The Shades in Between [BxB]

Chapter 2

So turns out Noah is a not-so-foreign foreign exchange student. He went to school in California and got the opportunity to come here and study at the private school that Lucas, Kieran and I go to. Apparently we had signed up to take one of them in, and no one had told me.

"I'm sorry! I thought we told you!" Kieran said, looking at me apologetically. "Nah," Lucas said coming into the room, "we just didn't care enough to tell you."

"Asshole," I muttered.

"Pussy," he muttered back.

"Both of you, stop it right now. We have a guest," my dad whispered to us. Then to Noah, "would you like any breakfast we just made some."

Since when did we ever make breakfast for the family? It was usually a bowl of cereal and you're out the door. "That's sounds amazing! I'm so hungry," he said. We all walked to the dining room and there were plates of pancakes, eggs, waffles, bacon, and toast. I have never seen this much good food since mom died. Judging by the looks on Lucas and Kieran's face, they hadn't been expecting this much either.

This time I was actually drooling and not just because of Noah. "Dad makes food like this a lot, so you better get used to eating good every single day." Lucas said, smirking.

My dads smile tightened, and that's when I knew he hadn't been planning to do this everyday, but now that Lucas had said that he had no choice.

Noah, oblivious, sat down in one of the chairs and smiled widely, "Cant Wait!" We all sat down and started eating. It felt weird. We hadn't sat down as a family in forever. Family game night ended when mom died, and no one had ever tried to talk to one another after.

Noah had a bright personality, and there were no awkward silences in the middle. "No way! You play basketball also?" Kieran asked, smile widening. Basketball guys are hot (excluding my brother of course). "You too? Is the team any good?" Noah asked, setting down his fork on his empty plate, and tapping his fingers idly on the table. "It's better than average, but certainly not the best. Maybe it can be if you're any good," Kieran replied. I sat there silently. I didn't know anything about basketball, or any sports for that matter.

"We need to figure out which room you're staying in," my dad said, "All three boys have their own room and you can choose which room you want to stay in. Unless you're uncomfortable with that and prefer to stay in your own room, we can make that work also."

I mentally hoped that he would choose my room, cause who knows, maybe he sleeps naked. But from the corner of my eye I could see Kieran mouthing 'ME', and all I wanted to do was slap my hand over his mouth and tell Noah to share a room with me instead and maybe take his shirt off while he's at it.

"Oh no, I don't want you to go through all that trouble, I'll just share a room with Kieran," Noah said politely. I wanted to die. Lucas on the other hand seemed perfectly content with the arrangements. No one has been in his room for almost a year, because the last time we did we found some weed and he almost went ballistic when we brought it up.

"I'll show you up to my room," Kieran said, "also when are your stuff coming?"

"The moving van is coming tonight I think, but don't worry I didn't bring much," Noah's voice faded as Kieran and him went upstairs. "Well I'm going out, Tom and Tim are calling me," Lucas said getting up and going out the door, not bothering to hear dads response.

I was about to excuse myself when my dad took my hand and squeezed it lightly. I looked down at our hands, confused and my dad quickly let me go. "I'm sorry about this morning. I was trying to tell you that I didn't have work today, but you kept talking and I got frustrated and I just... I guess I just lost it. But what you said was true. My addiction is bad and I haven't been a father to you, so I'm thinking about going to get help and stop drinking."