Brothers

Chapter 30: Christmas

Chapter 30

I hung at the top of the stairs with my brothers, everybody's eyes focused on the watch on Alex's wrist. 

"This is ridiculous. 21 years old and still waiting for a damn-"

6:00am.

Nobody waited for Alex to finish his sentence as we all thundered down the stairs. 

Despite the fact that it wasn't our old house, there still had to be some upkeep of tradition. 

"What the hell is all that noise?" My dad frowned as he walked out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee. 

We all stopped dead, looking around the bare room. 

Mark ran into my back, but neither of us made any notice of the contact. 

The living room was bare, the presents still under the tree. 

My dad's face showed everything we already knew. 

He'd forgotten about our tradition.

"Oh my gosh." He whispered, setting the coffee mug down on the closest surface. "Guys..." He shook his head, running his hands down his face.

"You're kidding." I said, shaking my head. "You've got to be kidding." 

"I'm sorry I- I didn't think you guys would still..." My dad trailed off, realizing his words had no effect on us. 

"I'll do it." Alex shook his head, walking towards the tree. 

We waited patiently, none of us wanting to think of the fact that our dad had forgotten our tradition and we were waiting patiently for Alex to put it back on track. 

But already our Christmas was ruined.

~*~*~

"So explain to me why Marley and Mark have been at each other's throat's all day?" I heard my dad ask.

I stopped dead, pausing before I turned around the corner. I'd just gotten out of the shower, and I could hear noise form the basement that meant my brothers were down there doing something. I hovered outside of the kitchen, listening to Alex's reply. 

"I'm not really sure I wasn't in the car, but Michael sort of filled me in. Apparently Marley's been dating Logan for a few months and Mark just kind of flipped out." Alex replied. 

"Logan? Logan Hamilton?" My dad asked in shock. "The boy that I've let sleep in my house frequently is dating my daughter?" 

"Uh, yes." Alex said awkwardly. 

"Well Mark shouldn't be mad at Marley. But Marley shouldn't have kept this from us." My dad frowned. 

"Why are you hiding?" Mark whispered behind me. 

I gasped, turning around to glare at him. 

"Because dad is talking about us." I hissed. "Shush." 

"Us?" Mark frowned, resting his chin on my shoulder as we tried to listen to the conversation. 

"I mean in my opinion they're blowing this all out of proportion." Alex was saying. 

"Well I mean it's Mark and Marley, when do they not blow things out of proportion?" My dad laughed. "I just hope they'll keep it calm for Christmas dinner tonight." 

"I'm sure they'll be cool by then." Alex replied. "But what are you going to do about Marley and Logan?"

"It's out of my hands now that they're living with their mother. I'll talk to Jane about it and tell her to lay some boundaries down." My dad replied. "But go on and get downstairs with your brothers. I'll call you all when dinner is ready." 

I heard Alex stand up. A gasp escaped my lips as Mark and I backed away from the kitchen. 

"Go! In there!" I exclaimed, shoving my brother into the closet. 

"Marley!" He hissed as I ended up squished in the small coat closet. 

"Sorry! Dad will kill us if he catches us eavesdropping!" I whispered. 

Mark just groaned. 

We fell silent for a minute and I kicked a shoe with my foot.

"I'm sorry I shoved your head in the snow." I whispered. 

"I'm sorry I elbowed you in the face." Mark replied in a whisper. 

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was dating Logan." I added, biting my lip. 

Mark took a deep breath, shifting against the coats we were smothered by.

"Just don't do anything while I'm around please." Mark sighed. 

"Promise." I nodded. 

Mark just nodded. "Do you love him?" 

I felt my heart jump to my chest. 

"Y-yea." I stammered. "Yea I think so." I sighed, wrapping my fingers around my necklace. 

"You think so? What the hell does that mean?" Mark frowned. 

"It means I dunno. He said he loved me and I said it back a few days later. But I was unsure for a while if I really wanted to tell him. It was probably just my conscience feeling weird because nobody knew that we were together." 

Mark sighed, leaning against the opposite wall. 

"Listen... I don't want to hear about your relationship on a regular basis, but if you ever need someone to talk to, like legitimately, I'm here." Mark said softly. "And anyways I should've figured it out that you guys were together. I just got so caught up in Nicole..." 

"Yea what's going on with you guys?" I asked, leaning against the door. 

"Well thanks to you releasing the information that our family doesn't believe in love, she seemed to think that it meant that I didn't want anything with her anymore. Plus she said you said something about me only using her for sex?" Mark laughed. 

"Yea that came out the completely wrong way..." I sighed. 

"But anyways, she started crying about how much she loves me and stuff and I said it back but it just didn't feel right." Mark shrugged. "Maybe our family just needs to get used to the L word before we say it right." 

"Or maybe our family just physically can't be in love. Maybe dad and Alex cursed us." I teased. "That's why I was hesitant."

"No, no I mean I think I could see myself loving Nicole." Mark replied. "I mean she's amazing." 

"Yea I know exactly what you're saying. I'm just not used to the feeling because our family is so against it." I shrugged. 

Mark nodded, pulling me into a hug. 

"I'm sorry I freaked out and yelled at you." 

"Me too." I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder. 

"Now come on let's go eat some food I'm starving and this Christmas has been weird enough as it is." Mark said as he opened the door. 

"I'm starving." I admitted with a grin. 

Both of us burst out laughing at the look of confusion and shock written on my dad's face as we walked into the hallway.

It was rare for Mark and I to actually get along.