The Kings

11

Fred

I rubbed my eyes and leaned back in my seat, looking down at my phone. I let out a sigh and opened my door, stepping out of the car. I closed my door and walked up to the restaurant, opening the door.

I walked inside and looked around at the people looking at me, grinning subtly. Mom waved at me, and I just walked over to her table.

"Look at you, you look so tired," she said, standing up.

"Thanks, Mom," I said, pushing her hands away from my face.

"Hey, Rose," I said, sitting down.

Rose and I didn't really have that great of a relationship. We tolerated each other, and I did truly feel bad for not having the best relationship with her.

"Hey, idiot," she greeted, her eyes glued to her phone.

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to Mom. "I'll let Jo get the honors of sitting next to that one."

"Be nice," Mom whispered, opening up her menu, "where is your brother, speaking of him?"

I shrugged. "Dunno."

I felt Rose's feet kicking my shins, making me look at her from under my eyelashes. "Hey, stop kicking me."

"Make me," she said.

"Look at me when you talk to me, how about that," I said, folding my arms on the table.

She looked up from her phone, a mean gleam in her eyes.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair. Mom just smiled over at me, resting her head in her hand. "So, what have you been up to?"

I shook my head, taking a drink of the water that was on the table. "Nothing, really. You know, moping around, talking myself out of college, the norm."

She just rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You're going to make it into a great college, Fred."

I just raised my eyebrows and nodded. "Well thanks for the motivation."

"What are you going to go to college for?" Rose asked, "to learn how to be more of an idiot?"

"Rose," Mom said, looking at her, "be nice to your brother."

"Not my brother," she said, flipping open her menu.

"Yeah, kid, I am, we both came out of her vagi-"

"Belly button," Mom said, nodding.

I just rolled my eyes. "The kid has to learn at some point."

"She's seven, Fred," she muttered, looking over at me, "and she has a name."

"Yeah, I have a name, idiot."

"I do too, and it's not idiot," I said.

"You two," Mom said, "can you at least try to not be at each other's throats?"

"Yeah, I stay as far away from him as possible," Rose said, cocking an eyebrow up as she looked down at her menu.

"I give up," I whispered, patting Mom's knee with a smile.

I turned around and Jo was walking towards us. "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"I could smell you as soon as the door opened," I said, "Versace is a lot stronger than you think it is."

"Ah, fuck you," he said, hugging Mom as she stood up.

"Language, Rose is here," Mom said.

Jo just frowned. "I'm sitting by her?"