Pages » lrh (DISCONTINUED) ✔️

0.7

Luke

"You two are in so much trouble," Mom said for the fifth time in ten minutes. 

We were sitting in the car while the recital finished up inside, getting 'the look' from Mom in the rear view mirror. She had her arms crossed while Michael and I kept our head downs, staring at the bound together hands in our lap. 

It was all Michael's fault really, and he surprisingly admitted it to my Mom who then told his mom. We all knew how Michael's mom was, with smothering her only child with love and affection and letting Michael live his life on his own, so to speak. 

So when my Mom called his, Michael was let off the hook by his almost immediately; he wasn't fully out of the woods yet, he still had my mother. We've been best friends since grade school, meaning Michael became the fourth child in my family, meaning if we both get into trouble, he's in trouble right along with me. 

Usually when my Mom grounded him when he comes over, he avoided me for two weeks until my punishment is over. While I'm stuck going between football practice, homework, and chores, Michael is skipping practice and playing video games; because my Mom's at almost every football practice we have. 

Dad and Riley walked out the recital, followed by Jack and his girlfriend, Alice. We parked in the available parking spot right next to them, so my parents could easily get Riley's things from their car. 

Mom gave us 'the look' one more time before getting out the car. As soon as she's out of sight, due to our cars heavily tinted windows, Michael and I whipped out our phones. 

Michael: Maybe I should head straight home after this

Luke: You can't, you only came because of Riley

Michael: So I'm let off the hook?

Luke: Nope, far from it 

He swore, shoving his phone back in his pocket, crossing his arms with an annoyed roll of his eyes. Michael turned to face out the window, acting like a child. He was extremely immature but he had his moments when he could actually become serious for five minutes. 

Dad opened the car door and Riley climbed in, immediately flocking to Michael. He stopped staring out the window in pissed off silence and gave Riley a hug, ruffling her hair. This just shows how much Michael is technically in my family more or so than his, Riley treated him like another uncle, Mom and Dad treat him like another son, Jack and Ben act like he's the missing fourth Hemmings brother, and my grandparents treat him like another grandson, on both sides. 

I've never had another friend who's treated more like family than Michael. You'd think the other friends I have that behave so much better would be considered family, when it's the exact opposite. It's strange, but I like having Michael like another brother. 

Yet, I'm still the youngest in all of this. 

"Why does Gran say you're both in trouble?" Riley asked Michael. 

He coughed awkwardly, looking at me from the corner of his eye. I just stared at him, arms folded across my chest. Michael is the one that started it, he should explain. The more I think about it, maybe I should explain. 

"Michael said some very bad things and I merely told him to shut up," I shrugged in reply. 

Riley still looked confused while Michael looks like he would punch me right now. He was stronger than me, even though I was the quarterback on our school football team. We both knew Riley didn't need to know what was really said, and I didn't trust Michael to make up some weird lie about it either. I needed to quickly think of an excuse because there's no way in hell my niece's mind needed to be corrupted at the mere age of six. 

"What things did he say?" She asked again, looking at me this time. 

"Uh..." I scratched the back of my head, looking away. 

She stared at me, big green eyes wide open and waiting for an answer. Her blonde hair was falling out of the bun Alice probably did this morning. Riley grabbed my hand, yanking it. "Please, I wanna know what he said!" 

"He said one girl's hair looked like poop?" I said, making it sound more like a question than an answer. 

Michael started laughing and so did Riley. I may have been able to fool my niece into believing that lie, but there's no way I could get out of the trouble I was in; even if I didn't say it.