What’s the worst way someone tried to take credit for your success?

The Golden Boy and the Generous Offer

As the youngest child in a family of eight, I was the only one who never got an F or a D on their report card. Teachers would always tell me I was gifted.

Whenever my parents tried to push my siblings into not being useless slobs for once, they always say the same thing. “It’s okay. We got Mike”.

Maybe this should have pissed me off, but it didn’t because I wanted the same thing as them to be the provider. So, I let it motivate me to work harder.

By the time I was graduating high school, I had a 5.0 GPA and was on track for a scholarship to attend a really good university. Even though I worked a really poopy minimum wage job, I was still sending 70% of my paycheck home every week.

All of my siblings were still living with my parents, sharing bedrooms and bunk beds. So, when I got my first real job, I was stoked.

I even managed to rent my own apartment and invited my entire family over for the holidays. They were all congratulating me and looked proud.

Well, more like relieved, but still, we were happy. I took the turkey out of the hot oven and popped it down on my red and white checkered tablecloth.

As we sat down, one of my brothers, Trent, spoke. He told me he was getting married soon.

I was just about to run and give him a hug. But then his face suddenly turned very sheepish.

He started scraping the peas around the plate with his fork. Um um I But I already knew what was coming.

“Trent, of course, I’ll pay for your wedding”. His eyes widened with excitement.

“Wait, are you effing serious?” I nodded and he was beaming like a kid on Christmas.

I joked about how I wasn’t going to plan it though. The whole table broke out into laughter like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Looking back, I should have known something dark was going to happen. But at the time, you could literally feel everyone’s spirits being lifted.

When the banks reopened, I knew he was going to ask for $5,000. So, I took out a check for $13,000 and mailed it to him.

Me and my family had spent our entire lives struggling, wondering if we were going to go to bed hungry. For once, I just wanted us all to be happy.

And it made him happy. All right.

Every day that week, he’d call and remind me how grateful him and his wife were for what I did. Turns out that was the calm before the storm.

Fast forward 8 months later, when the day finally arrived, the entire family were in suits. Thanks to yours truly, and we looked like the picture perfect family we always joked about.

We looked like the one we always thought was out of our reach, and I knew it was money well spent. Then came the toast.

Trent started off his speech with how grateful he was to his job for letting him be able to afford all of this. I froze for a second, but then I decided if he wanted to take the credit, then he could because after all, it was his day, not mine.

But then he continued, “As you can see, all of my beautiful family came to join me”. That’s when his finger pointed at me.

“Even Mike, aka our family leech”. The entire crowd laughed, and I stiffened slightly.

I was Not sure if I should break my poker face. “I mean, Mike, after all the money you borrowed from me, I’m surprised you even have time to come”.

By this point, everyone in the crowd was laughing so hard I could see their belly fat vibrating. I glanced at my family, who looked even more confused than me.

I guess family really does stick together and the freeloaders are no exception. Rage crawled up my spine.

But before I could say anything, my sister Talia butt in. “Hey Trent, thank you for all this. Where is it? You said you work again”.

He proceeded to give the name of my role. And that’s when Talia started pressing him.

She was the only one in the family who listened when I spoke, so she knew what questions to ask to catch him in his lie. By the end of their extremely public interrogation, his face went hot and his mouth couldn’t keep up.

I looked down at the ground to hide the smile creeping in. His wife stepped in when she realized the jig was up and made a joke about how the alcohol was getting to him.

It was an alcohol-free event. I assumed that was just some petty sibling bicker that it was over.

For the rest of the night, Trent was giving me the silent treatment accompanied by sharp, dirty looks. I tried not to think about it and instead focused on enjoying the wedding that I had paid for.

My brother publicly called me our family leech during the wedding I paid $13,000 for. When I asked him why he lied to everyone about helping me, he laughed and said, “Because you think you’re better than us”. I stayed silent.