brooks & hale ✔️

brooks

thirty ;
b r o o k s

"HEY," ADAM SAID, REACHING out to turn down the radio that had been blasting overplayed and sucky pop songs. "What did you do to Reed?"

Those six words were sufficient to wake Brooks out his early morning stupor and almost send him into an asthma attack. As it was, he settled for choking on the pancakes he had been happily eating - he'd had to take them on the go, because Adam never gave him a chance to eat them at the house. At least, he had been happily eating them until Adam's question sent him into a panic and sent food down the wrong way.

He grabbed the drink from the cupholder and gulped without even knowing what it was. It only was only when he could breathe again did he splutter on the bitter taste on his tongue. "That's gross," Brooks gagged, shoving the cup and it's nasty contents back where they belonged. "What the hell is that?"

"Oh, have you finally finished dying?" Adam flicked him an impatient look. "It's called coffee, you idiot."

Brooks eyed the cup warily. "Are you sure?"

"Shut up," Adam replied. Brooks might have pointed out that that response didn't even make sense, but Adam hadn't finished with the original topic that had almost killed Brooks. "You didn't answer my question. What did you do to Reed?"

Of course, the one time Adam broke his "I can't be bothered to talk in the morning" rule was to ask Brooks trick questions he didn't know how to answer. Ever since getting lifts to and from school had become a regular thing - Brooks didn't know why or how, but he certainly wasn't complaining - they usually spent the ride in silence. It was the simpler option that both of them preferred and Brooks didn't want to change that now.

"W-what did I do?" Brooks wasn't sure whether he was repeating the question or asking Adam himself. "Um, what do you mean?" Was Adam onto him? Reed wouldn't have said anything; he was the one who threatened Brooks to keep his mouth shut. "I didn't do anything. Reed hates me. We don't interact. Why would I have done something?"

Shut up, Brooks told himself, and bit his tongue just in case. He really needed to learn the appropriate times to talk and shut up.

"Because he refuses to come around anymore," Adam said. "And I know it has something to do with you."

Brooks felt his eyes widen. "Why?"

Adam drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. "He won't say why he can't come around, but his foul mood whenever I mention you is indication enough. What did you say to him?"

"Nothing," Brooks said. It wasn't technically a lie. It was nothing Brooks had said that was keeping Reed away, and quite frankly, Brooks was thankful. He was happy to avoid Reed for the rest of his life - or at least until he went to university in September. "I try not to talk to him as much as possible, remember? Wait. Why are you suddenly bringing this up?" Brooks snapped his head to stare out of the window as a terrible thought occurred to him, but the scenery outside was an indistinguishable blur. Adam had a habit of driving too fast "We're not...picking him up, are we?"

When Adam didn't reply, Brooks yanked on the door handle. "What the hell are you doing?" Adam demanded, almost swerving off the road when he turned to scowl at Brooks. "Have you lost your mind?"

"I'm not staying in this car if he's coming in it," Brooks retorted, all subtlety flying out of the window. Crammed in a car with Adam and Reed, for the entire ride to school? He couldn't possibly think up a more awkward situation even if he wanted to. He'd marry Donald Trump before he let that happen. "I'll walk to school. Seriously, Adam. Stop the car or I'll just jump out of it."