Dysfunctional Soul Mates

Chapter Two: Drake

He watched her disappear as she closed the door and wondered if she had already figured out what she was going to make for dinner. He didn't want her to go to all the work to make extra food for him. He had just been joking, but he didn't know if she knew that.

He walked the short distance from her house to his, and entered, removing his shoes before going too far inside. He put them by the door and took off his jacket to put it on the coathook.

"Drake? That you?" his older sister called.

"Yep, I'm home," he called back. "But I'm going to the Johnson's house to chop them some firewood in about half an hour. Do you want me to do anything before that?" he said as he walked into the kitchen where she sat eating her dinner.

"Nope, I don't think so. How was work today?"

"Oh, it was fine. I watched Blaire get a promotion. It was fun. How was your day?"

"Your work always sounds fun, Drake. Work was fine today. A kid got his finger chopped of in one of the machines. I think his parents are going to find him a safer place to work." Joslyn worked in a textile factory. She worked with the sewing machines next to the thread production line.

"Wow. Maybe his parents should send him to school instead of work - oh, wait, I forgot, we don't have a school. We never have, and we never will," Drake said with a trace of bitterness.

"Yeah," is all Joslyn said.

"Do you know when we see Brody today? He started working the night shift today, right?"

"Yes, which means we probably won't be seeing a whole lot of him for the next few months," she said with a sigh.

"Oh," was all he said. Joslyn could hear the disappointment in his voice. He had probably been looking forward to doing something with Brody - something that girls didn't do, apparently, because usually he was fine to do something with both of his older siblings. "Well, I'm going to go change into different clothes so I can go help Blaire," he told her. 

"Okay. I'll be here when you get back, but I don't plan on cooking anything.

"That's okay. Blaire said she'd make me dinner. I was teasing, but she took it seriously, so I saw no reason to tell her so," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Ohhh," said Joslyn. "Well, in that case, feel free to stay there as long as she lets you. Maybe she'll notice."

"Notice what?" he asked.

"How you stare at her," she said with a sly smile.

"It's not like that!!" he exclaimed.

But Joslyn just smiled. Whether he saw it or not, that's the way it was.