Surviving the Andersen Brothers

Jacob Andersen

Lucas, Vincent, and I trudged through the hall after a long day at Cinderella rehearsal. It was three grueling hours of being in love with Lucas—we tried the kissing scene today. It just did not work. I couldn’t bring myself to kiss Lucas anymore than he could to kiss me. It was against everything we knew. The opening for Cinderella was in two weeks. We had to get this one last scene down.

            Mrs. Robyn was not pleased with our lack of performance.

            I threw my bag on the hook and stretched, a yawn escaping. I marched to the kitchen to contemplate dinner for the night.

            Jacob rushed in to the kitchen and started rummaging around. He pulled out the bag of sugar, opening it to check, and then left it on the counter as he moved to the next. Before I knew it, my entire kitchen was a mess with random jars and bags left here or there in Jacob’s mad search.

            I was too tired to clean all of this up.

            Upon finding the jar of sugar cubes, Jacob’s face lit up. He tucked the jar under his arm and made for the door.

            “Jacob…” I called before he could get through the door. He stopped and looked back at me expectantly. “What are you doing in my kitchen? What are you doing with my sugar cubes?”

            He blushed a little and looked away, smiling. “They are for my horses,” he said. “They love sugar cubes, you know.”

            I was confused. They owned horses too? This family was loaded!

            ….Where did they keep the horses? They couldn’t have kept them on the estate; I would have heard them by now….

            “Where are the horses kept?” I asked.

            “Just a few miles up the road from the main house,” he said as though it were obvious. “You should come visit some time. The horses are in need of a good riding—not today though, it’s terribly muddy, and I haven’t had the chance to clean up since the last rain.”

            “Are you going there now?”

            Jacob shook his head. “I was just putting these in my bag so I could bring them to the ranch before school tomorrow.”

            I looked down at the jar that was tucked under his arm and sighed. “Bring that jar here. Let’s put the sugar cubes in a baggie.” Jacob handed me the sugar cubes as I pulled open a drawer. “Is this why you are always late for school?”

            Jacob looked away as he scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There was a smile on his face. He knew exactly what I was talking about. “I am never late for school.”

            I laughed and shook my head. “You are never late,” I played along. “You don’t have a D in science or a C in French because you hardly show up.”

            Jacob cleared his throat. “Oh, yeah, about that…— ”

            “I can tutor you, you know,” I offered. I didn’t spend enough time with Jacob. I didn’t spend enough time with any of the brothers—school and my extra curricular activities consume most of my time. The brother I spent the most time with was probably Zach.

            I handed the bag of sugar cubes over to Jacob. He took them with a polite smile.

            “I might take you up on that,” he said. “How about Sundays at four?”