When You Know

25 - You know she'll murder all of us when she finds out, right?

I don't know what Ruben and Jet said to each other out there, being as I was so far away. But when they came back in a while later, the two of them were smiling like clowns, so maybe my brother grew a pair after all.

"How was it out there?" I asked. I knew how it was. I watched on as they caught wave after wave while I was stuck half-in, half-out of the water like the loser in a cast that I was. I grew more bitter with every new wave they each caught, tempered only by watching them actually talk to each other from afar and seeing Ruben pushing Jet off his board when they caught the last one in together.

"A little more ballsy than I anticipated," Jet grinned, picking me up and throwing me across his shoulder to carry me out of the water, his board tucked underneath his free hand. I never knew just how strong he was. "Apparently you aren't the only super-balled cock in the family anymore."

What. The. Hell?

"Jesus, Jet. He's only eleven. Do you have to be so crass all the time?" Ruben stared at him, only slightly angry.

Jet put me down on the sand near our things, turning to Ruben and saying, "Sorry. He makes it easy to forget how young he is sometimes!"

"But he's still a kid and he doesn't need to develop your foul mouth."

"He has lived with Sadie his whole life. It was inevitable anyway. I'm just helping the process along."

"Well, don't. She'll go ape if she hears him talking like that and you know it."

"Do I get a say in how I do and don't talk?" I asked, frustrated that everyone else gets to speak how they want to and I'm still censored like this is North Korea and not Australia.

They both laughed in unison, just like father and son. "In all honesty, with your mum, probably not, buddy," Ruben said before the two of them cracked up again.

I wasn't really appreciating being the butt of their jokes today, so decided to moodily pick up my school bag and walk home. I didn't even reach the pavement before I was swung back over Jet's shoulders again and dragged back to the rest of our things. When I get bigger, he's going to pay for all this manhandling of my pathetic, tiny body. Just you wait, Jet.

"Where do you think you're going, kid? We've got a plan to hatch, remember?" he said, dropping me down on the towels I didn't bother to use in my childish tantrum.

"Plan? That's just great. What diabolical shit are you two concocting to torture me this time? You're a bad influence on him, Jet," said Ruben nervously.

"I'm the best influence on him, and you know it," he grinned widely. "Aren't I, Madd?"

"You have your moments, I guess," I huffed. He was, in fact, the best influence on me. But I was still a little too annoyed at him to tell him that.

Jet smiled a lot more softly than before, his joking grin vanished entirely, and he was back to just being the lovely and supportive brother that definitely was a good influence on me. "Love you, too, Madden."

He makes it so hard to stay mad at him.

I tried to maintain my pissed off facial expression, but it disappeared the second he held his arms out in waiting for a hug, and couldn't resist closing the gap between us. I've never caved that quickly to an apology hug in all my life. I must love him more than I thought I did.

"Alright, my two big-balled boys. If you want this plan hatching without Sade---which I'm assuming is why you said you wanted to talk to me and not both of us---then you'd best get started now because we need to get home soon," said Ruben, drying his long hair in a spare towel and beaming down at us still in each other's arms. He was proud, and I loved that we had made him feel that way.