Brothers

Better Late Than Never II

~*~About Twenty Minutes Later~*~

The early September sun was directly on Alfred’s back as he was crouched in front of the stoop of the apartment complex, ever so slowly assembling the red bicycle. Steve, on the other hand, was content sitting on the top step of the concrete stoop for the apartment complex while munching on a watermelon slice. The man groaned slightly, looking up and wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. Discarded of his suit jacket, vest, and tie, Alfred’s attire was down to his brown suit pants; and his white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the first and second buttons undone.

The representative looked down, eyes squinting from trying to block out the sunlight as he observed the yellow piece of paper that had the assembling instructions on it. It almost seemed blinding since the text was so small…at least it wasn’t white. That would’ve really killed his vision.

“So, I’m supposed to screw this into…” Alfred looked up from the piece of paper at the bike. It started to click in his head. His blue eyes widened, and an open mouthed smile made its way onto his face. He panted slightly, but didn’t care. He started to work harder and faster this time, forgetting about the heat lamp that was on his back. It was about ten minutes later when Sarah stepped out onto the stoop for the apartment complex.

“Steve,” she spoke quietly. The boy heard her, picking up his head and turning to see her. Alfred apparently didn’t, either that, or he was too busy to listen, diligently working on assembling the bike. “Can you bring down the cooler?” she asked. The boy nodded and then quickly rose to his feet, running up the three steps before heading inside the door. Not a lot of people were out and about due to the heat wave. The temperature in fact broke records, it was that hot!

 The bicycle was only missing a few things now: the seat, the handlebars, and kickstand. Alfred glanced upwards for only a second, thinking that he would see Steve before looking back down, but instead…Sarah?! He froze, staring at the kickstand that he was screwing in before waiting a second to look up to the blonde woman.

Sarah stared at him with warm brown eyes, smiling at him. Her hands unconsciously gripped and twisted the red towel that she held in her palms that were becoming sweaty. She chuckled lightly, seeing his confused face as she began to walk over.

“Where’s Steve?” he asked, standing up from his crouching position. He wiped his sweaty hands on the burning material of his dark brown suit pants. It didn’t do him much good. His right hand readjusted his falling glasses as he stood up, still wondering where the little boy ran off to.

“He’s inside,” the blonde replied, nodding her head towards the door. She stopped walking, the bicycle still being assembled standing in between them. “Getting the cooler.” She finished, looking back up at the light brown haired man. She had to admit, the man was attractive, blue eyes and standing at a good six feet, but she put that aside for now, deciding to think about that later. She brought up the red towel, handing it to him. “Thought you would like this,” she said, a little bit shyly. Alfred looked down at her hands, observing the red cloth before looking back at her. She ushered him to take, extending her hands a little bit closer to him.

The man took it, and boy did it feel good in his hand. It was wet and almost ice cold, something that would cool him down. “Thank you.” He smiled at her before taking of his glasses with his right hand and proceeding to wipe his face with the wet cloth and the back of his neck with his left. Alfred then put his glasses on, smiling at Sarah with gratitude. “God, that feels good…”

Sarah giggled lightly at this, a feint blush creeping onto her face. She brought up a hand in front of her mouth on instinct. He practically looked like a panting dog. Well, he was acting like one, the way he was panting heavily and all.