They’re interrupted by the sound of a car pulling into the camping lot. Valeria parks her BMW behind the RV and steps out.
“What’d I miss?” she asks.