My Older Brothers

40

Instead of going to sleep like my mom suggested I stayed up to ask my parents questions. I wasn't quite sure what happened and I wanted all the details.

"When did you guys get here?"

"How long was I here?"

"Did Cole make cookies?"

"How much longer do I have to stay in this bed?"

My parents were very vague about their answers. It was like they didn't want to go into a lot about what has happened. All I learned was that I've been here for three days, I missed the last day of school for the first time, and Cole did in fact make cookies.

My parents brushed off the other questions either because they didn't know or they didn't want to answer. 

My brothers came after a while. Not all of them though. Martin was five hours away at a soccer competition and Beck apparently had something to do.

Cole told me that Martin's soccer started in three hours. His team was practicing right now and Cole face timed him so he could say hi.  

It was quite strange. Martin was being nice to me, he asked me how I was feeling and he said that he can't wait to see me when he gets back.

We talked about a few things before he said goodbye and I wished him good luck on his game.

Mom and Dad left because they had an important meeting to go to. Since I was awake and fine they didn't have to cancel this time.

Miles and Kade took their seats and Lane sat next to them on the floor. Cole came over and sat next to me on my bed.

Kade was smiling like always, Miles and Lane were fiddling with their hand, and Cole was looking at something on his phone.

  "Hazel, you look like a lunch lady." Kade snorted

I stuck my tongue out at him and took the weird cap off my head. I put it on top of Cole's phone and he looked up.

"Do you need something?" 

"What's in your hand." I ask, motioning to the small bag he was holding.

He handed it to me. "I brought you cookies."

Kade gasps and points to Cole accusingly. "You told me that vegetables were in there when I asked."

"Because if I told you it was cookies you would eat them all." Cole says

Lane laughs. "Kade, you idiot, who brings vegetables to the hospital as a feel better present?"   

"I heard surgery changes people, Hazel could be a dedicated vegetarian now for all we know." Kade says

"I hate vegetables." I say

"Yeah, me too." Miles says

"I don't hate anything. I'm that good." Kade says smugly

"Kade, you couldn't eat a piece of celery if you tried." Lane says

"That doesn't mean anything." Kade says

"If you can't eat it then you don't like it." 

"No, that means I care about it too much." Kade says. He put his arm around Miles's shoulder and brought him close. "It's like me eating Miles. Doesn't sound right does it?"

"I thought I had more value than a piece of celery but okay." Miles says

"All men are created equal my friend." Kade says

Miles scoffs and takes Kade's arm off of him. "Shut up."

"Hazel can I please have a cookie?"  Kade asks

"No." I say

"But I'm your favorite brother." Kade says

"No, I am." Miles says

"I know I'm nobody's favorite so I'm just going to be quiet." Lane says

"I'm the one who made her the cookies. I'm her favorite." Cole says

"I don't have a favorite." I say taking a bite of one of my cookies

"Don't bother sparing their feelings, they were mean to me the whole ride here." Kade says, still holding his hand out for a cookie.

"How were we mean to you?" Lane asks

"When I wanted to stop to get Hazel a gift you guys called me stupid." Kade says

Lane rolls his eyes. "What gift? Are you talking about when you wanted to stop at McDonald's!?"

"Yeah." Kade says

I laughed. "Kade, what were you going to get me there?"

Kade blushes. "A Happy Meal"

"See, he just wanted to waste our time." Lane says

"No! I was going to get her a good gift." Kade says

"Yeah, she loves Happy Meals." Miles says sarcastically

Kade sighs.

"Why did you want to get her a happy meal anyway?" Cole asks

"Because I thought you got her vegetables and when I eat vegetables I get sad because I don't like them and a Happy Meal would make Hazel happy again. It's in the name and everything." Kade says scratching the back of his neck

"Aww, Kade that's really sweet. Here, you can have a cookie." I say

Kade smiles brightly at me before taking a cookie and eating it happily.

"Only Kade would think like that." Cole says, shaking his head.

"How was the last day of school?" I ask them

"It was actually pretty boring. It wasn't at all fun like it used to be." Miles says

"Yeah, and it's sad because this was my last year here. What a way to end everything." Lane mumbles

"It only sucked because you weren't here." Kade says to me

"Shut up. Don't act like you weren't having the time of your life tricking people into giving you money." Lane says

"Relax, I only made $115." Kade says

"Can I have some?" Miles asks

"Unfortunately not little guy. I'm going to use it to buy Emily that necklace that she's wanted for a while. I don't know what I'm doing with the rest yet, but I need it." Kade says

"I can't believe summer break has officially started." Lane says

"Me neither." Miles says

"I'm so happy to be out of school." Kade says

"I can't believe I missed the last day of school." I say aloud to myself

"Oh, your friend Katie was asking for you." Miles says

I look up from the cookie in my hand. "Really?"

He nods. "Yeah. She was surprised when I told her you weren't here."

"Did you tell her I was in the hospital?" I ask

"No. That's kinda personal family stuff. I wasn't going to say anything unless I got your permission to tell." Miles says

"What did she want?" I ask

"I don't really know. She just said she wanted to talk to you." Miles says

I frowned. What could Katie possibly want?