My Brother's Best Friend

Joseph's cooking?

I'm sitting on my bed holding the teddy bear that Zach had gotten, fresh tears in my eyes when I hear talking coming from down the hall. The guest room. Drew's room. I hadn't been in there since before he arrived back in town, but I felt the need to go in there at this moment. I didn't feel like being alone right now. Not with Zach on my mind. On my way out of my room, I glance at the board game on the top shelf of my open closet.

     I reach Drew's door and hear him talking in an angry voice. I can tell by the way he's talking that he's trying not to raise his voice. "Whatever! I'll be over there to get it but don't expect me to stay." he grumbles into his cellphone before hanging up and angrily tossing it on his bed.

"Drew?" I say holding the teddy bear close to my chest. I felt like a child coming into their parents room after a bad nightmare.

"Sky? What's wrong?" Drew asks immediately relaxing. All the anger in his voice disappears. He looks down at the teddy bear and sighs.

"Oh..." he manages to get out. I run into his arms which I realize I've been doing a lot of lately. "I miss him!" I mumble. My face is buried in his chest and it feels warm against my face. He rubs my back as I cry. "I miss him too. He was a good friend to us."

I cry a little bit more. "Why don't you and Joseph ever mention him then?"

"Because it's painful to talk about and Joseph's never been able to deal with stuff like that. Even YOU know that." I can't disagree with that.

"You know Drew..." I say before I can stop myself. "You really are perfect." He looks down at me and his facial expression is unreadable. Before I realize what's happening, he is brushing a strand of hair out of my face and our faces are an inch apart. My heart is pounding fast and I can feel his breath on my face. It's warm and minty. Is he about to kiss me? I ask myself. Before I can know the answer, Joseph bursts into the room with tomato sauce splattered on his face and a huge grin.

"You guys want dinner?" I'm pissed off at Joseph for ruining our moment, but I don't let it show because I think I'm hallucinating. Did Joseph actually cook? Were we gonna have a home cooked meal? We hadn't had one in ages! Since Mom and Dad left actually.

"Sure." Drew finally says. "Make it quick though. I gotta run by my mom's house. She has some college letters for me." With that, the three of us go down the stairs (where we smell spaghetti) to eat dinner. I notice that Drew keeps as far away from me as possible.