Jodee

Chapter 22 - Medic

Caleb and I entered into the kitchen and I was glad at first to not see my brother sitting and waiting there like the overprotective parent he was — at first.

It took all of 23 seconds for my big brother to walk into view. His slacks and white shirt that was slightly unbuttoned as well as his tousled hair suggested he had just gotten off of work and came downstairs to wait for me when I came home.

Ace's blue eyes swarmed with confusion and worry as he looked at Caleb's beaten up appearance and his arm wrapped around my waist before his gaze made its way to me.

My brother wasted no time in coming up to my small frame and engulfing my checks with his rather cold hands. My hands instantly came up to wrap themselves around his wrists, but I made no attempt to pry him off of me. He scanned over all of my features, his irises becoming lighter by the second after seeing me uninjured.

"You okay?" He spoke gruffly.

I nodded my head quickly, slightly tugging at his wrist. "I-I'm okay," I assured him.

Ace's left eyebrow rose slightly as he scrutinized me for a few more seconds, gauging if I was lying or telling the truth. But eventually he took a step backwards and his eyes zeroed in on his best friend.

"What happened?"

Caleb shrugged, reaching up to wipe a bit of blood that had run down his chin, covering his already tainted hands in even more crimson color.

"We ran into some assholes at the ice cream shop, they sure had a lot to fucking say," He muttered.

His best friend didn't say anything, rather choosing the approach to just blow past him and walk out of the room towards the hallway that was right off of the kitchen.

Huh? Is Ace leaving?

My inquiries were short lived however before my brother returned holding a red bag in his hand — a medic kit.

Ace jerked his head to the island counter, sit down, he silently told me and Caleb. We both obeyed almost instantly. Caleb pulled himself up on the counter so Ace could get a better look at him with how tall he was. I chose the normal route and pulled out a stool and sat down. My brother reached into the kit to produce cotton balls and a small brown bottle which I could only assume was rubbing alcohol for Cal's cuts.

"You went to ice cream?" Ace broke the silence.

Caleb hissed as Ace placed a cotton ball drenched with rubbing alcohol against his split lip and proceeded to drag it down his chin in order to get all of the blood wiped off.

"Yeah," Caleb gritted out, his teeth bared together when the dark liquid made its way into the smallest of cuts and produced the burn he was so accustomed to.

My brother and his best friend got hurt a lot. Meaning that they knew how to fix each other up really fast so they didn't have to go to the hospital. But this came with a cost of which we really didn't have any numbing materials so usually these nurse sessions were filled with alcohol drinking, swearing, and some screaming. I was pretty sure I even recollected Ace giving Caleb a couple stitches once.

It also didn't help that my brother was practically immune to pain so what he thought someone could handle and what someone could actually handle was very different. Thats where most of the swearing came from — Caleb yelling and cussing at Ace for being too rough or not sensitive enough.

I knew that Caleb must have a high pain tolerance but when it's just us or just him and Ace he can milk it and act like a baby quite a bit! I have a terrible pain tolerance and get really scared whenever anything that I think might even hurt a little comes towards me. That's one of the reasons I'm afraid of needles.