The Kings

21

Fred

I pulled my bottom lip in my mouth, my eyes closing at the feeling of the bubble in my stomach about to pop.

"Fred! Jo!"

My eyes shot open and I flexed my jaw muscle. "What?"

"Come downstairs, you're going to be late," Dad yelled, beating on my door, "stop jerking off."

"Gross," I heard Adora say from outside the door.

"Wasn't doing that," Jo and I both lied, probably.

I sat up, looking over at my clock. It was a little shy of 8 A.M., and we had to be at school at 8:30 on any normal day. Jo and I also still had to get food, and that would take a minimum of twenty minutes in Seattle.

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes, throwing my covers off of me. I walked over to my sink and braced my palms on the counter, looking at myself in the mirror.

Jo and I had been blessed with clear skin. Mom and Dad both had flawless skin, they'd had flawless skin even when they were teenagers.

But today, I saw a pimple.

"Jo!" I yelled, running out of my room.

"Woah!" Adora yelled, covering her eyes.

"Sorry, morning, ma," I greeted, pressing a kiss to her cheek before running in Jo's room.

"Privacy, for fuck's sake," Jo groaned out.

"Look at this," I said, pointing to the pimple on my forehead, "how do I fix this?"

"Well, normal teenagers get those, those are called pimples," he said, "but you just happen to be some Greek god-"

"Very funny," I said, "do you have some of that cream that fixes it?"

He laughed. "No, I wish."

"Get your mind out of the gutter," I said.

"Usually I'm the mature one, I'm impressed," he said.

"Thanks for the help," I said, "or lack thereof."

I walked back into my room and into my closet. I half-assed my appearance every day. Sweatpants and some athletic shirt, jeans if it was a special day or I had no sweats clean.

I slipped into a pair of sweats and a Henley, stopping by the mirror one more time.

It's not that bad.

I walked over to my bed and unplugged my phone, my eyes stopping on the picture of Alexis and I that Adeline had pointed out.

I flipped it over and walked out of my room, jogging downstairs.

"Hey," I greeted, brushing past Dad.

"Hey," he said, "you want to do me a favor?"

I just looked at him, opening the fridge. "Sure."

"Do you mind stopping by my building today?" He asked, "I'll send you a list of what I need."

"Why can't I do it?" Adora asked.

"Because it's a Christmas gift for you," he said, grinning at her.

I just smiled. "If it involves sex toys, I'll be busy."

Adora just smiled and Dad chuckled. "Funny. I'll send you the list."

"Alright," I said, "hey, you want lunch, too? I could stop by and we could eat together."