“Guys, I don’t know how to respond to this.”
Brann’s gaze shot from person to person, his eyes wide with excitement. Trevor didn’t hear him and Lee was too busy playing with his iPod to care. Indignant, Brann glared at Trevor, hoping he would catch on the way people do when stared at.
Finally, Trevor looked up, shaking the shaggy black hair out of his eyes. He muttered something and looked back down, returning his attention to the drawing he wasn’t making any progress on. Brann lost his patience and stormed across the living room, assuming an irritated stance in front of Trevor’s easy chair. He stood there restlessly for a solid thirty seconds before he decided he could no longer stand to wait, bent forward, and ripped Trevor’s earbuds out of his ears.
“What the hell, man? You just interrupted my favorite song ever,” he blurted, hunching forward and waving his off-brand MP3 player in Brann’s face.
Brann’s eyebrows furrowed. “Every song you have is your favorite song ever.”
Trevor was indignant. “Because everything I listen to is amazing. What do you want? I’m trying to be creative.” He gestured down at the unfinished comic page in his lap. “Creative, my ass. You’ve been working on that same panel for sox hours. Just watch this.”
He grabbed the remote and hit the rewind button a few times before unpausing the DVR on a commercial. They watched the advertisement again, and when Brann’s eyes lit up a second time, Trevor’s did so as well. They both ran over to the computer chair Lee was planted in and began flailing wildly and shouting about what they had just seen.
“Guys-calm-down. I-can’t-even-understand-what-you’re-saying-here,” Lee spouted. Brann and Trevor paused for a moment, processing what their motor-mouthed friend had just said. “Uh, dude,” Trevor spat. “They’re advertising free TVs on… TV.”
Lee perked up. “What-no-shit?”
“No bullshit, man! Look, look! Come here, sit down, watch.” Trevor scurried over to the coffee table and picked up the remote. “Watch this.” He played the commercial over again, and sure enough, Richard Sampson of Richard’s Quality Appliance was raving about a mass HDTV giveaway happening now. When the commercial ended, the three boys turned to each other and began sputtering expletives, unable to find proper words to articulate their excitement.
The next thing they knew, they were running down the street to alert Sara. She was part of all their activities, no matter how ridiculous or stupid they may be. They reasoned that she was in desperate need of a new television, anyway; the tiny 24-inch screen in her room was hardly enough to support four players’ screens, and the novelty of Trevor’s house was wearing off now that his little brother was home most of the time.
They pounded on her door nonstop for a good three minutes before she showed up, looking irritated and drowsy. She had been sleeping at the time, and was all but ready to start yelling about not wanting any Girl Scout Cookies until she saw who it was. Her expression immediately softened, and she pushed the blondish hair out of her face stepped out onto the porch. She began to say hello, but the second she opened her mouth, Brann started chattering away about quality appliances and free something-or-others and sales and we have to go right now!
Sara never much cared for Brann. He wasn’t a bad guy, but when he used the group’s trademark “Ironic Sarcasm” (a mixture of false anger and purposely contradictory statements), it sometimes was hard to differentiate from him really acting like a jackass. This had caused more than a few conflicts. Plus, he seemed to hog Trevor’s time and attention, although that could be attributed to Trevor’s awkwardness and unwillingness to hang out alone with a girl.
