Step Brothers

Ch. 5

Jace's POV

As my mom got out of the u-haul and Jazzy and I got out of our truck, Paul immediately came out of the house with a big smile on his face, "Hey, guys. I hope you made it here alright."

My mom smiled and hugged him, "We did. And we got lucky because we didn't run into any traffic."

"That's always good. Well, Alec is at a friend's house right now but I told him you guys are here so he should be home soon to help bring your stuff in. I think we can manage to start without him though."

My mom nodded and bent down to Jazzy's level, "Could you be amazing, sweety, and help us bring in the small boxes?"

She jumped up smiling, "Yeah!"

I smiled at her before going into the truck and giving her a small box to carry and then grabbed a bigger one for me.

As I walked up to the door, Paul shouted after me, "For now you can put everything in the living room. I'll show you two to your rooms later."

"Got it!"

Thirty minutes and many boxes later, Alec finally got here.

He ran up from his car parked on the street, "Sorry I'm late, Mike's dog got out as I was about to leave so we had to chase her to get her back inside."

Paul waved his hand, "That's alright. Help us take some boxes inside. Just leave them in the living room."

He nodded and walked up into the u-haul behind me. I've decided just to ignore him at this point. I don't want to cause a bunch of drama, there's enough shit going on. So when we both grabbed a box and went to go down the ramp at the same time, instead of saying something I just stepped back and let him go first. He looked shocked but nodded at me and went down first, me behind him. After an hour, a lunch break, and then a half-hour, we got all of our stuff into the house and to say I was tired was an understatement. I was fucking exhausted.

Paul handed us all our water bottles and was quiet for a minute as we drank and then he said, "So I was thinking after our breather, I can show you, kids, to your rooms and we can start bringing your things to them. How's that sound?"

I nodded, "Sounds good."

Alec looked at me but didn't say anything so I ignored him. A few minutes later, we went inside and Paul led me to my room, "It's pretty bare, color-wise but whenever you want we can get some paint and you can make the room more you."

I smiled at him, "Thank you."

He smiled back, "My pleasure. So I'll show Jazzy to her room and your mom and I will help get her things into there. I'll get Alec to help you in here."

My eyes widened for a second, "No, it's okay, I can move my things myself."

He shook his head, "It'll go faster and be less tiring if he helps."

I sighed and relented, "Okay."

Paul and I then walked downstairs to where Alec, my mom, and Jazzy were sitting on the couch chatting.

Paul smiled at them lovingly, which made me want to aw, before getting their attention, "Alright so let's get back to work, shall we? Alec can help Jace get his things into his room and Jenny and I can help Jasmine."

Alec surprisingly didn't roll his eyes or get an attitude when he heard the plan. Wow.

Alec stood up and I walked over to him, "My boxes have my name on them so this should be easy."

He nodded, "Ok."

This is the most civil we've ever been with each other.

**

I finally put my bed frame together and got my mattress on it and plopped down, I sighed and smiled, "It feels so good to lay down."

Alec laughed a little which surprised me, I thought he left already.

I rolled over on my back and looked at him, he was staring at the wall looking deep in thought, I whistled, "Yoohoo."

He jumped a little and looked at me, "Huh?"

I almost smiled a little, "You were zoned out."

"Sorry... there was something I wanted to say to you."

"Huh?"

He rubbed his head and sighed, "So this whole situation is pretty fucked up."

I laughed a little, "Something we can agree on."

"I just wanted to say, for our parents' sake... I'll play nice if you will too."

I stared at him for a few seconds, "What?"

He sighed again, clearly trying to keep his cool, "Let's face it, we're gonna be related soon. And now we live in the same house. We can't go after each others' throats every time we see each other like we used to at school. It could make our parents feel guilty and maybe make Jasmine upset. So I won't start anything if you won't."

I thought for a minute. He has a very good point. See, my plan was just to ignore him but his plan seems to be we actually try to act like... we're related. Ugh, I hate that. But it's for my mom and Jazzy, and Paul.

I stood up and nodded as I held my hand out, "Sounds like a plan."

He shook my hand for a second and then dropped it, "Cool. Do you need any more help?"

I shook my head, "No, the hard stuff is over."

"Okay... well I'll be next door if you need me."

I nodded, not realizing what he said until he left my room. Next door? Well, shit. Oh well.

After a few hours I had all of my wall decorations out of boxes, I tried to keep them in the same one but some got mixed up, and my room was decorated pretty well. If I do say so myself. I have a bunch of posters for bands like Twenty One Pilots, Imagine Dragons, Panic! at The Disco, and a bunch of others. Along with random sketches my friends or I made. I also have a pride flag but I'm debating whether I should hang it up or just throw it over my headboard.

I sighed, "Decisions decisions..."