The Player

Chapter 18

I woke up the next morning feeling groggy and just not in the mood for the day. The rest of the day before, I had spent sitting in my room texting Niall, avoiding the people downstairs, and enjoying Charlie's constant visits to my door. I had learned a lot about my new little brother. I learned that he was born a week after my birthday, my birthday being April 9 and his being April 16. I also found out that he thought that my dad was the coolest. When he came up to talk to me the day before, he would tell me about the stuff him and my dad had talked about a few minutes ago. My dad would tell him stories about when he had a job at National Geographic and went to all of exotic places to take pictures and get new information for the magazines. That was when my dad was younger and not married or had children yet. He told me those stories when I was younger too.

My dad and I seemed to have welcomed Charlie into our lives very easily, and it scared me. I had grown an attachment to this little boy in such a short amount of time, and I was already afraid of him going away. Him being my mother's son and all meant that I no longer had to worry about just my mom leaving again, but her taking Charlie with her. I'm not saying my mother would leave again, but it would be painful for both me and my dad if she did, and even more painful if Charlie left too. I've known the kid for one day, and I already love him. Maybe it's because he's so charming and adorable. Maybe it's because I've always wanted a younger sibling. Maybe it's even because before my mom, Spencer, and him left for the night he ran upstairs to give me a hug goodbye. Either way, I didn't want him to leave mostly because he was the only source of happiness for me right now.

I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom. I threw on a sweatshirt and fixed my hair. Then I went downstairs to find that my dad was there doing the dishes again.

"I thought you would never come down." he said.

"Well you know how I get when I'm hungry." I said. I made a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table.

"I know yesterday was a lot."

"It's okay. I had plenty of time to think about it yesterday. Its fine."

"Are you sure? Cause we can talk about it."

"No, I'm okay."

"Okay." I continued eating my cereal. "But listen."

"Yeah?"

"I know this weekend was kind of awful for you and you were expecting to have a nice weekend with me, so I've decided that today I'm all yours. Your mother, Spencer, and Charlie will not be a part of our day today. So we can do whatever you want, just us two. I know that's what you want."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I feel bad for putting all of this on you, so it's what I've decided."

"Okay sure.........but can Charlie come with us?"

"Charlie?"

"Yeah."