The Other Brother

Chapter Eleven

I stab my fork into the three-layer stack of pancakes my mom made for breakfast and shove it into my mouth. My head is resting against the palm of my hand and I yawn after each bite.

It's six in the morning and I feel like dying because I barely got any sleep last night. By the time Dean and I got back, it was 3 a.m., so I only got three short hours of sleep.

Even with a lack of sleep, I can't stop thinking about the fact that it's only a few days in of doing long distance with Beck and it's already going horribly which leaves me with a few questions.

What does this mean for our future? How will our relationship ever last if we can't even go a few days without trusting each other?

"I made an appointment to start your driver's course. It's five days long and you do your actual driver's test on the fifth day. It starts tomorrow," my mom explains, immediately pulling me out of the sleep-deprived trance I was in.

"Tomorrow!?" I panic, popping my head up to meet her gaze.

"Yes, tomorrow. I warned you that I was making an appointment."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be that soon! I still need to practice!" I pout.

"Well, you'll have to ask someone else because I can't take you out to practice. I have a full schedule of work this week. Maybe try Morgan?"

I bow my head, letting it hang followed by an exasperated groan.

When I get to school, I aimlessly search for Morgan until I see her causally making small talk with a group of people. Without warning, I grab her arm and drag her away. She stumbles over herself as I pull her to a private corner. When we meet face-to-face, she notices my distressed state and is immediately caught between confusion and concern. Before she can comment, I begin to beg her to skip lacrosse practice today to help me.

Her tensed shoulders drop and she puts a hand to her chest as relief spills out in the form of a breath.

"Jeez, Rose. I thought something bad happened."

I raise my voice enough for her to hear over the bustling crowd passing by. "This is bad!"

"Sorry, but I can't miss practice this early into the semester."

I arch my neck to look at the ceiling and let out an exaggerated groan. She puts a hand on my shoulder and gently rubs it in a pathetic attempt to comfort me.

The backside of Dean catches my eye in the swarmed hall and suddenly, a solution strikes my mind. It's not a good solution, and I'm totally not thrilled about it, but it seems to be my only option at this point.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," I mutter.

I push past Morgan and begin striding toward him. Morgan hollers questions at me from behind, but I ignore her and continue walking.

From what I can see of him, he's wearing black joggers and a tight-fitted black t-shirt that accentuates his biceps. His hair is messy, but not in a bad way. My heart does a flip and I get this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach, causing me to stop in the middle of the hallway. I've never had this feeling before— at least not around Dean.