Falling For You ('Brothers' Spin-Off)

Chapter 27: Responsibility

Chapter 27

"Wesley..." I whined, moving his hand off of my thigh. "I'm trying to pay attention."

"Why." Wesley groaned, his voice quiet as he leaned against the table in front of him.

"Because believe it or not this applies to us." I gave him a look.

"Wesley, be quiet." Mr. Ryder snapped, glancing over at him with narrowed eyes.

Wesley let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair as he crossed his arms.

A scowl crossed his face and I tried to hide my smile at his immaturity as I focused my attention back on Mr. Ryder and Jane.

"As I was saying..." Jane said, giving her son a look.

Wesley sunk lower in his chair.

"The next two weeks are going to be very important for all of us." Jane said with a sigh. "Which is why both of us are here addressing this." She glanced at her ex-husband.

Mr. Ryder nodded in agreement.

"Henry and I are going to California for the conference, and we'll bring the girls with us. But we will be gone for nine days." Jane explained.

Wesley perked up slightly at the sound of his mother being gone for over a week.

"And I will be in Michigan for the next two days, but then I have to go back to Ohio, meaning you guys will be on your own for a week." Mr. Ryder added.

Nicole and I exchanged looks.

Why were we here? This seemed like a family matter.

Logan, on the other hand, seemed totally at ease amidst a tense Ryder Family meeting. He'd been around this family much longer than we had.

"Alex can't come in because of exams." Mr. Ryder said seriously. "And it would be too chaotic to bring James in for just a few days."

"So we're in charge?" Michael spoke up from a few seats down the table.

Mr. Ryder looked pained at that.

"No, you are all in charge together." Mr. Ryder said.

"Sick." Mark smirked, giving Nicole a wink.

"What he means..." Jane began, glaring around the table. "Is that we expect you to be responsible. This is a huge responsibility that we are giving you guys, and we don't expect to be let down."

"So why exactly are we here?" Logan spoke up, referring to Nicole and me as well. "I mean, this doesn't really apply to us?"

"It does." Mr. Ryder nodded. "Because I know that my children will not hesitate to have you three over as much as possible, therefore, we figured you should be present for the rule debriefing."

Nicole and I looked at each other again.

Still didn't quite see this as necessary.

"Now, the next two weeks, all of you have obligations, and you will have the single Jeep." Mr. Ryder said seriously, pulling out a big poster board from behind the table.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Marley laughed, leaning forwards.

"It is a schedule for the jeep." Jane explained, pulling out a handful of markers. "Everyone has a color, and we are going to make the schedule right now so that there is no fighting while we're gone."

"Michael, you're blue. Justin, green. Mark, red. Wesley, purple. Marley, yellow." Mr. Ryder explained as he indicated the names written on the top of the poster board.