Crooks & Nooks

Birthday Surprises

Chapter 8

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" a bunch of screaming people shouted.

"Ughhh," I groaned. It was November 2nd. My birthday. I opened my eyes to see Liz, Brandon, Matt, Mase, Asher, and Will standing above me.

"Happy 18th, Rayna," Brandon said. Brandon and I didn't have the best relationship, but we made it work when we needed it to.

"Thanks," I thanked everyone and slowly walked downstairs. I smelled blueberry pancakes, but it couldn't be possible since my parents were out for the day, they were going to take me out for lunch tomorrow, and none of my friends could cook except Mason. I saw a shirtless guy flipping pancakes. He turned and put the pancakes in the plate. It was Charlie, my older brother.

"Charlie!" I squealed and ran over to hug him. He was away at college in New Jersey, and I barely ever got to see him.

"Hey little sis. Happy birthday!" he said.

"When did you get here?" I asked.

"Around three in the morning," he answered. He put the last pancake on my plate, and handed the plate to me.

"What are you doing up? You should be sleeping now!" I said. It was only seven in the morning and Charlie had only gotten four hours of sleep.

"I'm not tired and I have to make you pancakes for your birthday," he said.

"Thank you, Charlie," I said.

"Of course. Now eat, we're going camping tonight," Charlie said.

I smiled and started to put syrup on my pancakes. Our family used to go camping all the time, but we haven't gone since Charlie left for college.

"Charlie?" Brandon said with a look, and walked out of the room. Charlie looked confused but followed him anyway.

I ignored them and ate my pancakes until Charlie came back in, with a moody Brandon behind him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Brandon is going to have to come campong with us, because his friend cancelled at the last minute and you know why we can't leave him alone," He said.

I did know why we couldn't leave him alone. When he had just turned fiftteen, which was quite a while ago, almost a year, we left him alone over night, but we quickly realized that he couldn't cook anything except for noodles and those usually burned when he made them. But that was no reason for him to crash my camping trip! It had been so long since I had alone time with Charlie, with no parents or friends, and I just wanted to catch up with him. I knew that Brandon wasn't going to behave on this trip, so it was basically already ruined. I sighed and walked upstairs, to see Liz packing a bag.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm packing your bag for you. I'm the only helpful friend you have. The boys are down in the basement, playing some video game," Liz said.

"Apparently, Brandon has to come with us, because his friend cancelled," I told her.

"Aw, I'm sorry, maybe he'll behave because it is your birthday," Lizzie comforted me. She was too nice.

"I hope this trip will work out okay. I just want to spend some time with my big brother before he leaves again," I said.

~*~*~

"Can you change the station?" Brandon asked.

Hell to the no. This was my new favorite song. The radio was playing Kids In The Dark, by All Time Low, and I was jamming. I didn't want to change the station. Brandon reached forward, and chose a different station. Some rap song came on and Brandon started rapping along. He was your normal teenage boy, sex-crazed and a basketball player wannabe.