My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"I don't see why not." Sabrina finally responded. Her parents wouldn't care and I knew they wouldn't tell my grandparents but I immediately felt antsy at her response. I felt my stomach do a flop and suddenly regretted gorging myself with candy.

"Cool..." Thomas said. "I'll be back I guess." He spun on his heel and started back down the road. I swallowed a nervous lump in my throat and slipped the rabbit ears back onto my head.

Several long minutes passed and we still hadn't seen anything of either of the boys. With each minute, I became more and more nauseous. "Sabrina..." I started, stopping to press a hand to my mouth when the nausea became more intense. "Where's your bathroom...?"

"Down the hall first door on the left. Why? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah..." I shook my hand, dismissing my look of pain. "I'm fine..." Though clearly not convinced, Sabrina continued with her job.

Finally, the two boys were visible down the road. I took off the ears again and leaned into Sabrina's shoulder. I had never really done anything rebellious before, this was almost killing me.

"Hey." Michael smiled as he approached.

"Hi." I returned a smile though not as strong. Michael gestured to the spot beside me on the porch and I nodded.

"So where's Alex?" Sabrina asked. Her question was directed toward Michael, but I knew the answer.

"He's at the college. And I think his mom is taking him shopping afterwards." Alex took extra classes at a near by college for college credit. "That's why you can be here, right?" Another question directed toward Michael, though answered by someone else.

"Yeah." Thomas said. "And I don't want to be down here if you get caught so I'm headed back." Much to my surprise, Michael didn't really react and Thomas went back to Michael's house alone.

I looked at him, a little concerted. As if he could read my mind, he said, "I won't get caught." He made a sudden subtle move closer to me and I could feel the warmth from his arm on my own. My cheeks heated up.

We all sat in silence for a while, Michael occasionally sending me messages saying "I love you" or "You're so adorable". But then we forced a pair of ears on Michael and told him to say "Trick-or-treat" to the drunk man across the street handing out kind sized candy bars. And he actually got candy.

The three of us sat together for a while, sharing a large Hershey bar and admiring or judging costumes or people. There was one time that a large group of teens started to congregate in front of the house to chat, blocking the way for the younger kids. So I pelted them with crappy candy. And then a boy who followed Sabrina and I around at the Halloween dance the year before actually took candy from us, which was kind of startling. Because when he started to walk away, Sabrina stood up and simply shouted, "YOU!!" Gaining the attention from pretty much everyone within a thirty foot radius. It was pretty calm from there on out.

That is until Michael got a phone call. "Its my mom." He said, standing up and moving away.

"Hello? You're almost home? On our road? Oh. Okay... Bye." Panicked and pale, Michael bolted from the scene. Not even seconds after he was out of view, Alex and his mom drove by in their red car. Though I was slightly upset at not getting a proper goodbye, I was glad Michael made it back hopefully without being discovered.

"Who was that boy with Michael?" Sabrina's mom asked with a sneer.

"Thomas." Sabrina stated bluntly.

"What a show off." My heart jumped at the harshness in her father's voice.

"Dad..."

"I'm just saying. He kept flexing for you girls and stuff." Her father huffed.

"He has a girlfriend."

"So?" Sabrina hissed and rolled her eyes, obviously not wanting to deal with her father. I've always thought he was a nice man. But maybe there was something about him that I didn't see.

It started to get dark, so Sabrina and I were gathering up the remaining candy when I noticed a dark figure making its way over through the grass. I got excited, my first thought being that it was Michael. But then my bubble burst at the sudden realization that the silhouette that I was currently laying eyes upon was too lean, the shoulders weren't broad enough and the walk wasn't as confident. It was Alex. I felt slightly deflated but felt guilty for feeling so.

"Hey, guys." Alex said upon reaching his destination. He looked nervous, his arms were pulled in tight to his sides and his hands were shoved deep into his pockets. His eyes flicked quickly from me to Sabrina and he fixed his gaze there, avoiding looking at me. Sabrina didn't really look at him. Her attention was on her Tumblr news feed.

"Hey, Alex." I said, a little late, to break the tension that had started to build. Much to my dismay, it only caused the cloud to thicken and Alex simply turned his body away from me.

My mind wandered as we all sat or stood together. Sabrina's parents had retreated inside the house so it was just us and the awkward silence. At once more attempt to make things less awkward, I leaned over to Sabrina and cupped my hand over her ear. "Sneak up behind Alex and put the bunny ears on him. I'll get a picture."

"Okay." She said with a smile and a laugh. Slowly her hand made its way to the headband and up into her lap. After a few minutes had passed, she jumped up and forcefully stuck the ears on his head. I hurried to her phone and not being entirely sure how to use it, snapped a few blurry shots.

"What? Come on guys!" Alex growled. He tossed the source of his embarrassment to the ground. Sabrina and I took in the details of the glorious photo while he repeatedly told us to delete it. It was at about this time that my grandmother pulled around the corner and into their yard. Because apparently being a decent person and parking in the driveway is too mainstream or something.

"Thanks for a laugh." I gave Alex a friendly slap on the back before hopping into the backseat of the car. Front isn't my preference. After dismissing myself from my friends with a bye and a goodnight, my grandmother pulled out.

"So what do you owe the honor of Alex's presence?" My grandmother asked with a hint of anger. I expected her to. Of course. Typical her.