The Rules My Brothers Made

Chapter 9

I woke up to the sound of one of our phones vibrating violently across the nightstand.  I chose to ignore it, and snuggled closer to Evan’s warm body.  I couldn’t remember the last time I slept so soundly since my mom passed away.  I didn’t spend a second thinking about how to manage my family, or stress about school.  I just slept, curled under Evan’s strong, protective arm.

Unfortunately, whoever was calling was really insistent and called again, setting the phone off in another violent shaking across the mahogany table.  I propped myself up a couple inches and looked over Evan, seeing that it was his phone that was ringing.  I shook him awake and he groaned as he rolled over to answer it.  Once he saw who it was, he sighed and picked it up, climbing out of bed and making his way to the bathroom as he grunted a greeting.  He shut the door, so I couldn’t hear anything, just the muffled voice on the other side.  I stayed in the bed, lying flat on my back, the blanket draped across just my legs.  Staring up at the ceiling, I started to wonder what would happen with Mark when I got home.  I really can’t wait for this angry phase to be over.  It is just far too exhausting.  I vaguely heard the door to the bathroom open, and glanced over at Evan standing in the doorway.

I propped myself onto my elbows and continued to stare at him.  “Hey, everything okay?”  I asked.

He sighed.  “Yeah, it was my mom.  She just called to say hi.”

“At 7 am on a Sunday?”  I frowned. 

He avoided my gaze and seemed intent on staring at the floor.  Oh boy.  I knew this look.  “Hey.”  I said softly.  “Come here.”  He slowly made his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge.  I sat up and took his hand in mine.  “What’s really going on?”  He continued to look away, so I grabbed his chin and turned him towards me.  “Evan, you can talk to me about whatever is bothering you.”

He finally turned around and faced me.  “I don’t think you and I are going to work out.”

Okay, I wasn’t expecting that.  “Oh?”

“Yeah.  You should probably go.”  He tried to give me that smirk of his, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.  I knew he was bluffing, I go through this all the time with all four of my brothers.  I nodded and stood up, making my way towards the door to his room.  I could practically count down from three, predicting when he would stop me.  Sure enough, I barely made it to the doorway before he called out to me.  “Meg, stop.  I didn’t mean that.”

I turned and gave him a soft smile.  “I know.  But if you want some space, that’s fine, I can give it to you.”