The Bucket List (Write Affair Finalist)

Chapter 2: Meet my brother Seth.

~ Chapter 2: Meet my Brother Seth. ~

The next morning, I was woken up at nine by my phone’s ring tone. I yawned and picked up. Who dared to wake me up?

“Hello?”

“Hey sis’.”

I yawned again and smiled a little.

“Hi Seth. What’s up?”

“Not much, I was just wondering if I could um… crash here for a couple of nights?”

“What’s going on? Aren’t you at mom and dad’s?”

“It’s complicated. Can I come over or not?”

“Yeah sure.”

“Cool. Cause I’m outside right now. Can you come open?”

I sighed and hung up. Seth was unbelievable. He was my little brother and had just turned eighteen. He was trying to start out a band with a bunch of his friends but it wasn’t really great according to my parents. In fact, it was even “horrible” and “worst than nails on a chalkboard”, if I quote their words. Maybe they were a little hard on him but the only time I had heard him play had been enough for me. I don’t want to me mean, it was just… not that great.

But the problem was, Seth was the most stubborn human being I knew, if you don’t count me, and he didn’t want to think of a plan B. He had graduated from high school and hasn’t left the garage since then. I didn’t know what had happened this time but I was guessing mom and dad had gotten tired of the noise and the smell of him in his two days old underpants. Ok, maybe I was being a little harsh.

I put on a sweatshirt and opened the door. Seth hugged me. I had to say that it was nice to see him, even if he had woken me up. He hadn’t changed, except for the stubble. I invited him in and we sat at the table.

“Did I wake you up?” He asked while taking a cookie that he ate in three bites.

“Kind of.”

“Oh. Sorry. Thanks for letting me stay by the way.”

“Yeah, you’ll have to sleep on the couch though.”

“Ok. It’s not that different than what I’m used to anyways.”

I tried to find something to eat in the fridge but the only thing left was one of those horrible yogurts Jenny likes. And Seth had eaten the last two cookies in a minute. I took an apple and sat back in front of Seth.

“So, what did you do to get kicked off the house this time?” I asked before biting in the apple.

“Nothing in particular. Mom and dad still want me to go to college, I told them I didn’t want to and they got mad. Then they kicked me out.”

“Oh. What were you doing this first semester if you weren’t in college?”

“I just hung out and worked on my music.”

I thought about telling him not to call “music” what he was doing with his band but it was mean so I just shut up and let him speak.

“Does Jenny still live with you?” He asked then.

“Yup. Why?”

“Nothing. Is she here now?”

“No, she’s at her boyfriend’s.”

“Oh. Ok.”

“Don’t ever try to hit on my roommate Seth.”

“I wasn’t going to!” He claimed while raising both his hands in the air, like he was caught in fault.