Being the Baby Brother (ON HOLD)

Chapter 26

Noah's POV

I missed school today cause I was still sick, I haven't thrown up since yesterday but Jackson says that I'm not supposed to go to school if I've thrown up in the last 24 hours. I was super bored because Jackson was doing stuff for college. He told me that since he's missing school he should be productive. He's such a grown up, it's gross.

"Noah? Do you wanna eat something?" He asked coming out of his room.

"Yes!" I say from my spot on the couch. I haven't eaten in like 2 days cause I couldn't hold anything down and I'm super hungry now.

"Okay, in gonna make some sandwiches want pb&j?" I nod and he ruffles my hair as he walks past me into the kitchen.

I watched the rest of my episode then Jackson called me into the kitchen to eat. I sat at the counter and he set the sandwich in front of me.

"Can I go to school tomorrow?" I ask, taking a bite.

"As long as you keep that sandwich down" he jokes. I roll my eyes at his comment.

"You going to soccer tonight?" He asks.

"I don't think so , I'm still pretty tired." I tell him, taking another bite.

"Ok, well Baylor and I have practice from 3-5:30 so you're gonna be alone. I can't miss it, I'm already in deep shit with coach" he reminds me.

"Yeah, sorry about that" I say feeling bad.

"Don't be, it was my choice to leave. But you'll
be good alone?" He asks again.

"Yeah, I think I can handle being alone for a couple hours" I say.

I'm never alone, like ever. This is probably the second time I've been alone for more than an hour. Most of the time one of my brothers are home. They kind of plan their lives around me, which is nice but I always feel bad about it. I know Jackson doesn't like leaving me alone because he thinks I will get in trouble. Also, he knows I don't like being alone very much.

"Okay, I have to go finish up some scholarship applications, then I'm leaving" He says and disappears. I head back to the couch and continue watching The Office. My brothers watched it so I decided to give it a try and it's awesome.

"Jackson! I'm home! Hurry up!" Baylor yells coming into the house.

Normally my brothers come home and then go straight to practice and I go to Sean's house and then my practice.

"Hey bud, how ya feeling?" He says and pats my head.

"Good" I say and he goes up the stairs.

About five minutes later both of my brothers come down the stairs ready to go to practice.

"Ok, we are leaving, and we'll be back in like 3 hours, and bring home dinner. Be good, love you" Jackson tells me and kisses my head before disappearing into the garage.

I tried to decide what I was going to do for three hours alone, I mean I do have homework, but that's boring. I decided on taking a shower first and then playing Xbox which I am normally not allowed to do, because Baylor hates sharing it, but he's not here.

I was in the middle of playing COD when the doorbell rang. I snuck up the stairs and looked out the window, it was some guy whom I didn't recognize. I tried to ignore him but I just couldn't because he kept ringing the bell and knocking. I began to get scared and tears started streaming down my cheeks. My knees were pulled tight to my chest as I sat under the window, trying to soften my cries. The guy hadn't left yet, and was texting on his phone, I snuck a look and he seemed to be fairly young. I took in a deep breath and began to stand up but the door opened.

"Please don't kill me! I'm only 11!" I cried.

"What, no, no, no. Please don't cry! I'm a friend of your brother, Jackson." The boy scrambled.

"How do I know you're not lying?" I whimpered.

"Um, ok. My name is Zach. I-I met your brother at school on his first day. You guys moved here from Maryland because of your dad's job. Your name is Noah and Baylor is your other brother. Jackson told me to come here to pick up something for our school project and I didn't know he wasn't gonna be home. I'm so sorry for barging into your house I just thought no one was home" He rambled.

"O-o-ok. There is papers on- on the counter, that might be it." I stuttered.

"Thank you" he smiled softly. I just nodded, wiping my tears.

"Tell Jackson I said thank you." I nodded again and Zach left.

I looked at the clock and realized that my brothers would be home soon, I locked the door behind Zach, I don't know why it was open.

"Noah! We brought pizza!" Baylor yelled as he burst through the door.

"Your home!" I ran, jumping off the couch and running into my brother.

"Glad you missed me" Baylor joked and Jackson walked through the door.

"Jax! I was so scared!" I yelled and began to cry again. He dropped his bag and lifted me up.

"What happened?" He said, rubbing my head.

"Your friend Zach came here, and knocked and rang the bell for a while and then just came in. I was so scared that he was a kidnapper or murderer." I cried.

Jackson pulled me tighter and slowly walked around the foyer. Trying to calm me.

"Oh buddy I should have said that he might show up, but he's normally late to everything. I'm so sorry" He told me and kissed my head.

"The whole time, all I thought of was you and Baylor. I just wanted you to be here and you weren't. Please don't ever leave" i said as he set me down.

"I won't, I promise. How about pizza?" He says. I nod slowly.

I ate some pizza, then got ready for bed. I walked down the stairs and laid across my brothers laps. My head in Jackson's and legs on Baylor.

"You're going to school tomorrow, right?" Baylor asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Yep" I said.

"You sound tired" Jackson smiles.

"Uh huh" I sigh.

"Why don't you sleep, I'll take you to bed later" He tells me. I turn over and closed my eyes.

I was woken a few hours later I assume when my body was lifted from the couch. I latched onto Jackson and put my head in the crook of his neck.

"Can I sleep with you? I don't want to be alone" I say.

"Of course bub" Jackson says ascending the stairs.

He puts me down in his bed and changes out of his day clothes. When he climbs into bed I snuggle into him.

"Please don't ever leave" I whisper.

"I love you Noah" is all he says and kisses my head.

Before I know it, I am engulfed in blackness, sleep.