All The Faith In The World

Chapter 2: A Life with Brothers on the Side

 I walked into the cool, refreshing air conditioning and took a seat at the counter. Noah, was running behind the counter to get an older, truck driver his country fried chicken.

"Hey! I will be there in just a minute!" he called over his shoulder to me. Then he gave the man his chicken and was on his way to another table where a teenage girl had spilled her drink.

Noah was the middle child in our family. He had brownish/blackish hair that wasn't to short or to long. His eyes were hazel brown, and danced with happiness every time he talked to anyone, even if they were exceptionally rude to him. He was on the slimmer side, and always wore a t-shirt and jeans. He looked like mom. If he had been a girl, they would have looked exactly the same. Noah had this purity and sweetness to him that no one could take away or even try to damage. He has the biggest heart I've ever seen, and in my opinion, that's why all the girls loved him so. There is no denying that Noah was a total ladies man. It's not like he tried to be, girls were just attracted to him because he was so handsome.

But, he stayed true to his girlfriend, Nathalie Organe. Although, I wish I could say the same for Nathalie. She would go from man to man in about a week. Noah and her had been together about about 4 months, but that didn't stop her. She went to clubs and met guys there. That's what Noah didn't know. Still, he thought she was an amazing girl and for the time being, I will let him think that. There is no use breaking someones heart, if it's not fully repaired yet. Noah had not been in a lot of relationships, but when he had, he put his whole heart into them. Before Natalie, Noah found this other girl, named Scarlette Wellborn. He loved Scarlette with all his heart and was convinced that they were meant to be. Well, let's just say Scarlette didn't feel the same way and broke his heart the day after New Years. She left him to go to Florida and we have never heard from her again. I can picture his big heart, now with a few stitches on it.

After he was done with cleaning up the girls drink, a women on the other side of the diner with a screaming baby was trying to get his attention.

"I will be right there!" he called to her. "I got it," Connor, our oldest brother, said coming out from behind the dirty kitchen door.

Connor was the oldest child. He was 19 years old and kind of tall. He, on the other hand, looked exactly like dad. He had lighter brown hair and these gray eyes that could be joyful and sad at the same time. He was very athletic and had been athlete of the year in high school. He always wore some sort of jersey or sweatshirt and whatever pants were clean. That's what was so funny about Connor. He didn't dress, or act, like a millionaire, but all the rich girls wanted him. Don't get me wrong, Connor was handsome, but we always had girls with their mini skirts and fancy cars calling our place looking for the guy who worked at the diner. They never even got his name right. He was always Cameron or Calvin or something like that. But, Connor wanted nothing to do with them. He would talk to them for a minute or something then would say some excuse and hang up the phone. Then, he would come back into the living room and asked what he missed on Greys Anatomy.

He left for college last fall and only came back over breaks. Sometimes, long weekends if we needed him at the diner or something. Our next door neighbors, Leon and Jasmine, owned the diner. They decided that extra help would be needed, so they hired Connor and Noah to start making money there. I was only 14 so I couldn't do much. But, they worked there as much as they could and I could see it helped Leon and Jasmine a lot. Connor rushed over to the women to see what she needed. She mumbled something to him and he nodded and ran back to the kitchen. A second later, out he flies with a cup of steaming water. The mother thanks him immensely and puts a bottle in the ceramic mug. Soon enough, the baby is quietly drinking its bottle and there is another satisfied customer. Connor comes and sits next to me at the counter.

"I'm on break," he calls to Noah. Noah gives him a look that says," really? now?" but he just keeps wiping up the tables and giving people their checks. The diner was clearing out now, so it wouldn't be too much longer and everyone would be gone.

"Hey Pebbles," Connor says to me, using the nickname they gave me when I was little. I used to wear my red hair up like Pebbles from the Flintstones, so they started calling me that and it just stuck.

"Hey Wreck It Ralph," I said. I could fire back if I needed to. He smiled.

"I see your getting better at comebacks," he said, but I knew he was being sarcastic. "How was school and stuff?" he asked. He was the only one I'd ever told about the bullying, both at dance and at school.

"It was fine today. Just the same old boring crap," I said. Even though it was getting worse, I didn't want to tell him that and worry him. "How's stuff with you?" I asked. He sighed and kept looking toward the door.

"Not horrible," he said," I don't think I like college as much as I thought I would."

"Are you going to drop out?" I asked, looking at him.

"I don't know yet. Thinking about it," he said. We were silent after that. I looked at the clock. It was 7:30. The diner would close in 30 minutes.

"I guess I should get home," I said getting up.

"Do you want a ride?" Connor asked.

"You guys don't get off for 30 minutes. I think I will be ok," I said. 

"Well call if you need something. This place is dead anyway." And with that off he went, back into the kitchen.