Staying Grounded [BXB]

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CRAIG:

My baby brother, Christopher, is a total dude and his laugh is my most favourite sound in the world. So, when I had to skip out on the Desperate For Aces gig with Alex last night to babysit him, I really didn't mind. That gig was not a place I should have been anyway, and attending it carried a genuine risk of landing me in more strife. I'm well aware of just how little it'd take to knock me from this precarious edge I'm walking; Dad made that abundantly clear. A tame evening of singing nursery rhymes and crayoning in the playroom while my parents entertained Louis and Kathryn Tinwell downstairs suited me just fine.

But when I returned home from college this afternoon to be informed by Mum that she and Dad were 'going out', leaving me to watch Christopher again in their absence, I began to suspect that they were considering this as a convenient penalty for my misbehaviours. And that suspicion is having the intense effect of making me feel imprisoned, which in turn, makes me restless.

"Use this time to get ahead on your college assignments," Dad advised me on his way out the door. Except, even if Christopher allowed me enough peace and quiet to study, it's not a secret that my every sleepless night has me well on top of all my work.

"No guests in our absence," Mum added, barely sparing me a glance.

Christopher started fussing the minute they'd gone like he too felt frustrated by our house arrest. I allowed only enough time for my parents to drive free of the estate before scrawling a brief message on the kitchen whiteboard, just in case, and retrieving the spare baby seat from the cupboard under the stairs. Surely, there's minor issue that could be raised about an outing to the play park, right?

Roxy, my beautiful GT-R, has lulled Christopher almost to sleep in the twenty minutes it takes to drive across town. And now, I'm pulling into the curb alongside a neat terraced row. We're a three street walk away from our destination, but we have one stop to make first.

"Hey, buddy," I gently rouse him as I park Roxy up behind a familiar Honda Civic and cut the engine. "Looks like someone's home." He whinges a little while I free him from the car, quick to settle when I snuggle him into my chest. "Should we see if our big brother fancies coming out to play?"

Usually, I would've just dropped Alex a call to let him know we're here, check on his whereabouts. This time, though, I'm forced to knock, and our unannounced visit brings his mum to the door of their mid-terrace home.

Steel gray eyes take us in as Lorraine folds her arms over her chest, propping a shoulder against the door frame. "Well, isn't this a surprise?"

Christopher lifts his head from my shoulder at the sound of her voice, turning in my arms to reach a pudgy hand out towards her, and I don't fail to notice that the warm smile she's ever-quick to flash him falls short of touching me. "Hey, Lorri."

"Not dead in a ditch after all, huh?" She asks, staring pointedly at my black eye. "Not locked up? Not kidnapped for ransom?

"Umm..."

"Haven't been caught up in an illegal fighting ring or ran away to join a cult?"

"Nope," I shrug, wincing. "But I appreciate your concern."

I genuinely like Alex's mum. More than that, I respect her. Smart and honest and witty, she makes it difficult not to. The pity of it is, I'm always too acutely aware that Lorraine is little more tolerant of me than my mum is of Alex.

She generally does a far better job of playing nice, though.

Unless...

Unless yep: