My Romance in Room 324 [BoyxBoy]

324- Chapter Two

Mable sat at the island in the kitchen by herself. Her long, honey coloured hair was held back in a ponytail, that's all I could see because of the stool that supported her back.

"No Gregg?" I asked her. She turned and nodded her head in acknowledgement as I dropped the papers in my hand next to her food.

"Nope, and no Mom or Dad either... Any idea where they are?" Her forehead crinkled in concern. I wasn't worried though, with as often as they left without telling us and reappeared anywhere between a few hours and the next day. They would give my sister the explanation, but to them I wasn't in need of it I suppose. Sometimes I just wouldn't ask, purely because they put Mable through the worry of not knowing. Her mind tended to travel to places better left unstirred, especially when things were serious.

"Not that I can think of," I said carelessly.

"Jackson, you could at least act like you care about our parents sometimes."

"I do! I care, and I don't have to act most of the time... They just don't do much to deserve it."

"They do a lot-"

"For you."

She didn't respond to that, which wasn't surprising. How could you answer that?

The doorbell rang, which I opened for Kelli to enter. She was coming to pick up notes she'd mixed up with mine on Friday, that she would need for school tomorrow.

After I got them she sat with my sister for a few minutes.

"Hey stupid," I called, looking at the calender stuck to the fridge.

"Hey!" Both girls chorused angrily.

"I meant the really stupid one!"

"Hey!" they said again.

"The one I'm related to..." I drawled. "Besides, Kelli you're smart, why are you getting up about it?"

"I don't know."

"What do you want, Jackson?" Mable asked, still clearly peeved.

"They're going to come back in about an hour- I hope - because uncle Terence and aunt Connie are bringing their offspring for Steven's birthday."

"Mhmm," She clucked her tongue and brought the plate she was using to the sink. "You say offspring like they're calves, when Steven's only a couple years younger than you, and Dexter's eighteen!"

"... They are still offspring to me, while the intimidating cousin is not around." I told her stubbornly.

"Fine, I love you baby brother!" She cried, hugging me tightly from behind. Does she think that's suppose to embarrass me infront of Kelli? I elbowed her in the stomach softly and she pushed me away. We could both hear the door click shut.

Kelli was just about to say something when the phone rang.

"Hello?" She laughed at me, shaking her head. I narrowed my eyes at her as I waited for the reply. There was a lot of background voices and static, then he responded.

"Oh hey James!" I said. Kelli gave me a confuse look but I waved her off. She just shrugged and plucked a grape from the bowl on the island, flipping her notes over and skimming them.

"How you doing Jackson?" He said huskily, clearing his throat.

"Um, not bad... Feeling better?" She looked back at me and stood, picking up the papers.

"You could say that." He said, then somebody asked him something, to which he responded: "Yeah yeah, go ahead Cass."

"Who's that?" Kelli waved to me, I waved back and shot her a sorry look as she left.

"Old friend of mine, you could say. She's like family. You know, that kind of person."

"Yeah I have a few..." I trailed off, and walked to my room after locking the door. "You've got a lot of background noise, where are you?"

Silence met my ears, with the exception of the voices I couldn't decipher and the scuffling. "... If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"Well, um-" A loud knocking from the livingroom interrupted him.

"Jackson! Mable!" My father called angrily from outside.

"Crap! Sorry one second!" I dropped the phone and sprinted to the door.

"Damn kid," Dad glared at me.

"Jonathan," Mom warned him.

It was always like that, he'd get angry and she'd get angry back. Not like she didn't say less than preferable things sometimes, but it's different coming from the father apparently. Often all it took was saying his name in that chilly voice of hers.

I slipped out of the room and back upstairs. When I put the phone back to my ear I could still hear the other voices, and a slight tapping that must have been from him. I apologized again and explained, he was quick to accept it. We filled the time with some more meaningless chatter, until my parents called for me again.

"Agh. I'm sorry but I have to go," I told him.

"Oh. Um. Yes of course, I'll talk to you later."

"Wait was there something you wanted to say?"

"It's okay, next time. Have fun with your cousins," He said, with an anxious tinge in his voice.

"Bye James."

"Bye-" Someone on the other end did something, and he took the phone from his ear so all I could hear was the ghost of his annoyed voice. "Hey! Stop that, I'm getting off. I'm getting off. I'm fine I told you. It's been hours since-"

The phone went dead, buzzing. I just stared at it until my younger cousin came into my room, smiling.