Brothers Forever

2. Dude, What's Your Problem?

“Of course he is. That kid could fall asleep standing up,” I chuckled. “Want to stay and watchTV with me for a bit?”

“Uh, sure, I guess,” she answered and relaxed after a moment.

Ten minutes into the show, I glanced over at her to discover that she had fallen asleep, and I found myself smiling at how peaceful she looked. I tucked the covers around her, turned off the movie, and settled in beside her. We may not have done anything, but I was more than happy with her sleeping by my side.

***

“What the hell!” I woke up to my brother yelling from my doorway. His eyes were dark, his chest heaved, and I saw his tight grip on the door handle.

“Dude, what’s your problem?” I asked as I attempted to rub the tiredness from my eyes.

“You really have to ask that?” he spat, his voice strained.

Somehow, I didn’t realize until that moment that Bren was curled against my bare chest. I couldn’t help but smirk. So this was why he was freaking out. I could definitely have some fun with this.

“Quiet down, bro. You’ll wake her, and she needs her sleep. We had a long night.”

I severely misjudged how he’d react. Before I even realized what was happening, he had run across the room, leapt over Bren, and sent the two of us crashing to the floor. I was still trying to gain my wits when his fist collided with my right eye. I reacted on instinct and landed a blow to his gut, taking his moment of pain to pin him to the ground.

“What in the world is going on?” Brennan screamed at us.

We both looked up to find her standing over us with tears brimming in her eyes. Her blonde hair was almost all out of the pony she had been wearing the night before and randomly sticking up in spots all over her head. Half of me wanted to laugh, but the other half was marveling at how she still managed to make me want her looking as ridiculous as she did.

I climbed off my brother and offered my hand to help him up. His face told me he didn’t want to, but he accepted the help anyway—probably because of the look on Bren’s face.

“What is wrong with you two? You guys are supposed to be brothers, but you’re surely not acting like it. I wake up to find you two brawling on the floor. I don’t know about you, but that’s definitely not the way I envision a good day to start,” Brennan scolded us like small children, and I was surprised smoke wasn’t coming out of her ears.

“I’m sorry, Bren,” my brother and I both said in unison.

She glared at us in response, but we overpowered her into a hug. She kept her body stiff, but

after a moment she relaxed into the hug. Suddenly, she pulled away.

“What am I doing in Sterling’s room?”

“I don’t know,” Grey said. “I was wondering the same damn thing. Sterling?”

They both turned to look at me with suspicious eyes. I felt like a criminal.

“You came in here to clarify what actually happened between you and Grey. Then you agreed to stay and watch some TV, but you fell asleep soon afterwards. I was too lazy to carry you back to Grey’s room,” I explained, and then added in a suggestive voice, “Besides, I always wondered what it would be like to have you stay the night in my bed.”

“Sterling, you’re such a perv!” Bren whined as she smacked me in the shoulder. Grey gave me a steely glare.

“Guys, it’s already six-thirty,” I pointed out since we were all just standing around.