A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 35

  A month and a week passed. I, as well as my brothers, were all confused and frustrated that we forgave my father so easily. Even though none of us mentioned it, I felt as if the house had been relieved.

  My dad and I had gotten really close over the month. We had spent the most time together since I was the most willing to, but I saw the happiness that my brothers would bring back home after hanging out with him. His leaving was always just another thing looming in the back of our minds and when he showed up, this confused and hurt portion of our thoughts had finally been given closure.

  Now he was serving his time in jail and the whole house got even more relaxed. Though his presence was refreshing, it was still stressful and changing our schedules a bit. Now, things are back to normal. 

  The only thing off was that Blake had been gone for a week. He hasn't been in school - which isn't too shocking - but he didn't come to tutoring, tell me or my brothers that he wouldn't be there, and no one has seen or heard from him. I was worried but not too worried, just enough to be constantly asking Kyle about it.

  I was leaving from sixth hour to seventh hour, already dreading that I'd be alone in the class I struggled most with. Again. That was until Blake appeared in front of me. He came at me way too fast causing me to back up a bit until he scooped me up and hugged me. I was content with the hug at first but soon shook myself out of it and lightly shoved his shoulder so he'd put me down.

  "What?" He set me down almost instantly. I cocked my head and crossed my arms.

  "'What?' Where the hell have you been?" I scoffed.

   "Now... that is a long story." He pointed at me with a serious look in his eyes. I nodded, signalling him to continue and tell me what he was talking about. "Longer than a passing period, Brooke."

  "You disappeared for a week! I deserve to know at least a little bit." I sighed, my round brown eyes and long eyelashes giving him natural "puppy eyes".

  "I can't just tell you 'a little bit'. It's not that simple, Bee." Blake begged me with his eyes. 

  "Can you tell me tonight? You still have a week's worth of tutoring to catch me up on." I compromised. He gave me a dimpled smile as he nodded. He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine, making me feel all giddy and - quite frankly - stupid. I felt like I was a 14 year old school girl having her first kiss when in reality, I was a 17 year old girl and , though this wasn't my first kiss, it was still one of the very few I've had and it was with the same person my first kiss was given to.

  He pulled away as the minute bell rang and that was when we jogged to our class since we were still across the schoolyard.

  The class was normal: with my constant questions, never-ending gaze of confusion, and me asking Blake the same question I asked the teacher since the teacher would only continue to use the fancy math terms that I would ask about.

  The class was basically copy and pasted into the tutor session. The only thing missing was the useless teacher but Kyle was close enough since he was trying to help but only feeding me the wrong information. 

  "How are you getting a B in Algebra 2 if you don't even understand Algebra 1?" Blake rubbed his forehead. He was beginning to get frustrated and I was beginning to feel bad for making it so difficult.

  "I don't know." I said quietly while looking down. Then I heard Blake chuckle and my head shot up as my eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

  "You're adorable. Like a puppy." He continued to snicker as he shook his head while I stared at him, puzzled. He didn't explain his statement and just moved on with the tutoring. 

  A good 10 minutes passed and that was when I was really frustrated. I yanked the book out of his hands and slammed it shut with a huff.

  "You okay there, Baby?" He let out a light laugh as I was obviously angered and stressed. I could feel the natural redness cheeks had multiplied with my irritation to the subject as well as the nickname. 

  "No." I sat there bouncing my knee, trying to calm myself. Then I remembered he still hadn't explained his mystery absence. "So where have you been the past week?" My mood completely switched as I now had something else to focus on. He threw his head back.

  "Okay. Long story short: I have an older brother." He chewed on his teeth.

  "Holy shit." I whispered each syllable as if it were a separate sentence. "I thought it was only you and your sister." I said but it was more of a question. He scoffed and stuttered non-sense as he stuck his hand out, pointing at me.

  "Me too! But apparently not." He said the last sentence in a dopey voice.

  "So... a half brother or what...?" I shook my head in confusion.

  "Yep. My dad apparently had gotten another woman pregnant before my mom. Some 27 year old, named Jack. My dad apparently never even told my mom about them." Blake was clenching and unclenching his jaw.

  "How did you even find out?" My eyes weren't wide but you could see the shock in them.

  "The dude messaged me on Facebook. Who even uses Facebook anymore? I only had it cause I was too lazy to delete the app! But seriously, who in their right mind would say, 'Hey, I'm your brother,' on Facebook? I didn't believe it at first but then I saw pictures of him, his mom, and my dad. My dad was even Facebook friends with him! And then I saw pictures of him and his mom at the funeral! I don't recall them being there. How did they even get invited?" Blake ranted, understandably upset. 

  "Do you not want him to be apart of your life?" I asked as it seemed Blake was disgusted with it all.

  "I don't really care if they're in my life or not, but my dad didn't tell us? Like what the fuck?" Blake looked like a lost puppy and I was trying not to smile during such a serious conversation.

  We sat there for a few seconds in silence. He was just running his hands through his hair constantly, one of his stress symptoms. I just cupped his cheeks and squished them together to try and lighten the mood before kissing his cheek. The only reason the tutor session ended with me cracking a smile that I was trying to hide, was the fact that he blushed at the small symbol of affection.

----------