A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 23

  Second hour was over before I knew it and third hour brought me to World Studies with Blake. When he walked in, which was seconds before the bell, he still had a childish pout on his lips.

"Cheer up, Buttercup." I poked his cheek with wide a grin.

"Why do your brothers hate me?" He sighed and slouched in the ugly, scratched up, blue chair.

"They don't hate you. They just hate you hanging out with me because you're a bad influence." I shrugged as if it were any better.

"I'm not a bad influence." He complained. But We both knew that was a lie.

"Yeah you are." I giggled. A small grin broke onto his own lips, not being able to keep up his facade.

"Yeah. I know. It was worth a shot though. Speaking of being a bad influence, wanna ditch?" He asked casually with the quirk of an eyebrow.

"Do I have a choice?" I playfully rolled my eyes.

"Nope." Then, within a second, he was up and his hand was around mine, pulling me out of the school. His other hand held both of our backpacks, which surprised me since they weighed far too much because of all the unused books.

"So where exactly are we going?" I breathed out, trying to catch my breath that was lost after having to keep up with Blake.

"I have no idea." He furrowed his eyebrows at himself while beginning to start the car.

  "Good job." I scoffed sarcastically.

  "We can watch a movie at my house?" He glanced away from the road to look at me.

  "Ooh. With popcorn and blankets?" I asked excitedly.

  "Sure." He laughed.

  When we arrived to his house, he made popcorn while I chose a movie.

  I had moved positions countless times. Originally I was nuzzled next to his chest but he complained that I had my elbow jamming into his rib cage. After a few positions, I settled with my head at the foot of the couch with my feet on his lap.

  He did it thoughtlessly but the whole movie he was drawing small patterns on my leg through the blanket.

"Were you crying?" He scoffed with a laugh after noticing my puffy red cheeks that were stained with tears because of the ending.

"Well, yeah!" I whined. "I like happy endings! That's not happy!" I continued. He just chuckled and yanked me into his lap.

"So. We have to make a choice." He completely ignored my complaints. "How are we gonna get you home?"

"Um. Drive me?" I said stupidly, not really thinking it through. He lightly flicked my nose.

"No shit, Sherlock. How are we gonna get you home without you, or me, getting in trouble with your brothers?" He explained a bit more.

"Oh. You drop me off, I say I felt sick and had Kyle drop me off. We'd have to call Kyle though." I suggested. Blake nodded slowly and tossed me his phone before excusing himself to the bathroom. After finding Kyle's contact, I called him. He answered after a few rings.

"Hey Blake. Did you take Brooklyn?" Was the first thing he spoke into the other side of the phone.

"It's Brooklyn." I nearly whispered.

"Oh shit. Hey." He chuckled, caught off guard.

"So can you do me a favor?" I swayed in my seat.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"So Blake took me to watch a movie at his house and we were gonna tell my brothers that I felt sick and that you took me home. Could you cover for me?" I bit my lip, feeling guilty for dragging my best friend into this. He sighed heavily into the phone.

"Yeah, I guess. But Brooklyn, you can't keep hiding this from them forever." He spoke sternly.

"I know, I know. But it's too early right now."

"It's always gonna be to early." He retorted.

"I'll figure it out. I just don't know when." I began to chew on my fingernails - a habit that I rarely resort to when stressed - instead of my lip.

  "Brooklyn." He sighed. "I don't want to end up in your brothers bad side."

  "I know. Just please cover for me today?" I bounced my knee.

  "Yeah, yeah. I got it. See ya later, Bee." He didn't wait for my response before hanging up. After I set down the phone, Blake finally came back.

  "Did you get everything situated?" He pulled me up from the couch and into a hug.

  "Yeah. He got mad at me." I was muffled by Blake's chest. Kyle may not have seemed mad, but that's as stern as he gets with me, knowing I'm sensitive. So when he talks to me like that, I know he's not too happy with me.

  "It's fine, Brooklyn. He's just getting stressed over the whole situation too." He rubbed my back and slightly pulled away to look at me.

  "I don't like it when he's mad at me though." I sighed and he laughed.

  "That's only natural. He's your best friend Brooklyn, he'll forgive you. Come on, we gotta go." His hands left my body and opted for my hand as he dragged me out of the house.

  The whole ride to my house I was complaining about Kyle being upset with me. Blake was trying to console me but still laughing at me. Then I'd slap him and he'd laugh at the tiny red mark it'd leave on his arm, completely unaffected.

  When I walked through the front door of my house, Cole was the only one home.

  "Hey, Brookie. Why aren't you at school?" He glanced away from his phone every few seconds to look at me.

  "I didn't feel good. Kyle gave me a ride." I began to walk upstairs after he just nodded but I stopped when I heard him ask a question.

  "What do you want for your birthday?"

  My eyebrows furrowed.

  "What?"

  He laughed at me. After seeing I was actually confused he stopped.

  "Your birthday is in a week, Brooklyn." He chuckled at my cluelessness. Before I could even shrugged, he added, "Just let us know soon, okay?" And he left to the kitchen.

  I walked upstairs before staring at my fish, thinking about what I wanted. Eventually I groaned in defeat, falling onto my bed and soon falling asleep.

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