Runaway Man

Chapter 14: Drama

Chapter 14: Drama

I couldn't believe it... Joey had a girlfriend. I couldn't help but imagine what she could look like. She must have been pretty, smart, athletic or anything else boys like. It wasn’t like he couldn’t get anyone because he practically made all eyes gaze at him. The whole idea of that and Linda bothered me so much I felt like I had a splitting headache.

When I came home from school, I dumped my bag on the floor. I didn't really care where it went or if my mum would trip over it later when she came in from her waitress duties. I really did feel drained.

Dirk, for once, greeted me in the doorway. He was wearing his lifeguard uniform, which consisted of orange shorts (with the swimming pool logo embedded onto it) and a yellow shirt to match it. On his shoulder, there was a black drawstring bag. He raised an eyebrow at me and it was obvious that he was about to go to work.

"Bad day at school," I mumbled as I avoided eye contact with him. I didn't really want to get him dragged into my problems yet again. Why should he be, anyway? It's not like I've helped him much in the past. I understood that he was my older brother and everything but nevertheless, he wasn’t a best friend to me nor were we particularly close. It was probably down to us being different genders or something along those lines.

"What happened?" He scratched a pimple on his nose and it nearly enough exploded. I rolled my eyes and barged down the hallway. He shrugged his shoulders to signal that he just brushed off my attitude. I half expected him to make some menstrual cycle joke.

"Linda again?"

I turned around, remembering that I had told him the situation last week when I was excluded. He didn't know the latest bit of the story though... or about Joey. I didn't really want to tell him any more about the matter either.

"I'll tell you when you come in then," I lied. I wasn't planning on updating him but if he forced it out of me then be it. Sometimes, it was best to tell someone about how you felt to get it off of your chest. However, telling anyone who was family to me would be too awkward and perhaps not even worth it. I didn't know why but it was. Besides, I wasn't really the type of person that liked to pour out their heart to someone so easily.

"Fine," he huffed, raising his hands in surrender, "But you better. I'm your older brother after all... and your only one at that. I'm meant to protect and look out for you."

"Whatever," I replied. He was so soppy sometimes!

After he'd shut the door behind him, I breathed out in relief… like a breath that I hadn’t realised I had been holding. Maybe, he'd forget about our conversation when he came in later... or maybe I would too. Or at least think of an excuse instead like I spilt some food on me at lunch or something. But then again, I'd always remember about the split between our big group when I thought about school. I had a horrible feeling in my stomach that wouldn't go away.

I went to my room and turned on my phone. Most of the time, I didn't bother to use it at school because sitting at a table on your phone surrounded by friends is plain stupid. Well, to me anyway. There was a text from Joey but two missed calls from Diana. I ignored Joey's text and sighed. I'd call Diana back later or she'd beat me to it knowing her.

I laid with my back resting against my bed and drifted off to sleep. The stress had worn me down so I figured that I deserved a nap.

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"Florence, dinner time!" I heard my mother call from downstairs. Hungry, I ran to the stairs and skidded down the skirting board. It felt like I hadn't eaten in years but it had only been a few hours at most.

When I got there, I noticed that Dirk and my father were already sitting there, nibbling at their Yorkshire puddings and beef that was smeared with gravy. I gulped before sitting at the spare seat beside Dirk with my phone clenched in my left hand. I started eating too!

"How was school today? Any boys chat you up?" Mum teased with a tissue dabbing around her lips. For some reason, this made me blush a bit but I managed to compose myself well. Even Dirk didn't notice. I supposed that I was getting good at concealing my embarrassment.

"School was alright, how was work?" I said almost exactly like a robot. I didn't want my emotions to shine through the cracks so I tried to act as okay as I could but sometimes when I pretended; it backfired and made it look worse than it was.

"I got a promotion today actually," she smiled, "Pay-rise and everything. Maybe one day my dream to live at the seaside will come true if we keep saving up." I groaned as she mentioned moving to the seaside. She had claimed that for all of her life, she had wanted to live near the beach but I didn't want to move and either way, we didn't have enough money to. Well, right now anyway. I hoped that it would stay that way until it was legal for me to live alone.

"I'm not moving," I complained with a pout, "Even if you got enough money to do it, nan and granddad still live here and they need us."

"But then we'd be closer to your cousins, Dirk would be able to do his swimming and lifeguarding more. Don't be stingy, Florence," she argued back in a calm tone. I raised my eyebrows at her and decided that it would be best not to answer her. All this would do would make my temper rise. I didn't want to leave everyone behind and start afresh so that she could live her stupid fantasy for a short period of time. I had Diana, the bestest friend ever, and Joey. Well, he may have a girlfriend but that doesn't mean he would forever.

We didn't talk for the rest of the meal. I ended up just nervously picking at my food but it wasn't because I wasn't hungry: it was just that I was thinking. My parents left the table after they finished eating because they had things to be doing so I was left alone with Dirk.

"Are you going to tell me what's up?" He asked. I glanced up at him, realising that he hadn't forgotten. Either that or I was acting like a complete emo that I forced him to remember. I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts.

"If I tell you once, will you leave me alone?" I grumbled as I realised that he wouldn’t clear off. People weren't as forgetful as I thought they'd be. Like, whenever I'd arrange stuff, half the time the "I forgot" excuse would pipe up.

"Deal. And I won't tell mum and dad," he grinned. Wow. Either he was bluffing or he was really nosy. I couldn’t tell with him. He wasn’t easy to read like a book.

"Well, b-boy trouble. The guy I like is with someone else and Linda is the usual bitch about i," I announced. I felt my cheeks going bright red but unlike what I expected, he didn't start laughing like Joey would have. He looked at me right in the eye and tapped on his cheek.

"Who's the guy?"

"He goes to another school," I admitted. I started to pick my fingernails and look everywhere but at him. The ceiling, the table cloth, anything! I'd never been good at expressing myself let alone to my brother. I didn’t even know why he managed to squeeze this out of me!

"Which school?" He slouched forward with his brow creased.

I opened my mouth. I guessed I'd have to tell him everything despite not wanting to. He'd already known too much as it was. Perhaps if he knew the holes in the story, he would understand a lot better.

So, I went on to explain the whole situation and it was as awkward as it could get. Let’s just say that being interrogated by your brother about touchy topics would never be a favourite in any girl’s books.