Our Big Brother

Chapter 4

Hunters POV:

After an hour, I hope they've let off enough energy to get to bed on time tonight with no problems. I call them all to come inside only getting a few protests, and Nick texts me that he's coming home and will be here in less than an hour. He also mentioned that he's bringing his girlfriend Sophie over, he's been in love with her since like the 4th grade and asked her out in 10th grade, been together since, but she's a possessive person, so I can see her patience wearing thin with Nick being busy with the boys and wok lately. Her Nonna though, has pretty much become our Nonna, She's really pulled through the past little while, since the crash, being patient with the boys, and giving them a kind of love that I can't give them. She lives in Italy half the year though and will be going back soon, since she's stayed much longer than usual to help us out. Her younger sister Sarah gets along well with Atlas, them being the same age, they're best friends, or were best friends, not too sure what's going on with them these days.

"When is Seb coming home! Are we gonna go pick him up? Do we have to get Atlas too? He walked home from school once already could he just walk home again? Do you think my hand would get stuck inside the pringles tube? I swallowed a piece of grass by accident when I fell, am I going to poop out a field?" Alex fires out questions at me. So that's a no he did not run off enough energy outside since he's practically bouncing on his toes still. I try to process everything he asked me, and cannot begin to understand his thought process, but before I could answer him, the front door opens and Sebastian runs inside, shaking as he pulls his shoes off and neatly setting them aside. "Seb I said I was sorry! I didn't mean to forget you!" Atlas says coming inside too. "You forgot him!" Alex yells, glaring at Atlas who just rolls his eyes. "I didn't forget him I just didn't go get him right away. It wasn't my fault! It was only a few minutes anyways!" Atlas tries to justify, as I kneel down in front of Sebastian who's still shaking. "Hey, look at me." I say, making his head snap up. And here I thought we were done with tears today. "He was late. He forgot to come get me and then he came back but he wanted me to walk faster to keep up with his friends, who were on bikes and I fell and now there's dirt on my clothes and my fingers!" He says all in one breath. "That's an easy fix, let's go wash our hands, and get those clothes in the laundry, you can hop in the shower while I get the stain out of your pants okay?" I say gently. "Seb are you okay? Do you want me to get clean clothes? Or I could sit outside the shower until you're done." Alex asks wanting to take care of Sebastian. "I'll even wash my hands first before getting your clothes!" He says running after Sebastian who was already heading upstairs and stripping his shirt off. "Hunter what if Atlas forgets us at school and never comes back for us!" Spencer asks worriedly, making Reid panic as well. "Guys, At doesn't normally pick you guys up." I say slowly to them. Nick and I take turns picking them up, or sometimes Aaron's mom will bring them home. Atlas only picks them up if 3/4 of them are at home like today, but that rarely happens. It wouldn't make sense for me to get them all in the car just to pick up one of them and to come back home since Atlas is already there to get whoever's still at school. "Oh, right." Reid mumbles. "Atlas if you had to pick me up, would you forget me?" Spencer asks Atlas directly because apparently my answer wasn't good enough, though Atlas just shakes his head. The two seem happy with his head shake, and run off somewhere in the house.

I look to Atlas to say something but he cuts me off before I even say anything. "Can we not do this! I already apologized!" He says annoyed. When is he ever not annoyed? "Just-how late were you? You know how he is with routines, I wouldn't have been mad if you forgot to pick him up since you don't normally do it anyways. All you had to do was call me, or text me so that I could call the school so someone could let Seb know that you were running late. Sure he'd still be a little upset, but he'd have felt better knowing that you were still coming, rather than freaking out until you got there. The bike thing though...Atlas I hate to tell you this, but Seb hates sports and running and sweating, but he is still more athletic than you, why the hell were you trying to keep up with bikes?" I explain and then question. "You said a bad word!" Reid gasps, and my eyes so badly want to roll, but I can't, so I apologize before Atlas responds. "Yeah ok whatever, they weren't even riding that fast, I didn't think he'd fall." Atlas says stomping upstairs. I was 17 two fucking years ago, and I do not remember being this irritating. "When is Nicky coming home? Do you think he wants to watch cars with me?" Spencer asks scaring me, since he popped out of nowhere, I'm on high alert now because I know wherever Spencer is, Reid is going to pop up soon too. "He'll be here soon, then you can ask him." I sigh telling Spencer. We have watched cars every night for the past few weeks before bed, whether we watch 5 minutes or 30 minutes, it's always on. I swear I know the words by heart.(does time exist in this book? In any of my books? No so idk what year it is in this book and I can't remember what year cars came out but it was definitely years before frozen and encanto and all that but we're just gonna say all the Disney movies exist in this book no matter the year okay?)

