My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 2

I woke up fairly early, well, 6:30, pleasantly surprised to smell bacon frying in the kitchen. I walked downstairs, into the kitchen and saw Andrew whistling, frying pan in one hand, spatula in the other, wearing nothing but his boxers. He saw me, mid-flip, so he froze and the rasher he had just flipped into the air fell to the floor. I wasn't entirely sure on what to do, so I smirked and just said "Morning." 

We shared a laugh and I volunteered to go and get him some clothes. 

"Why would you get my clothes and not me?"

"You fry me some bacon, and I won't tell Jacob you were using our stove in your y-fronts."

"...Okay."

"Nice view, by the way."

"W-what?" he spluttered for a second.

"I meant the sunrise, Penn."

"Oh, right, right."

I realised upon looking in the mirror my hair was falling out of it's bun, my pyjamas were creased and I had my glasses on. However, when I checked the mirror, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my skin was completely clear for the first time since I was 10. Maybe he noticed? Anyway, I got him some black skinny jeans and a red and black checked shirt. I got back downstairs to find that he'd served my bacon on a plate with two slices of toasted brown bread, buttered to perfection. He'd even got the black pepper out for me. It's super sweet that he remembered from the last time we had bacon sandwiches. 

After I'd finished, and he'd gotten dressed, I showered, changed into a baggy, light grey jumper and skinny black ripped jeans. I went back downstairs and asked Andrew if he fancied going for an after breakfast walk before my brother woke up. I put on my black converse, he put on his Marty McFly shoes, and we headed out.

It was quite warm, but I was glad I was wearing a jumper. We walked to the local park and ended up swinging on the swings. We'd just been chatting about generic things, school, the weather, our exes and what jerks they were, the usual stuff. When we got on the swings, we were on exes, and we started talking about Tom. 

"So, tell me exactly what happened last night."

"We drove to Tom's house and knocked on his door. This girl answered the door-"

"What did the girl look like?"

"Long, dirty blonde hair, fringed, pear-shape, about 5'6''."

"Layla. Also, specific description, sketch artists would love you. Anyway, continue."

"So this Layla girl answered the door, and I asked if Tom was there. She called for him and he showed up, kind of dishevelled and covered in lipstick. He recognised your brother and bolted out of the back door so Jacob ran through the house and I went around it. We eventually caught up to him, Jacob told him off... and then kicked him in the groin."

"What was that?"

"What?"

"That pause. You said 'Jacob told him off' left a huge pause 'and then kicked him in the groin'."

"I said something privately to Tom before Jacob-"

"What did you say?"

"I can't tell you."

"Don't you trust me enough to tell me?"

"No, no, it's not that, it's just... I whacked him with the bat."

"WHAT?"

"When Jacob ran, he dropped the bat, so I grabbed it and ran after. I got so annoyed with him after what he did, especially as it was you, so I hit him while Jacob wasn't looking."

"Where did you hit him?"

"...His shins."

"You boob. Whatever, he got his just desserts, I guess. Anyway, thank you, Andrew. I appreciate it, even if I don't approve of it."

I wish he'd stop smiling like that at me. We got back at the house about ten minutes before Jacob woke up so Andrew fried him some bacon. We sat in the kitchen chatting when Jacob came in wearing a dressing gown and wolfed down his bacon. I asked what he was planning on doing today, and we decided that, as none of us had any plans, we would go somewhere that Tom was guaranteed not to be, the library. 

I looked longingly at some of my childhood favourites, Jacqueline Wilson, David Baddiel, David Walliams and such. Andrew smirked at me so I told him it was for nostalgia, but, truth be told, I still really enjoy the books. Then I ended up reading some Gothic literature, as Andrew was reading Dracula. I'd already read Jane Eyre and loved it, so I started reading Frankenstein. It's got a really lovely opening, very peaceful and wholesome. However, I got a few chapters in and realised that this Dr. Frankenstein was a bit crazy. He wouldn't tell the audience how to bring his monster to life, and when it came to life he ran away. I checked the book out anyway because I had to know what happened to Frankenstein and Adam (his monster). 

We got back home, made some lunch (Southern Fried Fish burgers are surprisingly good) and sat down to watch some TV. There was a brief squabble, but we decided on Rick and Morty. I love Ricksty Minutes so we watched that one first, then a bunch of other episodes until Jacob realised he had a date in about half an hour. He ran upstairs to shower and change, grabbed the keys and promised to be home by midnight. It was only 19:00 so it would be fairly impressive to have a date for five hours. 

Andrew and I went up to my room at about 22:00 as our neighbours to our left have their bedroom next to where we have our living room and we didn't really want to hear what they were doing. We ended up watching loads of old TV programme intros, like Fifi and the Flowertots, Mister Maker, I Can Cook, and then some of the stuff our parents bought us from when they were children, Bagpuss, Clangers, Trumpton. It was super fun. Then we just ended up doing duets of loads of songs, even Disney songs, until we heard Jacob at the front door. Nothing had happened apart from some lingering eye contact, but Andrew still ran into his room and I pretended to be asleep, just in case Jacob came to check on us. Fortunately, he didn't and went straight to bed, but I was still a bit nervous.