From the Backseat | ON INDEFINITE HOLD

x | Holland

H O L L A N D 

Family dinner. The two words that should never be put together. It's Friday and my brother's coming home today. I've been hiding out in my room and I've had to pee since four o'clock this morning, but I don't risk being caught awake. The meds are suppose to knock me out. So, like a coward, I stay hidden in my room until I hear their voices and the front door opens and closes. There's a set of heavier footsteps that I know must be my brother's. Why is he here so early?

The sensation of having to pee gets the best of me. I crawl out of bed, I open my door slowly and fake a yawn on my way out. I catch my mother's attention first, who notices me at the end of my yawn. She looks worried.

"Why are you up so early?" I glance at the clock beside her head. It's five thirty in the morning.

"I just have to go to the bathroom and I heard you guys talking."

"We wanted to be awake when your brother got here." I look towards my brother who looks just like me with shaggy brown hair and almond shaped eyes. Except he has a strong jawline and his inheritance of my father's eyes instead of my mother's.

"Why are you here so early?" I ask him. He has already set his bags down beside the couch. He's in a nice pair of jeans, a collared shirt that is half tucked in and boat shoes. His hair is a mess and I can smell the alcohol as he walks towards me.

"I was at a party and figured I would come straight here. If I had stayed home I probably would have slept the day away." The closer he gets to me, the stronger I can smell of beer lingering around him.

"So you drove here from a party after you've been drinking?" I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my voice. He knows that is the worst thing he could possibly do. He knows how much I hate people like that.

"Of course not. I'm not as stupid as-" I cut him off with a sharp glare. We don't talk about him anymore. "I had a friend drop me off. She'll be back on Sunday night to pick me up."

"She?" I ask him, immediately turning into the nosey little sister. My mood swinging from one to the other with quick efficiency. "Do you have a girlfriend I don't know about?"

"Of course not. If I did you would be the first to know."

"Would I?" It's not a secret that Hayden and I aren't extremely close as some siblings might be, but we have our moments.

"Of course, you're my sister."

"That you never want to see anymore. It takes mom bribing you to even call me and the only reason you're here right now is because of our stupid family nights."

I don't wait for him to speak and I finally make it to the bathroom. I take a quick shower and apply a bit more makeup than usual. I change into nice clothes for family night and grab my stuff I needed. I didn't plan on coming home until it was time for dinner tonight.

"And where do you think you're going this morning?" I hear my brother ask me as my hand makes contact with the doorknob.

"You can just stop with the protective brother act already, no one's buying it." I open the door and shut it rather hard behind me. I'm not in the mood for this today.

I ride on the bus for a while listening to the different people talking. Nurse Nancy is talking rather quickly on the phone about a patient. By the sound of the conversation the patient isn't doing too well. Business Man Mick is ordering someone around on the phone and threatening to fire them if this project doesn't turn out right. He then makes another call, this one to who I assume is his secretary. He's talking about getting things ready for an important meeting and then threatens to fire them if it goes wrong. Cheesehead is sitting quietly at the front of the bus taking large bites out of the donut in his hand.