A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 12

  It's ben about a week since the mall problem. I was sitting at my desk, writing the paper for the project. Blake was just tossing a hackey sack. Cole and Kyle were sitting on my bed on their phone. They were there to monitor me and Blake. Great.

  Blake put the ball down and just walked over to my dresser, messing with the things on top of it. He ended up picking up a heart that my mom got me from Japan when I was four. There was nothing special about it besides the fact that it was from her.

  "No, put that down." I grabbed it from him and put it back on top of the dresser. I was walking back to my desk when I heard a drawer open. "Nope." I turned around quickly to slam it close.

  "Ugh, I'm so bored." He groaned.

  "Work on the project then." I glared at him, having to look up at him. He gave me a look, telling me I was dumb.

  "That's even worse." He complained.

  "You're so useless." I sigh.

  "I think I'm helping in the comedy department."

  "Think again." I snapped at him. 

  "Oooh." Cole laughed. "She's not usually snappy, this is great." He laughed. I rolled my eyes at him.

  "Draw a picture that I can put on the presentation." With that, I tried to work but he had more to say. 

  "I have very limited experience in art. I can draw a penis. That's it." He said with more pride than he should have when saying that sentence.

  "I said it once. I'll say it again. Useless." I face palmed. "Dios mío."

  "Aww, don't be like that, Brookie." He cooed at me and I felt arms wrap around my shoulders. I tensed, always awkward when it came to hugs.

  "This is how you get kicked out of the house by my brothers." I told him.

  "True that." Kyle said monotonously but didn't look up from his phone.

  "From doing what?" Blake asked, confused.

  "Hugging me." I try to shake his hands off.

  "Oh." He nods and lets go.

"You need to help me with this!" I say in a harsh tone, getting annoyed with him.

"I don't know how." He whines. I roll my eyes.

"Fine, just sit there and shush! That'll help." I snap at him, causing Cole to glance at me and then back to his phone.

"Be nice, Brookie." He sighs. I twitch my eyes to fight the urge to roll them.

The next few hours are slow and painful - both physically and mentally. Blake would either not stop talking or he'd go through all my stuff. I yelled at him which earned me a shoe to the face from Cole, who was too lazy to scold me. Kyle was the only one who didn't annoy me and that was cause he fell asleep.

I finally finished the project though! It would probably only get a B at most, but I'll take what I can get. Now it was dinner, and since we had mutual friends over, they stayed.

I sat in between Kyle and Blake, which my brothers surprisingly didn't try to change. Plates of spaghetti were in front of everyone. Alex was a pretty good cook and was therefore responsible for most dinners.

Like usual, I was quiet, while the boys talked about anything from football to video games. I was only brought into the conversation after Jax asked me about my project.

"Oh, I got it done." I replied with a short answer.

"We got it done." Blake corrected me. I rolled my eyes and flicked him.

"It's done." Was the last answer offered.

"Brooklyn, don't flick him." Jackson reprimanded me with a straight face.

"Yeah, Brooklyn." Blake emphasized.

"How old are you? Six?" I teased him.

"Eighteen actually, sweet cheeks." Blake says with an exaggerated sass in his tone.

"Sweet cheeks?" I question with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Yep." Blake pops the 'p'.

"Uh- Okay." I shake my head and continue with my food.

"Hey Anders, don't flirt." Jason told Blake. I tried, I really did, but I couldn't help to roll my eyes.

"It's a nickname, Jason." I sigh. I feel Kyle nudge me with his elbow then shake his head, telling me to stay out of it. I ignored it though.

"I don't care, Brooklyn." Jason replied.

"Besides, even if he was flirting, you can't keep boys away from me forever." I groaned.

"I can sure as hell try." Jason said rather angrily. I looked at him confused. My brothers usually took a lot of time to get irritated with me.

"Woah, why are you so pissy?" I asked, immediately earning multiple warnings on my language from around the table.

"When did you become a slut?" Jason asked with his narrowed eyes. All eyebrows raised and jaws dropped while all the eyes were on Jason.

"He's my friend. One of my only two friends since you block me from everything else in this world." I defend. I was close to crying due to his insult but I was fueled with anger and curiosity.

"Oh please, Brooklyn. You flirt with both of them." He spat.

"How? By talking?" I interrogated him further.

"By throwing yourself at them! And ditching school with them! Jeez Brooklyn, you've known him for less than a month and you ditch school!" This time he did yell. That was when my curiosity and anger didn't fuel me enough to keep tears away, but I could hold them back for a few more words.

"I'm not throwing myself at them at all! You wanna see what 'throwing myself at boys' looks like? Or becoming a rebel? Okay." I said with a humorless chuckle and threw my fork on the table before leaving. Countless voices told me to come back or tried to reassure me but I just continued to head to my room.

  I was well aware that I was being dramatic but I was tired of how strict my brothers are. Besides, they could learn to deal with it. Plus I would most likely not follow through with my plans. But I can try.

  I heard a gentle knock but I ignored it.

  "It's Kyle, can you open the door, Bee?" He asked. I got up to open the door and got a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I was crying. I just wiped my cheeks and let Kyle in before I locked it again.

  When I turned back to him, he was just staring at me with sympathy while sitting on my bed.

  "Are you okay, Brookie?" He questioned gently. I just shook my head and moped over to him. He was sitting on my tall bed so he was even taller than usual. I hugged him while he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me onto his lap where he rocked me like a baby and ran his fingers over my hair. I didn't even realize how soothing this was until I fell asleep.

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