The Sweetest Baker

Chapter Twelve--Run-away Brother

Later on, I sat on my bed reading hoping I would stay awake for Charlie to come home.  After all the chaos that happened, he was the one person I wanted to talk to at the moment. When I heard the door swing open quietly, I put my book down anticipating him. A second later, he stood in my doorway knocking on my door despite it being open.

"Figured you'd back out," I shrugged.

"Yeah. I got to Midland and then started having second thoughts," he informed me. "Um, Hunts..... I think we need to talk."

"Yeah. We do," I agreed with a sigh following him to his room where he patted the bed grabbing my hand.

"I quit the Football team," he said quietly.

"Yeah. I heard Dad tell Mom," I said hoping it wasn't true. "Did this have something to do with the bullying or Dad?"

"Maybe a little of both," he admitted. "I tried to talk to him, Hunter. .I did. It worked for a second but then he had an assembly and had to leave."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I begged almost pleadingly even though I knew the answer. It was the same reason Mark was scared to tell me about the bullying. He thought I was too busy to care.

"You were going through so much. In fact, that was part of the reason I was so upset at Dad. I hated seeing you like this. You're still my little sister even if you act older," he joked, grabbing my hand.

I hugged him. He was the best big brother a girl could ask for. He was my best friend. I felt honored that he was the first person I spoke to. Our moment was interrupted though by a knock on his door. We separated as Dad came in with a piece of paper.

"Mark's gone," he announced. I sat up staring at the picture. It said 'BIG FAMILIES SUCK!' I wiped a tear from my eyes.

"What?!" Charlie shouted in disbelief as Dad left the two of us following after him. "Hey Dad? What I said before, that was out of line."

"Yeah. I'm sorry for exploding at you too. I was just stressed. I promise. I won't do it again," I told him.

"No. You were being honest. I was the one out of line," he said running down the hallway after meeting up with Mom and our siblings downstairs.

"Alright. Everyone other than Hunter go with me. Hunter. You're with your Dad in the car," Mom announced as everyone got their shoes off. I shrugged, not thinking much of it.

I ran with Charlie letting the littles get out first, each yelling Mark's name as they went. When we got to the car, Dad opened up the passenger door for me to get in before running to the driver side. Looking out the window, I just about cried hearing my siblings yell for Mark over and over. Gunner even walked with Mike so he could help. Why did Mark, of all people, have to run away? I wanted to trade his position so badly at that moment.

We drove around the neighborhood for a while in silence. At this point, Dad had called Nora and she had agreed to come help look. Honestly, I thought we would be sitting there in silence forever so I was shocked when he did speak up.

"Believe me, sweetheart. I know I messed up with forcing you to babysit. My parents did the same thing to me growing up. I guess I just chose to forget about that experience. For what it's worth, I should've been more careful with the kids. If I was, they wouldn't have snuck out. Because of me, you're jobless," he said. I shook my head. I had been waiting for him to just come out and say that all week. Now that he had, I wished he wouldn't.

"Come on, Dad! You had a way more important job than me. It's not like you could just leave whenever you wanted, not with that hotdog---" I expected Dad to look furious but instead he was shaking his head trying to hide his chuckle. "I'm sorry. I just get used to calling him that."