intricacy | × [ON HOLD]

count seventeen

The day was cold, freezing even. The sky was gray and the leaves were still falling from trees in bright vibrant colors as the ones that have already reached the ground turn brown and fragile.

Brent ruffled his hair as he turned his face to the sky, exhaling and watching his breath fade into the cool air. He wore the usual outfit for the season which wasn't much. Casual wear, a light jacket which wasn't enough for the blistering breeze that tore his messy, black, styled hair apart even further. His jeans were old looking, faded, along with his shoes, but his face, his deep brown eyes and smooth milk chocolate skin, pulled the whole look off.

"Brent! Quit daydreaming and get your ass inside!" Cameron yelled to him, peeking out the front door and staring at Brent as he stood on the dried up dead grass that made up the front lawn of his home. "She's going to be here any minute!"

Brent sighed annoyed and turned slightly to glare at his older brother. "Will you pipe down! You're gonna wake the whole neighborhood!"

Cameron rolled his eyes and waved it off. "It's the middle of the day, fucktard! Now get. Your. Ass. Inside this damn house!"

Brent grinned at his brother and shook his head as he looked back to the sky, releasing an airy chuckle. "Yeah, give me a minute."

It's not that Brent was daydreaming, sure he was, but he was also thinking about Mandy. Mandy, the girl who works at the Chick-fil-A customer service line, the girl who makes Brent smile from a simple insult, that's actually genuine, over the phone, which doesn't make much sense. Mandy, the girl who seems to be the only real thing in Brent's life.

Putting his thoughts away, Brent turned and made his way across his lawn as watched his brother retreat back inside to escape the cold. As he entered his house he immediately smelled his mother's homemade meatloaf and had to hold back a gag when he entered the kitchen.

His mom gave him "the look" and continued to prepare the meal, cutting the meatloaf now. "What is so wrong with my meatloaf, Brenton."

Cameron walked into the kitchen from behind Brent and clapped his younger brother on the back. "Ma, don't you remember? Brent's too pussy to eat meat."

"Language Cameron!" Their mother scolded Cameron as she still continued slicing. Cameron laughed and shook Brent's shoulder in a way of brotherly affection. He was similar to Brent, in fact people even mistake them for one another. Cameron had the same skin tone, same hair, same eyes, his face just looked slightly different than Brent's. He was only a few centimeters taller than Brent and several centimeters wider than him. Their mom on the other hand looked nothing like them. She was thinner and more fragile looking, older looking, but still beautiful. Her hair was a dirty brown and her eyes a light and bright blue, cheeks rosey from the cold, and skin almost as white as snow. She looked nothing like them, they took after their father, but she didn't mind. In fact, she loved them even more because of it.

"Sorry, Ma." Cameron apologized half-heartedly, making his way over to her to lean down and give her a gentle kiss on the cheek and a light rub on her back. She tried to stay mad, to enforce her scolding, but she smiled lightly. Brent smiled too and shook his head. He was use to his brothers nagging and insults by now, especially with Mandy to keep him numb to it all when she delivered daily blows to his ego.

The doorbell rang. Cameron immediately perked up and grinned from ear to ear. "That'll be her. I'll get it."

Brent didn't think much of it and made his way to the bar that was on the one side of the island counter where his mother now decorated the platter with some vegetables as a side.

"It's official. Cam is whipped." Brent sighed, resting his arms on the counter as he watched his mom work.

His mom giggled and cleared her throat to stop herself. "Oh, be nice, honey. He's your brother. He's happy."

Brent smirked and shrugged. The sound of footsteps came as Cameron and his mystery girlfriend entered the kitchen behind Brent's back. His mom immediately enlightened and jumped, wiping her hands quick on a tea towel and throwing it down quickly to dash around the island to greet the new girlfriend.

Brent took his time turning around, but when he did his mother was blocking his view as she squeezed the girl a bit too excitedly. Cameron stood proud right behind them and locked eyes with Brent. They had one of those silent conversations and a quiet understanding. Brent rolled his eyes and stood to walk over to the group. When his mom finally pulled away, Brent got a good once over of the girl.

The girl was definitely smaller than Cameron, about the same height of their mom, but she looked to be about average. Her hair was almost a strawberry blonde, her eyes looked to be almost green but almost...gold. She had several freckles splattered across her face which kind of made her look ten years younger and a lot cuter than most of the girls Brent has slept with. But that didn't matter because this girl, this cute girl, was his brother's girlfriend.

Brent stepped up to this girl and extended his hand as a simple gesture. "Hi. I'm Brent."

The girls eyes instantly locked with Brent's, which threw him off guard. His eyes widened as she blushed and stuttered, looking down to his hand and then back up to his eyes. Composing herself and taking a deep breath, she seemed to fight off any crazy nervous thoughts she had and smiled instead.

"Uh, hi." She started, shyly extending her hand and taking his in hers. They shook and then she continued. "Nice to meet you. I'm Mandy."