jerk irl \ muke

chptr 24

i was stuck sitting in the back of brandon's car with his sons on both sides of me and him and my mom in the two front seats. we were on our way to the airport on saturday morning because my mom forced us all to go to say our final goodbyes. she was treating this like someone was dying.

it turned out that ryan was 16 and had gotten his license before me (nice) and would be the one driving us home. timmy, however, just turned 13 and was acting how every typical 13 year old boy acts, and i was really wishing the drive to the airport was shorter so i wouldn't have had to be feel an elbow jabbing into the left side of my stomach every couple of minutes.

my mom had told me that for most of the break ryan would be in charge of timmy at brandon's house, but on new years eve, she wanted a responsible adult (which i was surprised to find out meant me) to watch over them and get them something for dinner. it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice cause god knows i would never be invited to any type of party, so my plans were all free that night.

luke on the other hand was texting me nonstop complaining about all the parties he'd been invited to and how coming up with excuses to get out of them was hard. he wanted to hang out with me on new years eve and said he didn't mind watching the boys with me. it shouldn't be too hard, i wouldn't even be surprised if ryan snuck out to go to a party himself - he is the captain of the basketball team after all.

i saw the airport once my mom had made a couple of turns and i sighed with relief knowing that i could get away from the cramped backseat. my mom began removing her luggage from the back of brandon's car after she parked it and lectured me about staying safe while she was gone.

"...clean it up afterwards, and make sure to run the dishwasher - michael? are you even listening to me?"

"oh what? uh, yeah. clean things and don't get arrested, i know the drill."

"okay," she said with a smile and started pulling me in for a hug, "i'll call you on christmas and try to remember to call grandma, alright? i'm planning on getting you a few christmas presents while i'm away so don't think i forgot or anything."

"i'll - oof - i'll get you something too," i said as clearly as i could while my mother tightened her grip on my back.

she began swaying me from side to side as she spoke, "i'll miss you michael. see you in two weeks."

i pulled back to look at her and i could see the smile on her face was genuine, so i decided to return it, "i'll miss you too mom."

brandon walked over to us after saying goodbye to his own kids and checked his watch, "we should probably get going karen."

she sighed and grabbed hold of her luggage - which was surprisingly not very much - and waited for brandon as he remained standing next to me.

he placed his hand on my back and leaned close to my ear to whisper, "i left a box of condoms on your bathroom counter, try not to go through them all too fast."

he shot me a wink and before i knew it he was standing next to my mom and waving back at the three of us boys that were left standing by the car.

"should we ... get breakfast?" ryan asked once brandon and my mom were out of sight and a short silence had taken over. i checked my phone and noticed it was just past 9am - man, i was excited for this two week break so i could sleep until late hours of the afternoon again.

"i want ihop!" timmy exclaimed, grabbing onto his brother's hand and pulling him closer to the car.

"is that fine with you? i mean, you're the adult and everything," ryan glanced up at me before opening the car door on the driver's side.