It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 15

It was so odd having a brother in the house again.

My mom shrieked and squealed, her arms wrapping around Garrett so tightly I thought he was going to burst.  I opened my mouth, trying to say something, but my mom blocked me out, her sole attention on Garrett.  I grumbled under my breath.  I mean, I knew that Garrett coming home was amazing—I was extremely excited that he was here—but the fact that I couldn’t get a single word in was infuriating.

“Mom,” I muttered again.

“Oh, Garrett, hon, what would you like for dinner tonight?” my mom gushed, completely ignoring my presence as she patted down his shirt.  What was she doing, anyway?  Searching for wrinkles?  I cocked an eyebrow.  She wasn’t going to get anywhere doing that.  His shirt was obviously ironed.

Garrett smiled brightly, bringing a hand through his dark locks of hair.  He had my dad’s hair—short, but not too short, and a shade lighter than my hair.  Garrett and I didn’t look that much alike.  The only things that we had in common were the shape of our nose and the arch in our eyebrows.  While my eyes were large and brown, his were small and grey.  While he had sharp facial features, mine were on the softer side.  I always wondered how people thought we looked alike—I couldn’t tell.

“Oh, mac and cheese sounds good!” Garrett said with a grin.

That had been the kid’s favorite food since birth.  Sad, really.

“Oh, my baby hasn’t changed a bit!”  She kissed him on the cheek and backed away.  “Why don’t we put your stuff in your room?”

I shook my head at my mom’s enthusiasm.  She treated Garrett like he was a guest here.  I mean, yeah we hadn’t seen him in a while, but that didn’t mean that we had to walk him to his bedroom, offer him special food, or give him special treatment.  He’d lived in the house for nineteen years. 

I followed my mom and brother up the stairs, keeping my distance as my mom chirped about how much we’d missed him and how much we loved that he was back.  She was going to make him a special dinner that everyone would love.  Ha!  Yeah, right!  Garrett would probably secretly dump everything in the trash.  And I would gladly follow his league.

“Wow, you cleaned it while I was gone!” Garrett exclaimed as he trotted into his room, looking around.

I scanned his room, letting a small smile curl up on my lips.  He had posters hanging everywhere, covering his walls entirely.  He had a blanket draped over his window to block out the sunlight.  Before he’d left there were clothes everywhere.  On the floor, on the furniture.  Everywhere.  My mom took the liberty to come in here and clean everything from head to toe.  It took her all day. 

“So, how’s my lovely sister?” Garrett asked suddenly, ripping me out of my reverie.

I blinked.  “What?”

“I see your hearing is still intact.” Garrett snorted, shaking his head.  “How are you?”

I scoffed, sticking my tongue out him before saying, “Fine.”

My mom smiled before letting out an, “Oh!” sound.  Garrett and I turned to her expectantly.  “Tell him about your new friend!” she squealed, pointing and jumping.

I scowled at her.  How dare she be so giddy?  And make me talk about Dannon?  She was just asking to be hit, wasn’t she?

“Oooh, a new friend?”  Garrett clapped his hands together.  “Who is this lovely girl?  Is she hot?”