Brothers Forever

8. Quite Frankly

Chapter 8: Quite Frankly

Sterling’s Point of View

               

I flipped positions in my bed for probably the millionth time tonight. I knew that the faster I went to sleep, the faster the day would end, but my body refused to succumb to slumber. I glanced at the clock that read ‘1:58’ and groaned. Would this nightmare of a day ever be over?

I thought back to last night. Bren actually trusted me enough to tell me why she was upset when she hadn’t trusted me with anything in a long time. She actually let me hold her in my arms. She even asked me to stay, which I hadn’t expected at all. I’m going on and on about this stuff like a fourteen year old school girl. What is wrong with me? I already knew the answer to that question though; I had been through this before. Oddly enough, this thought caused a smile to spread slowly over my face and sleep finally came to me.

***

How is it time to get up already? I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands as I sat up in my bed. The memories of yesterday came flooding back to me. My day started off with being grounded for two weeks and no phone. Then after my little fight with Grey, my punishment was extended to four weeks and they took my TV away as well. My parents literally removed my TV from my bedroom. Who even does that? What could I possibly do for a whole month at my house? The only other time I wouldn’t be home would be when I was at school or basketball practice. This whole situation was ridiculous, honestly; I was just trying to help out a friend.

I slowly climbed out of my bed and staggered to the bathroom, still half asleep. I turned on the water and stepped into the steaming shower. The hot water made me want to curl up and go back to sleep, so I finished up as quickly as I could. I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked back to my bedroom. I pulled on my black, ‘Please Don’t Feed the Models’  t shirt and some jeans. 

I ambled my way down to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. I had just pulled out the box of Lucky Charms when my mom walked into the kitchen, phone in hand.

“Brian is on the phone, Sterling,” my mom told me.

“Your point being?” I retorted as I poured a heaping amount of cereal into a bowl. It’s not like Brennan’s father would be calling for me.

“He wants to talk to you,” she replied as she held out the phone for me to take. I looked at her with a mixture of suspicion and shock for a moment before taking the phone. She gave me a look that said ‘behave or else’ and walked back out of the room.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Sterling. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be picking Brennan up from school while I’m home.  I really appreciate you giving her rides when she needs them though. Actually, I’m sending her with some gas money to give you today.”

“Mr. Shaw, I really don’t mind giving her rides, it’s right on my way home. Besides, it doesn’t make sense to have you drive and pick her up every day when I’m already there,” I said as politely as I could muster. I was barely going to see Bren now as it was, I didn’t want to miss out on bringing her home from school too.

“Thanks for the offer, Sterling, but I don’t mind,” he paused for a moment, like he was debating something in his mind. “Quite frankly, I don’t like you being around her. I didn’t like it much before and I especially don’t like it now; not after what you did to her. I’m only going to tell you this nicely once, stay away from her!”

“I don’t think I can do that, sir,” I spat. “Bren and I are friends and quite frankly, I care about what happens to her.”