A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 37

  The next day was quite amazing, really. Blake had suggested we stay in, watch movies, and invite Kyle over. I think he thought I was upset over the whole ordeal, which I was, but I was much more happy with the newfound freedom.

  The doorbell rang while I was sorting through piles of movies and Blake was collecting his many blankets that I still was way too obsessed with. I set down the movie that was currently in my hand and made my way to the door. Through the glass door I could see Kyle standing with a basket of candy. As soon as I opened the door to greet him, he bombarded me with questions and words of encouragement that he thought I needed to help me through this "incredibly tough time". He sounded like a FaceBook mom who was trying to comfort other FaceBook moms.

  "Kyle. I'm fine." I said through a small chuckle.

  "You're fine now." He corrected as he tapped my nose, causing me to lightly jump back.

  "That's all that matters." I shook my head at him.

  "Okay. Well, I brought a bunch of candy to help." Kyle sighed, upset that he had seemingly wasted his money.

  Seconds after, Blake came bouncing down the stairs, the upper-portion of his body hidden by a stack of blankets. 

  "Did you pick a movie yet?" Blake asked as he dropped the blankets on the couch.

  "Yep." I grinned, holding up the movie Tangled.

  "You truly are still a child, huh?" Blake grinned. Kyle scoffed from beside him.

  "She watches this movie every time she's at my house. Every time." Kyle shook his head at me. "I've tried to get her to watch something else but she won't."

  "To be fair," I put my finger up to defend myself, "every time we watch something else your whole family wants to watch. When I play this, everyone stays away." I shrugged. Kyle hummed, not believing me and I scrunched my nose in response to him. "It makes me happy, that should be a good enough excuse." I put my hand on my hip.

  "Well we still watch it, don't we? It's not like I banned you from watching it. I'm still allowed to complain over your repetitive movie choices." He thumped my head and I glared at him. Blake had left at some point during the small argument and came back with a bowl of popcorn which I immediately grabbed a handful of.

  "Thanks for sharing, Brooklyn." Blake teased, sighing at the large dent of missing popcorn. 

~~~~~

  After a movie marathon - which consisted of a lot more movies than anticipated - Kyle left. Blake and I were left to clean up the mess of discarded movie cases, empty cans of soda, loose popcorn kernels, empty candy boxes and wrappers, and a mountain of twisted blankets.

  "You know you have to talk to them, right?" Blake spoke.

  "Huh?" I furrowed my eyebrows as I sorted the movies back into a nice stack under the TV.

  "Your brothers. You have to talk to them." His voice was strained due to digging through the couch cushions to find more candy wrappers.

  "I know but I just don't want to." I whined, my voice truly resembling that of a seven year old. "Besides, I'm happy, and that's all that matters. Right?" I gave a big smile as if it would convince him that I didn't need to talk to my brothers. I walked towards him and shoved my head into his chest as a lazy request for a hug. He wrapped his arms around me but he didn't change his view on the subject.

  "Only to an extent, Brooklyn. It's not only your feelings or your life that you're affecting." He rested his chin on my head.

  "Well then they should have thought about that." I said with attitude though all attitude was towards my brothers.

  "You have to look at things from their perspective, Brookie." He slightly pulled his chest away cuing me to look up at him.

  "I have and they still took things too far. Jackson punched you, Blake." I breathed out lowly, Blake sighing in response.

  "That's because he told me a long ass time ago that you were off limits." He tried to reason, but that was still no excuse.

  "Okay, and? He told me not to date you from the get-go. They all did. They didn't punch me." I crossed my arms but was still wrapped in his arms until he released me to caress my cheeks. He chuckled at my response even though we both knew that right now was not the time.

  "Because you are their little sister." He held my face in his hands. I gave him a look, silently telling him that his answer wasn't enough. "You were the one they were trying to protect and I am the one they were trying to protect you from."

  "Yeah but we both did what they told us not to. You can't just pick favorites." I sounded like a child, I knew my argument wasn't the best but still went with it.

  "In a way, they didn't. It's like a movie. There's a protagonist and an antagonist. They don't have to hate the antagonist in order to root for the protagonist. Brooklyn, they were trying to protect their baby sister. I have already admitted many times that my track record isn't the best when it comes to girls. It was understandable that they didn't want me with you." He gazed at me with a look filled with adoration, the sight made me want to squeal but once again: it was not the time.

  "But they're mean, I don't want to talk to them." The more I spoke the more I sounded childish but I couldn't help it. I was out of valid arguments - if I even had any to start with - and knew Blake was right.

  He looked at me with a stern expression which I easily avoided by once again shoving my head in his chest. But he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back to look into his serious eyes. As soon as I groaned his straight-lined mouth morphed into a smile, he knew he had won, and he happily pulled me back into a hug. So we stood there for a few minutes with him rubbing my back and swaying us back and forth. He most likely had a smile while I was frowning. Though the thought of having to speak to my brothers made me want to punch a hole in the wall, I knew it was for the best.

----------