Jodee

Chapter 29 - Closure

This was awkward.

My brother and his best friend and I had been sitting here for about thirty minutes and no one had said a word.

Caleb made two sandwiches for each of us as an after school snack. So far I had eaten one and was working on my second. Ace hadn't even touched his food. And Caleb plowed down everything in about 0.2 seconds.

I swear that kid can eat for days!

Caleb was always eating. He ate the most at dinner, then always had a snack while we were watching a movie and then had another snack right before he went to bed. I think at least, most of the time my honorary brother goes to bed around midnight so I was well asleep by that stage. And these weren't just small snacks like a banana or some gummies. Usually he got like a family size bag of chips and ate the whole thing in about five minutes. 

Ace was also a pretty big eater but he ate pretty healthy, unlike his friend who loved junk. And I just didn't really eat a ton because I was never hungry. 

This was definitely no different to what was going on right now as some of us ate and other didn't but everyone was silent.  

I couldn't start the conversation either because I had nothing to start it with. I wanted to ask about their trip and what they did and even where they went. But at the same time I knew I had to be careful because I wasn't allowed to ask about what Caleb and Ace do for a living.

It's not a set "rule" that I'm not allowed to ask anything and that I'm not allowed to know anything. But my brother tends to get super strict and a little mad (though he doesn't show it) when I start poking around. Due to all of this it's just kinda been an unspoken rule in my household that Jodee isn't allowed to ask anything directly.

But, on the other hand, I am allowed to ask things indirectly. And have gotten pretty good at that in these past few years. Usually I ask little things like "did you get what you wanted" or just "where did you go." Most of the time both of my brothers are totally fine to answer all of these questions. Even if their answers aren't the full truth.

Caleb is the easier of the two to extract information out of. Well, he used to be. Now he just doesn't say anything because him and Ace don't agree on what I should and should not know. After a couple times of my brother getting mad at his friend for letting something slip to me Caleb just decided that he wasn't going to say anything anymore. I guess it made sense in a way, but to me, it really made it hard to get information I wasn't allowed to have.

I cleared my throat. "How was your trip?" I asked tentatively, my question directed at my older brother.

Ace looked up from his plate and over to Caleb. My head turned to look at Caleb slightly, only to find him staring intently at his friend. Caleb's look definitely wasn't a glare but it was meant to convey a message. What the message was I'm not sure of. My brother and his best friend have always been able to communicate without words to each other and just each other, not even I can understand. Part of this was probably because of Ace's selective mutism but I think it's due to Caleb and Ace being as close as twins.  

My brother's face morphed into one of shock and then turned to be emotionless as it normally was. At home, Ace's face carried no emotion. Out and about, Ace's face carried no emotion with an underlying anger or hardness about it. But right now, it was obvious Ace didn't expect my question to be for him.

"Umm... fine, thanks." Ace responded, curtly.

"Where did you go anyways?"

I tried to make my voice sound casual like I was just an innocent little sister asking her guardian a question on where he went and left her by herself. But my brother knows me so well I'm sure he knows I'm trying to learn about what they did.