(Un)Fortunate

Chapter 8

"STOP! ITS JUST ME!" I scream, holding my hands in front of me. 

Brandon slowly drops the bat, and holds out a hand. I graciously take his hand and he pulls me up in one swift movement. He pulls me into a tight hug and I hug back, inhaling his musk smell.

Brandon is my older brother. He is 22, so that makes him 5 years older than me. He is going to police school in Missouri and lives a good distance from where we live now, in New York. I love both of my brothers so much. Plus, being the only girl, my brothers are very protective of me. Once I graduate this year, I want to attend Journalism school at a college near my brother's.

"Hey sissy, what's new?" He says, taking my bag and heading inside the house.

"Oh, not much, just fractured my wrist," I reply, acting nonchalant. One of the many things Caleb taught me after attending acting school was that I need to have more passion in my voice. Its a tip I use a lot. 

He chuckles slightly and takes my wrist in his hand. I peer up at his face. You can hardly see any emotion, only the kind look in his gray eyes. 

His eyes are the same color as mine. His hair is a dark brown though. His face has a little bit of hair growth on it. In other words, his piercing eyes, big muscles, and sweet personality make him an absolute chick magnet. Okay, you guessed, he was the popular one in high school. The one that wore the leather jacket and aviator shades. He had so many friends it was unbelievable the parties we would have. He wasn't like other jocks either, he cared about other people. Like one time, this nerdy girl dropped her books all over the ground and papers went flying all over the hallway. Brandon helped her while his friends sat by and laughed.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too Brand," I say, rubbing his hair playfully.

"But, soon, I can see you every day when you go to college."

"Well, I don't know about every day. I mean, I might not want to see you at all some days," I say winking at him and chuckling slightly.

"Well then, see how many parties I invite you to," Brandon says, turning around and crossing his arms like a child. I laugh at him and all of a sudden he turns around and picks me up over his shoulder.

"Hey, put me down!" I squeak, as he starts to run toward the living room.

"Not until you say your sorry," He teases, starting to spin in a circle, making me dizzy.

"Sorry for what?" I say, jokingly.

"Sorry for not wanting to spend every single day with the best big brother in the whole world," he stops spinning for a moment.

"Fine, I'm sorry," I say, giggling, and he puts me down. I slap his shoulder playfully and he smirks.

I stop laughing and put on a serious face.

"Have you seen Caleb yet?" I say, looking towards the ground. Tears begin to form and I squint to make them go away. Instead, they start to pool and run down my face.

"Yeah," He says, putting his arms around me in a bear hug. He holds me tight for a few moments, before leading me over to the couch and sitting me down.

He sits next to me and sighs. I lean over and bury my face in his sweatshirt.

"I love you so much, Ellie" Brandon says to me.

"I love you too, and Caleb. I love you guys more than anything in the world. I never realized how much I would miss you guys when we argued, and fought," I say.

"Yeah, I remember that one time we fought over who would buy mom that silly card because we all wanted to get it for her," he laughs.

"Yeah, and then we all ended up buying the exact same card for her. I still remember the look on her face when she opened three cards that all had a picture of a tiger with a birthday hat on," I laugh at the silly memory.

"Oh and that one time we argued over who had to get their shot at the doctors office first," he smiles, pretending to give me a shot in the arm.

"Yeah, I remember. Because you guys made me go first!"

"And you cried like a little baby," He says laughing his head off.

"And you know I hate needles too!"

We go on reminiscing for awhile longer until the doorbell chimes.

"I'll get it, don't get up or anything," I say, chuckling as Brandon gets cozier on the couch, smiling smugly to himself.

I open the door and see Jen standing there with her arms out. I run out and give her a huge hug.

"Jen, how are you? Did you get hurt?" I say, hugging her tight.

"I'm fine. And all I needed was some stitches," she says, pointing to a row of three or four stitches on her head.

"Ewwwww gross," I say giggling.

"Gross, how about your head and arm?" She says laughing harder.

"Well, lucky me, I got glue and its only a cast!" I hold up my fractured wrist.

"Can I sign it?" She says, digging in her Coach purse.

"NO! I mean, yes ,but not until right before I get it off. "

"Why, you weirdo?" She says zipping her purse back up.

"Because, I like how clean it looks. Plus, right before I get it off, it will be dirty and stuff and I won't care if you sign it."

"Oh, I see. Um, can I like come in, or are we going to stay out here forever?" She joked and I opened the door and let her go in, locking the door behind us.

Brandon fell asleep and was snoring slightly. I motioned to Jen to take out the pen again. She quickly took out a wash off pen and I drew a little mustache and a unibrow on him.

"That's mean," She whispered.

"It's washable," I say, pointing to the label on the pen.

"In that case..." Jen says, taking the pen from me. She creeps over to Brandon and adds a mole to his cheek and a heart on his nose.

I stifle a laugh and take a pic on my phone. I post it on Instagram and Bubble with the caption: 'Brandon fell asleep...LOL'

I browse through my news feed and a bunch of Caleb's fans posted 'Pray for Caleb and Ellie' with a cute edit of me and Caleb together. I showed Jen and she reposts it and so do I.

I go to the popular page and see at least three of Caleb's pics. Just then, I remembered something and run up the stairs towards our rooms. I turn into Caleb's room and see his phone plugged into the charger. We aren't aloud to bring our phone when we drive because texting and driving is very dangerous. Mom either makes us give it to her or leave it at home.

I look around his room and a lump forms in my throat. I rush to get his phone and quickly run out, closing the door behind me.

I turn on his phone and his lock screen is a picture of me and him making weird faces at the camera. I try a few times at his passcode before Jen comes up behind me and unlocks it for me.

"How did you know the passcode?" I ask, swiping between screens.

"Cause, he told me once and he never changed it," I giggle with her.

"What are you doing?" She asks me, as I sit down on my bed.

"Updating his fans. They are like family to him, he is always obsessing over them and being with them every chance he gets," I say while opening Instagram and posting a pic of him with the caption: 'Sorry Caleb has not been posting, he is in the hospital as most of you guys already know. Anyways, prayers are appreciated for my twin brother :) -Ellie'

I look up from his phone and a tear rolls down my cheek and splatters on the screen.