Chapter 8:
I think I might’ve fallen asleep.
“Blue,” someone hissed, “Blue, what the hell is going on?” Jolting awake, I was suddenly aware of the darkness that had shrouded the room. So much for meeting the parents head on.
My eyes adjusted, and then fixed on the face of my brother, who was staring at me, his expression…angry?
“Blue,” he said again, looking at the bundle of duvet that was Bruno. “Why is there a half naked lad in here?” Well, dear brother; the half naked lad was in fact the pet dog we had had since infancy, and he was suffering from some unknown disease that caused me to practically carry him home, which was probably the root cause of the onset of backache, and in addition, he was also wearing your jeans.
So suck on it.
“He’s a friend?” I tried, glancing at Bruno. He was asleep thankfully, not dead like I probably would have presumed. Although, faced with the slightly over protective big brother, death might’ve been the preferable option.
“Blue!” Marshall exclaimed. “Get him out of here before mum comes home.”
“Well, y’see,” I mumbled, ruffling my hair, “I can’t actually do that…”
“Why not?” His voice was deadpan; nothing like the lovely Marshall I had grown up with. God, why couldn’t this be simpler? Why couldn’t he just be the brother I knew and admired? He just had to be this serial shagger with stupid sticky up hair!
To tell or not to tell; that was the clincher.
“He’s really sick, Marsh,” I murmured, stroking Bruno’s hair. He was so cold, even though he was under a thick blanket and the house was reasonably warm. The only indication of life was the slight rise and fall of his chest, and even then his breathing was raspy and choked-sounding.
“So tell him to go to the doctor!” Marshall said impatiently. Stupid brother. If I could’ve taken him to the doctor, didn’t he think I would have? What was it about the males in this town; they were all predominantly thick! Why couldn’t there be this genius lad, just there with all the answers instead of all the idiots turning to me for answers? I certainly didn’t have them; I was just Blue. Odd, strange, purple-haired Blue!
“He can’t go to the doctor,” I replied as calmly as I could.
“Why not?” Marshall demanded.
See what I meant about asking all the questions?
“Because,” I said desperately, “he just can’t!”
Smooth, Blue. That was…sort of an answer. It was answer-ish. Yeah, he’d totally let it go there. Completely and utterly fall at your feet and ask if there’s any way he can help. That was probably one of your best lies ye-
“You’re such a moron, Blue,” Marshall sighed, looking over Bruno. I glowered up at him, my eyebrow quirking. I was the moron? Me?
“Yes, Marsh; I know.”
I watched as Marshall checked Bruno over, checking his temperature. I wondered what would have happened if I told Marshall that the guy he was health-checking was really our pet dog…
Perhaps that was best kept to myself.
“He’s just got the flu, I think,” Marshall said eventually. The flu? Was he kidding me with this? If this was the flu then I was the Archbishop of…somewhere. “Get him out of the house before mum comes back; she’ll blow if she finds out you’ve been having lads in here.”
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He Was A Dog When I Left, I Swear!
Humor"I can't really remember much before I was four," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. "Four seems to be where I stop." He nodded, digging his teeth into his lower lip as he stepped in front of the window, as if to protect us both from someone lookin...
