3 Stepbrothers

A House Divided Against Itself

Shawn spent all Saturday at Em's house. He finally came back Sunday morning yawning loudly, but nevertheless there was a smile on his face. I was happy to see that Shawn was back to his normal self. Spewing out random stuff that magically popped into his mind. It made me realize just how much of a filter he needs for his mouth.

He keeps looking for evidence of me being part ape. Going through my closet, checking my recent searches under my google history, and any downloads of monkey pictures. I gave up after a while and started shouting at him in what I assume is Gorilla. Pointing his finger at me, he shouted, "I knew it! Ooh-ahh! Ahh-ah."

That all happened around lunch time when mom was teaching Suzie how to make white chicken chili. It took forever to make, but Shawn was good entertainment. At least to the rest of the family. I was being made fun of every two seconds. "No mom you gotta make Tori a banana chili. With extra fruit and lettuce." He'd say.

"Ha ha that's so funny." I would cross my arms and roll my eyes, "I'm just dying of pure laughter."

Other than the constant jokes with the follow up of laughs, it was a decent lunch. Dad asked me about the dance and mom kept blabbering on about how nice I looked. When I had gotten home, I had given her the clips back. She only smiled and placed them back in her little jewelry box.

I was ready to tell Mark. When Cole and Shawn said they'd ask Blake I was beyond happy. It felt amazing to know I'd be able to tell Mark now, I couldn't keep hiding this from him. It was a lie piled onto another. It just kept escalating to a point where it would topple over. I was just glad it wouldn't have to chance to fall. I'd be able to tell him before the large tower of lies came crashing down.

"So we were thinking," Mom said while she was taking the plates up getting some pie from the fridge.

"Who's we?" asked Cole.

"Mario and Luigi Cole." Shawn remarked sarcastically, giving everyone a chance to chuckle while Cole gave Shawn a look.

"Lilly and I," Dad said, "we're thinking about going to the lake house for Christmas. What'd you guys think?"

Christmas in a cabin with a nice fireplace sounds like a scene in a Christmas movie. But it did give me a nice feeling of being at home. Just sitting down on the couch drinking hot cocoa with a blanket over my legs, watching the fire crackle in the fireplace. It made me drowsy just thinking about how peaceful it'd be. How serene I'd feel. I could almost feel my hands getting warmer as if I was holding a cup of hot chocolate now.

"Why?" Blake asked. My daydreaming came to stop. I felt like a record just scratched in my head bringing me back to reality. "Why can't we just have it here like we do every year?"

"We just thought it'd be nice," Lilly smiled softly, "To try something new."

Cole looked at his brother, "Yeah man. It'd be fun. Plus it's up north, we could possibly get snow. Or build a fort outside. Or maybe we play Russian Roulette with Nerf guns and loser jumps in the lake!"

"I'd so beat you!" Shawn bursted pointing his finger at Cole.

"Heck no!" Cole threw a bean at Shawn. "Hope you have a diving suit or you're going to freeze!"

Cole and Shawn started to argue about who was going to win and who was going to jump into the lake at night. Lilly finally intervened when Shawn shouted that Cole would be so frozen his manhood would snap right off like an icicle.

Blake didn't say anything. He just watched, leaning back in chair. It looked like he was studying his brothers. Watching their every movement and waiting to see what happened. Almost like a scientist observing animals from afar. The only difference was that Blake didn't just watch his brothers. He watched mom and dad as well.