The Cracks in Perfection

The Stress in Siblings

Chapter 18

Seth

"Seth!" Morgan screamed as she put her hand to the back of her neck. I doubled over in laughter as she tried to get the dripping ice cream out of the ends of her hair.

"What is your problem?" She yelled, but she was laughing too, which meant she wasn't that mad.

"I was bored." I shrugged and turned back to the freezer when I felt something cold plop into my hair. I gasped and lifted my hands to feel a pile of ice cream up there. It started dripping down my face and into my eyes in seconds.

"It's on," I said as we started a mini ice cream war. She smeared it on my face and I smeared it onto her arms. We were laughing until we dropped a sufficient amount on the floor. Then we shrugged and continued until Morgan slipped on the melted ice cream. Of course, she took me down too and I landed on top of her.

"Oh jeez, you're crushing me." I lifted myself up on my arms and looked down at her laughing.

"That was your fault," I told her. She was laughing too. Our laughing died off, but neither of us moved. I kept staring down at her until I heard a sigh from the doorway behind us. I tumbled to the side of Morgan and looked up to see Rhonda shaking her head with her hands on her hips.

"It's coming out of your paycheck," is all she said before leaving. I heard her chuckle as she walked down the hallway.

"That was mortifying," Morgan said as she tried to get up without slipping again. I laughed at her and went to go grab the mop and bucket.

"We have to clean up now," I said. It was Tuesday night and our shift was almost over. After school we had a Key Club "gardening session" at Timber Blocks Elementary, so we were absolutely exhausted. It was then that I realized the ice cream fight had not been a good idea.

"Hey, when's your next baseball game?" Morgan asked after she served the only customer we'd had in an hour.

"Friday, if we win we go to states."

"Well that's great."

"Yeah, and my parents are all bummed out that they can't come."

"Why can't they come?"

"My grandpa asked them to go boating with him this weekend and they're leaving Friday afternoon because it's across the state and everything..."

"Well, I'll be there," she decided. I turned and smiled at her.

"Thanks, I'm pretty sure Ray and John will be there. They almost always are."

"Yeah I asked because Karen said Ray asked her to go to the next game with him." We both smirked.

"They are so weird," I said, making her laugh.

"Yeah, they really are."

When the shift finally ended, I drove Morgan home, since her sister had the jeep, and then went home myself. It was late and I needed to shower to get the sticky residue from ice cream off of my entire body. I pulled into my driveway and saw a bike leaning next to the front door.

I didn't hear anything when I went inside, meaning my parents were probably already asleep, as usual. I put my dinner in the microwave that my mom had left out for me and headed upstairs to plug in my phone. When I passed Liz's room, I saw that the light was on and heard giggling. Then I realized whom the bike must belong to.

Oh hell no.

I didn't bother knocking, even though I probably should have considering who I thought was in her room with her, and opened the door. Liz and her boyfriend both cursed as she tried to cover herself. At least she still had a bra on and he still had his pants on.