OP’s here: I never *actually* learned my brothers’ friends’ names and they were all kind of similarly-looking + last time i saw them there were like 20 people visiting together from another place and they’re also all extremely alike. atp i just assumed i was an inattentive person. i also immediately & completely forgot about this occasion after we talked because i brushed it off altogether with the rest of the “oh she’s coming back! what a nice kid! when?” small talks.
also: later (as in YEARS later) it became clear to me we never spoke before that summer. he might’ve noticed me around when i was 10-11 years old but i genuinely can’t recall actually talking to him. i’m pretty sure we never actually had a conversation before that. so either he remembered about me after meeting me at 10-11 years old or he found out some girl comes and spend a whole lot of time finding out who & when. also: at the time he did have a girlfriend which we’ll get back to later.