𝕁𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤// 𝔸 𝔾𝕚𝕝𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕥 𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪

Chapter 9

"What does Gilbert say?" Gilbert asked Arnie who was seated on the counter as Gilbert placed a band aid on the scrape on Arnie's wrist.

We decided to go back to Lamson's in order to patch Arnie up to make sure his cut wouldn't get infected.

"If anybody ever hits you..or even just lays a finger on you, what are you gonna do?" Gilbert asked Arnie.

Arnie wipes his nose and stares at Gilbert.

"You're gonna tell me, and then I'm gonna take care of it for you, right?".

Arnie nods.

"And why will I take care of it?" Gilbert asks him.

"Gilbert." Arnie replies wiping his nose.

"Hmm?"

"Cause your Gilbert" Arnie elaborates.

"Because I'm Gilbert and because nobody hurts Arnie, right?" Gilbert says to Arnie.

Arnie nods.

"Okay, you wanna pick out some candy?" Gilbert says to Arnie who happily hops off the counter and complies.

He runs a hand through his hair as he lets out a sigh.

I walked up to Gilbert smiling softly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and said "you really do love Arnie, don't you?".

He smiles as he wraps his arms around my waist and nods "he's a lotta work, but at the end of the day he is my brother, I care about him".

"I think that's adorable" I said.

"Do you now?" He said smirking.

I laugh and nod.

Arnie comes and interrupts the moment, presenting to Gilbert the candy he wants. He pays and then we head to the car.

           ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - - - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵

We arrive at Gilbert's house and I get out of the car, heading for the back of the truck with the intention of helping Gilbert unload the groceries.

Ellen was outside practicing the trumpet.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Amy asks Gilbert coming out of the house.

"What do you want?" Gilbert asked her hoisting himself up over the edge of the truck to grab the groceries that were in the far corner.

"We've got to keep a closer eye on him" Amy said to him.

"What?" He asked.

I stood on my tippy toes trying to get the last bag but to no avail couldn't reach it.

"We've got to do better!" She said to him.

Gilbert saw this and gave me a small smile before he grabbed me by the waist and hoisted me up, allowing me to finally reach the bag.

I smiled at him and gave him a small peck on the cheek as a thanks as I walked over and put the bag on the porch.

"Are you listening to me?" Amy asked him.

"Mine!" Arnie said snatching a bag of cereal from the bag of groceries I just put down.

"And you!" Amy said walking over to Arnie.

"Huh?" He questioned.

"You've got to stay here, don't go anywhere" she said grabbing the cereal from him and putting it back in the bag before taking the bag from the porch into the house.