Trusting You

~Chapter 8

"Erick? What the Hell are you doing here? Are you stocking me or something?" I sputter.

"I came to pick up Brian. My mom gave me your address, I had no idea you live here." He says, calmly.

"Wait- Brian is your..."

"Brother." He confirms with a smile.

I tilt my head to the side. Brian and Erick do not look alike at all. Brian has light brown hair while Erick has black hair. Brian has brown eyes while Erick has green.

I'm about to open my mouth to tell him to go home now that he has Brian, when Ara and Azima come running to the door with the tray of cookies.

"Ooh, cookies!" Erick says.

I snort at his childish behavior. 

"We made them." Brian says, happily.

"Yup." Ara says, proudly.

I sigh.

"You know what? Erick, Brian, come in and have a few." I say. It takes a lot of courage for me to say that, because I do not invite anyone inside my house.

We head to the dining table and see Sarah covered in edible glitter.

I quickly get a paper towel, crouch down and wipe it off her face. "What have you been up to, Sarah?" I say, amused.

"I wanted to add more glitter!" She whines.

"All you had to do was ask me. I would have helped you."

She looks at the ground apologetically. "I'm sorry Jesy."

I hug her. "It's okay, don't worry about it. Now, before we clean up the huge mess in the kitchen, let's enjoy our delicious creation, shall we?"

Her face brightens up with a huge smile.

When I get back up, I feel an intense gaze on my face. I turn and see Erick staring at me. I quickly turn my head away before he sees me looking back at him.

"Mmm, these cookies are delicious, you guys." Erick says, once all the cookies are over.

I can't help but feel the tiniest bit of pride.

"All right, guys. Now that the fun part is over, we have to clean up the kitchen. The sooner we finish the sooner we can play a game before Mom and Jordan get home." I say.

"Who's with me?"

"Me!" Sarah, Ara and Azima shout.

I laugh. "That's the spirit."

The four of us make a move for the kitchen. Erick and Brian are in a deep discussion. I honestly couldn't care less if they walked out the door.

"Ara and Azima, can you both please put all the utensils in the sink?"

They nod and get to work.

"Sarah, can you please take a bunch of paper towels and wipe the kitchen counter down?"

She nods and I start washing all the utensils in the sink.

Around twenty minutes later, we're done cleaning, and the kitchen no longer looks like a pig's sty.

My phone rings. With sopping wet hands, I answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jesy, It's me, Yossalyn. You're mother gave me your phone number and I called to check in on Brian. He's alright, right? I had asked my son to come and pick him up, so if he's not already there-"