Say My Name

Chapter Two: Giggles

"Well, the damage is extensive. It seems like the support boards were already weak. The tree just made them snap like twigs." A man that my brother hired to come to look at it yells down the ladder so that I can hear him from where his head is, currently through my very destroyed ceiling. "I think this may be a fault of termites."

I knew it. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. How awful can my life get? This was a setback that I was not ready for, financially or emotionally. "H- How much are we looking at?" I ask, craning my neck to see the man from my place on the floor.

"Well, just for the roof, it would cost you around nine thousand dollars, then exterminating the termites, being as they are this bad, around a thousand. With the materials and labor, you're looking at around ten to twelve thousand dollars, and that's shooting it on the low end." My hands come to cover my face, and I blow out a huge breath of air that causes my shoulders to sag.

"Thank you for coming out here," I whisper as the man loads up his ladder and tool bag, wasting no time in getting out of my money pit of a home.

"The verdict?" Kannon peaks his head into the opened door. What was even the point of shutting the door when my whole living room was enveloped in sunshine and the sound of chirping birds?

"I'm screwed." I stared up at the damage and did the most immature thing I could possibly do in that moment, but I didn't care. I shot my ceiling a bird and shouted profanities. I heard Kannon's deep chuckles until he quickly stifled them when I gave him a death glare.

"What about the library? Isn't there an apartment on top?" How he remembers that when the last time he stepped foot into Lilians Library was the opening day is beyond me, but my brother answers his question as he steps into the door behind Kannon.

"Bonnie here never got the plumbing fixed for starters." Rick fixes me with a scolding glare, and I roll my eyes at him. Like I need him getting onto me about the list of problems my life accumulated over the last few years.

"That's still a hell of a lot cheaper than a roof." Kannon makes a solid argument. If it wasn't for the other things, it also needed to be worked on.

"He said for starters." I tsk, because I know Rick is about to go into detail about all that the apartment needs. "But before you get started on the long list, Kannon's point still stands. The library is cheaper than the house. I can do it along and along and stay in there until it is fixed. I can't stay in the house."

Rick scoffs, "Hell no, you're not staying in that place until there is a working toilet, clean paint, and that nasty-ass carpet is ripped up." He eyes Kannon for a moment, I watch as the two best friends talk to each other with merely a glance and a nod. No words were needed.

It used to bug me, that they were so good at their silent conversations, but now I just think it's kind of neat. They had been around each other for so long that words were no longer a necessity. It used to help them lie their way out of trouble.

"Want to key me in, where this is going?" I ask sarcastically, waving my hand between their gazes.

"You can stay with us until it's fixed." That moment when Rick kissed my forehead and then this morning when I felt like a kid again rushed back to me. It wouldn't be bad to stay with my brother for a little while, but instantly, I want to object. No, twenty-seven-year-old man wants his twenty-three-year-old sister crashing at his bachelor pad. He was just being nice, I could go stay at Dad's or something, even if it was a thirty-minute drive from work.

"No way, Rick. I am too old to bum off of you." He scoffs.

"You wouldn't be bumming. The place could use some livening up, I've considered taking home one of Anisley's friend's daughters just to have some company." I knew he was making excuses now, considering there was no way that thought ever even crossed my brother's mind.