My Brother's Best Friend

Chap. 40

"Be careful," I said to Emmett, as I watched him throw another pair of socks into his suitcase.

"I will," he promised.

"Do you have your inhaler?"

He nodded.

"And your nebulizer?"

He nodded again.

"What about-"

"I got it," Emmett said, interrupting me.

"I'm just worried about you," I defended. "Have fun."

"I will," Emmett said, standing up and slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Don't do anything too stupid."

"I'll try not to."

I rolled my eyes, standing up off of his bed and giving him a tight hug. "I'll miss you."

"It's only three days," he reminded me, as we headed out to the kitchen.

"Yeah but a lot can happen in three days," I said, taking a seat on the couch. "You could get an offer from a college. Or you could overplay and like die of an asthma attack."

"First," Emmett said, holding up one finger, "I already have offers from colleges. And two, the only accounted cases of people dying from asthma attacks are when they've been left to die."

"Just try not to let that happen okay?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving."

I waved and he left the apartment.

I sat criss-cross on the couch, the silence stretching.

Parker was still at practice, which left me home alone for another at least 20-

"Walk me through what happened," Parker's voice demanded, interrupting my peaceful thoughts as he came barging into the apartment.

I never even got to decide what I was going to do.

"I understand that," Parker said, tossing his bag on the floor. "But what I don't understand is why I wasn't contacted about this earlier."

I sense a guardian Parker right now, and he sounds pissed.

"I don't care what Lee tells you," Parker ordered, his voice hard. "I'm his legal guardian, and you have my written orders that I am to be contacted after all panic attacks."

Oh shit.

"Okay," Parker said, before placing his phone down on the counter.

"Hey," I said, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Hey," he muttered, ripping open the refrigerator.

"What happened?"

"I'm this close to snapping," Parker said, holding out his index and thumb. "And Cornerstone is lucky that I don't rip Lee out of their student body-"

"Hello?" Lee's voice asked.

"Before I start lecturing you on protocol post-panic attack, how are you?" Parker asked, turning the phone off of speaker and putting it to his ear.

"I don't really give a fuck," Parker informed him. He listened for a couple of seconds. "Yeah Lee, I'm pissed."

Parker shook his head at whatever Lee was saying. "I sent you to Miami because you convinced me that it was a good idea, and that this was the best route for the both of us. But I swear to fucking God Lee, you ever pull a stunt like this again, you're done."