I check the time on my phone, and it's almost time for Reid and I to leave, but Nicks not home yet like he's supposed to be, which means Atlas will have to watch the boys until he gets here. I've already had him pick up Sebastian today, I really don't want to ask him for more, it's not his job to take care of them. Altas doesn't give me a second to figure out a plan B because he comes running down the stairs. "YOU CANT RUN ON THE STAIRS!" Alex screams from upstairs, at least I know I don't need to worry about him running on the stairs. "At, do you think you could watch the boys until Nick gets home? He should be here in the next 20 minutes, but-" I start trying to explain, but he cuts me off. "Are you fucking serious! I'm about to go meet my friends!" He says angrily. "He said a bad word!" Spencer whispers to Reid. "A really really bad one." Reid whispers back, as much as I enjoy their commentary sometimes, I need them to not. "Go wait by the front door you two." I tell them. "I just told everyone that I'd be there in 10." Atlas says when they leave the living room. "I'm sorry, I know you want to get out of here, but I'm really in a pinch, I need you to stay just until Nick gets here, please?" I say, but he scoffs. "Why does he even still go to physical therapy? He can fucking walk now can't he?" He asks frustratedly. "You know what don't answer that, because either way, it's all bullshit! You know the only reason Nick isn't here yet is because his witch of a girlfriend made her take them out for ice cream." He says and before I could even get a word in, he tells me to call Nick and ask him how long he's going to be, leaving me in the living room. I decide while the phone rings, that if Nick is going to be longer than 15 minutes, I'll call the neighbours to see if one of them can stop by until he gets here. Thankfully Nick says he's 8 minutes away, with Sophie and Sarah.

Walking towards the front door, I hear Atlas talking to Reid. "I'm sorry I have to go. I can tell the doctor it doesn't hurt to walk anymore or when I run, then I won't have to go and you could go see your friends." Reid says and I'm about to butt in, and shut that idea of his down asap, but Atlas does first. "What? No don't do that, don't ever lie to the doctor okay? I'm sorry for getting angry, I promise I'm not mad at you." Atlas says quickly. "Are you having a bad day? Sometimes Spencer gets really really mad when he's having a bad day too." Reid says and I wait for Atlas's response. "Yeah, m'having a bad day." He sighs. I'm such a shitty brother, how can he be having a bad day, and I don't know about it? He's always annoyed or angry or frustrated with me these days, so it's hard to tell when he actually is having a bad day or not, but I should've known something was wrong. "Did Sarah make you sad?" Reid asks and I shut my eyes. That's why he wanted to leave right away before Nick got here, he knew that she was coming over too since that's probably how he knew they went to get ice cream. "Yeah, she did, but only because I made her sad by accident first." He explains. "Did you say sorry and give her lots of hugs? That always works." Reid says and I smile at his thought. "I tried, but she's not very happy with me, so it didn't work." Atlas says. "Oh! You can make her a card with lots of glitter, and make her cookies! I can taste the cookies for you to make sure they taste extra good!" Reid says, and I decide to step into their view when Atlas agrees to sneak Reid some extra cookies.

"He'll be here in 4 minutes, you can leave the minute he gets in okay? I'm really sorry for relying on you for too many things. I'll work something out with the neighbours going forward, but you know that Nick or I is usually here right? His unplanned detour is what made him the few minutes late, I'll talk to him about that too, I promise." I say to Atlas, who just nods at me. "Okay, c'mon bub, we gotta go or we'll be late." I say, Reid gives a big hug to Atlas before skipping outside with me, I see Nick pulling into the driveway, and turn to tell Atlas to head to the car. "Why?" He asks me. "Nick just pulled in, I'll take you wherever you're meeting your friends." I say and he runs to the car, pulling Reid with him. Nick jogs to the door seeing me waiting, and I tell him quickly about Sebastian and how Alex is with him, and how Spencer is trying to find candy but I've hidden it all on the top shelf behind the cereal boxes. Before I can walk to the car, Sophie greets me, and Sarah asks where Atlas is going. "I'm not sure, I'll see you guys in an hour and a half." I say heading to the car and not giving her an answer since I still don't know what's happened between them. If he didn't tell her where he's going, then I'm definitely not telling her.

I think one of my fav characters is moody teenage Atlas, because he is literally Sebastian, Alex, Reid and Spencer from Our Little Brother all rolled into one lmao. Also 10 year old Alex is gonna be a fav too, he's just funny. Also also I feel like this book will give more insight to why Spencer is the way he is in Our Little Brother. Anyways I'm going to finish 10 chapters of this book before I publish it okay? We're only at 4 but I'm on a roll hehehe thanks for reading

May xx