Brothers Revenge

Chapter 2 (Aiden)

It was 8:45am when my phone woke me up. I must have forgotten to silence it last night before I fell asleep. There were a few texts from my dad that he wouldn't be home for a few days. It was annoying but I had gotten used to it. I got up and checked if Josh was awake, at the least home. I knocked on Josh's door and got a muffled response.

"Yeah?"

I opened the door and found him at his desk on his computer.

"Dad isn't going to be home for a couple of days , which means we're stuck with the duties of driving Lilian and Jax everywhere until he gets home."

Josh curses under his breath and then answers.

"Well Jax is going to a sleepover at friends and Lily has soccer at 1:00, so how about I take Lily to soccer and you take Jax to his sleepover."

I thought about it for second.

"Ok that works."

I went down the hall to wake Lily and Jax up. Of course, like the good kids they are they were already up. That made things a lot easier.

I walk to the kitchen and start up the coffee machine. I'm quite lucky when it comes to coffee in the morning since dad and I are the only ones who drink it, and he's usually gone by the time we all wake up. Josh doesn't like the taste and neither do Jax and Lily. I like the taste, long as it's not plain black, I'm not some kind of savage.

By 9:50 am everyone had their breakfast and Jax was ready for me to take him to his friend's house. Now don't get me wrong I'm glad Jax has friends but there is something about this friend that I don't like. Not to mention that every time someone brings up this friend and the rest of the friend group you would think that Jax would be excited to talk about his friends but he's usually moody about it and doesn't like to talk about them for very long. I just wish I knew what it was, I can't put my finger on it and it is bugging me. But I swear I will figure it out if it's the last thing I do.

At 10:00am Jax was ready to go so we load up his stuff in the truck and then we headed to his friend's house. And like the pain in the butt big brother I am I try to make conversation with him. "so any fun plans while at Nicks?" I don't know what I was expecting because I got the same response that he always gives closed off because all he does is shrug and keep looking out the window. I sigh and just turn on the radio and don't say anything for the rest of the drive .

I turn onto the Nicks driveway at exactly 10:55am. I help Jax get his stuff out of the truck and then walk with him up to the front door. Its Nicks mom who answers , she says hi and says to come to get him on Sunday whenever I can. I say good-bye and then hop back in the truck and head home. As I'm driving, I decide I should see if Ashley is home since it's been forever since we've hung out together without the group.

I pull up into the Franks driveway and walked up to the front door like I have done so many times since kindergarten and Austin was in the 3rd or 4th grade at the time. So we've been to each other's houses more times than anyone can count. Although I think Austin and Ashley have been over to house more than we have been theirs because their parents are always fighting.

By the time I reach the front door I realize I probably should have called Ashley first to see if she was home, oh well too late now. I ring the doorbell and wait for Ash to answer. A minute passes and she comes and opens the door.

"Omg! Aiden what a surprise!"

The moment I saw her something was totally off I could tell by the dark circles under eyes and she usually wears makeup and has her hair down curled ( it was up in a messy bun). I know it's none of my business what's going on outside of Ashley's life but when it comes to her not acting like her normal self (or rather looking like her normal self) I can't just leave it alone.

So I ask "Are you okay? You seem a bit stressed".

Knowing Ashley she is going to try to lie and say that she is fine , but she takes me by surprise when she says, "Could be better".

And then I really take her in and I realize that her eyes are not only tired but they're also red as if she's been crying.

"What's going on Ash? Is there a way I can help?"

I don't know what the chances are of me being able to help her, if I can't help , I can at least listen to what she needs to get off her chest and then be the shoulder she needs to cry on.

Ashley looks at me for a long second and then she finally speaks.

" I don't know what to do anymore, it's like no matter the situation things always manage to get worse."

Then to my complete utter horror she starts sobbing, I can't stand seeing my friends cry especially Ashley because she rarely cries. I pull her into my arms and let her sob.

Once she seems to have calmed down, I speak

"Maybe I should come inside and you explain everything." A second passes and I feel her nod against my chest. And something is telling  me this day is  about to go totally downhill, and that things will only continue to go that way until this is solved.