cool » l. hemmings

iii.

Half an hour later, Grady, Luke, Ethan, and I were all telling idiotic jokes back and forth. Grady sat to my left on the floor, Luke to his left, and Ethan to my right.

"That's probably the most stupid-" I began to say as we all heard the basement door open.

"Michelle! It's time for dinner! Are Luke and Grady's friend staying?" No, probably not.

I looked at Luke, who was pulling out his phone while in the middle of standing up. "We've got to get home, let's go." Ethan, understanding, waved a goodbye to both my brother and I. He went to stand next to his brother.

"No, they're not." I yell back up to her, and I hear her say an okay and close the door.

Now that they were standing next to each other I realized how much they look alike, almost as if they could've been twins. Luke had the most blue eyes I'd ever seen on a boy, while Ethan's were pretty much the same, just a shade darker.

'Tomorrow?' Grady asked me.

"Tomorrow what?" I replied, having an idea of what he meant but needing reasurrance.

'Can we walk home with them again?'

"If that's okay with them." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ethan nod, followed by Luke agreeing. "Go up and tell mom I'll be there in a minute." I sign to Grady.

After he's ran up the stairs, I lead the two brothers up them aswell, figuring that if I let them up there themselves my mother would find this the perfect opportunity to talk to them.

They silently followed as we reached the front door. I stood still, not sure what to do now. Is this where I open the door for them? Do I just sit there until they decide to move? I don't know how this works.

"Yeah, we'll see you guys tomorrow, maybe?" I tell them, opening the door and awkwardly looking down to the soda-stained carpet of the living area.

"Well, if you decide to not be sick again," Luke chuckles lowly, looking over his shoulder while him and Ethan walk down the porch steps.

† † † † † † †

I sat at the dinner table, something my family never does unless it's a holiday. And it's not a holiday. "We're eating at the table?" I question my mom, also signing so my brother could understand what was going on.

"I just thought we could talk about who you guys had over today. You barely gave me a chance to speak to them," she replied, picking up a piece of green bean with her fork. "Did you meet them at school?"

"Grady did, actually." A smile had appeared on my face, my eyes looking over to Grady, who wasn't paying attention. I swatted his arm lightly to have him look at me. "Isn't that right, Grady?"

'What?' his hands moved, his expression confused.

"You met Ethan at school."

My mom looked at him expectantly. When he nodded, a tooth-filled smile showed up on her slightly wrinkled, tan face. "That's good! Why did you start talking to him?"

'He had a Zelda shirt on.'

"Good to know me telling you to didn't help, nerd!" My eyes rolled and I picked up my fork to fly a green bean into his face as he laughed.

"What about Luke?" My mom interrupted with a clear of her throat.

"Oh, that's his brother. He goes to my school."

"Maybe you could start hanging out with this boy instead of Michael."

"Mom, don't." Grady had gone back to eating the rest of his food, not interested in what we were talking about now. We didn't need to sign.