To See Me as You Do

Chp. 1: Sweet and Kind

Anyway, she's a 3rd grader, does gymnastics, and always dresses up in glittery tutus, leggings, and tiaras. Hell, she's wearing them right now.

She's a little smartass, but that could be my fault. She copies my euphemisms and even has picked up on some of my habits.

I look up from my crossword and shoot her a glare, and she simply laughs as she walks to the kitchen sink, "You're so funny, Peanut. Literal comedic genius."

I shift my attention back to Donovan and grumble, "And I do not look constipated, you ass. I'm pissed at you, and you know why. Don't act oblivious."

I woke up this morning at exactly 8:45 for no damn reason. It pissed me off like most things do.

It's the last week of Summer, it's Saturday, I don't have to go to work, and that means I have nowhere to be today. You better fucking believe I'm trying to spend it being a lump on a log.

So, with that in mind, I tried to force myself to go back to sleep, but my loud-ass family downstairs was making it hard. My Dad, brother, and sister were running around the house in a frenzy this morning, not sure why.

Long story short, Donovan came into my room, a speaker in hand, and played "Thomas the Train Theme Song: Bass Boosted". I fell out of bed and hit my head on the wall.

And what made it worse was before I could get my hands on the little bastard, he threw a stuffed, pink unicorn at me, and booked it downstairs as he shouted, "HE'S TRYING TO HURT ME!!! HELP!!!"

Fucking coward...

"I was just fucking around!!! It was funny!!!" Donovan chuckles, setting his spoon down in his bowl. He grabs his cup of orange juice and sips it, "You gotta admit, that was S-Tier comedy."

"Not even close..." I mutter, rolling my eyes. Suddenly, I feel a hand touch the back of my head and ruffle my already messy, dark brown hair. I tense up, hearing Dad say from behind me, "I say it was pretty funny, Sawyer. And watch your language, Donovan."

"Sorry, Mr. Cortez!!" Donovan laughs a bit, and I frown. I look back at dad as he walks up to the fridge, "Of course you'd think that. You're not doing anything but feeding into his delusions, Dad."

Gabriel Juan Cortez. Aka, my dad. He's 45 and works as a construction worker. He and Donovan act a lot alike, so he tends to side with Donovan over me. And I'm his son.

Imagine that.

"You're so uptight, you know that??" Donovan laughs and Dad agrees, grabbing a bottle of orange juice from the fridge and closing it, "You never, like, laugh at anything."

"I'm not uptight and everything isn't always funny," I state, shrugging, "Laughing at everything would make you crazy."

"There he goes again. Being a pessimist." Dad chuckles, shaking his head as he pours himself a cup of orange juice. "For real!!" Donovan laughs, shaking his black hair from his eyes.

"Hey!!! Are we still going back to school shopping today, Daddy??" Peanut asks, skipping toward him and grabbing his hand.

He looks down at her, screwing the lid back onto the orange juice bottle. Smiling a little, he reaches down and rubs her head, "Yes, Peanut, we are."

"YAY!!!!" She chirps, her long dark brown hair bouncing as she leaps with excitement. Immediately, she turns around and faces me and Donovan, "You guys are gonna come too, right??"

"Of course we'll come!! I don't see why not!!" Donovan replies, and her eyes light up. "Really?!" She gasps, smiling and revealing one of her missing front teeth, "You'll come?!"