His Smirk ||

26: What Friends Are For

My feet came to a stop in the kitchen doorway, hands coming up to rub at my tired eyes. The sight before me had to be part of some dream. Matthew was in his boxers arguing with the breakfast lady, a spatula in one of his hands and a whisk in the other. “I told you; I’ve got this!” he insisted, making a shooing motion with the spatula.

“Your parents-”

“Aren’t even here,” he cut her off, “so can it Grumpy; I’m in charge here.”

“Actually I am,” Jakeson spoke up. My eyes turned to see him sitting at the table, schoolwork spread out in front of him. Now I knew I had to be dreaming. In all my time I’d never seen any of the boys do anything school related other than Spencer.

“Same thing.”

I’d been tossing and turning all night long and hadn’t gotten any real sleep. I couldn’t help it; I was worried about school today. All my stupid decisions were piling up around me. The only thing that pulled me from my sleepwalking state was the sound of my name. “Rein?” I tried to focus my eyes on who had spoken. “Rein?” it prodded again just as my eyes found Matthew.

“Yeah?” I asked. The realization that this was not a dream hit me head on the moment my eyes met breakfast lady’s. She threw her hands up, muttering to herself as she stormed past me and out of the kitchen. I watched her go, my eyes following her her until she turned the corner.

“Are you okay?” Matthew asked, my attention returning to him at once.

The way he was staring at me wide eyed reminded me of the fact I was still just looming in the doorway. “Yeah I’m fine,” I concluded, giving my head a shake to wake myself up. “I’m just tired-” I mumbled my excuse as I ruffled my hair sleepily. That stare of his didn’t let up though, and the feeling of Jakeson’s eyes joining his made my nerves prickle. I looked over to where he sat at the table and the expression on his face made me feel like some alien. “What?” I demanded to know, too tired to be anything but grumpy.

“Nothing,” now he was the one acting startled as he quickly averted his eyes to look to his brother. What on earth? I wondered, ogling him in confusion. When he grimaced I looked to Matthew, only to see that he was smirking in return. Whatever was going on between these two was beyond me.

“Am I missing something here?” I finally gave up and asked, interrupting their staring contest.

“My brother’s just-”

“Don’t start,” Jakeson cut Matthew short with a glare. Having successfully shut him up, he turned his brilliant blues towards me. The eye contact lasted all of two seconds before he looked away. “Just uh, maybe you should put some clothes on,” the words seemed hesitant as his eyes flickered back to me before dancing away once again.

It took a moment to make sense of his words; I was still in pajamas. “This coming from boxer boy?” I rolled my eyes. Jakeson, like his brother, was in nothing but boxers. I’d always come down dressed for school in the past, but still; it wasn’t like I was in lingerie or anything. My pajamas for the night had been anything but sexy and consisted of an oversized t-shirt and cotton shorts.

“Yeah,” Matthew pitched in, “you’re one to talk.” This, of course, earned him a sour look from Jakeson. He ignored it and turned his smirk towards me instead. “Don’t listen to him. You can walk around nude for all I care,” he winked.

“No she can’t!” Jakeson growled before I could so much as react to Matthew’s teasing. His eyes flashed to me as if suddenly realizing what he’d just said. “I meant that you wouldn’t do that,” he corrected himself quickly, “not that you can’t. If you wanted to though, not that you would-”