… The soft rap at his door was not unexpected. Charlie sighed, throwing his pencil down on his math homework and spinning around to face his bedroom door. “Come in,” he called with only a slight rasp of exasperation in the words.
The door opened slowly and Mike’s boyish face appeared in the doorway. He was getting taller, but Charlie still saw a tiny little kid that was somehow his to protect, even though Mikey could hold his own and had more charm than men three times his age. Mike was the most popular kid in his class and at Little League. He even had every teacher in his school in raptures over him.
He should also be in bed by now.
His chocolate eyes were wide as he shuffled in and closed the door behind him, his smile sheepish.
“Mom and Dad wake you up?” Charlie asked him quietly, hating that his parents’ constant arguing upset Mikey so much.
Mike shrugged. He was at that age now where he thought he had to pretend to be OK about everything. Especially in front of his big brother. “I wasn’t asleep.”
Another curse word floated up from downstairs as their mom and dad started arguing again. He winced as his dad accused his mom of spending too much money on clothes for Mikey. Charlie knew what her shrieked answer would be before it came. “You should go back to bed, Mike.”
His little brother shrugged again and jumped onto Charlie’s bed. “What are you doing? Talking to Ari on Skype?” he teased, his grin far too knowing for a twelve year old.
“No,” Charlie huffed, a little affronted that even his little brother thought all he did was think about Ari. He got enough crap about it from his friends at school. “Math homework.”
Mike wrinkled his nose. “I’d take Ari over math any day.”
“I thought you liked math.”
“It’s OK.”
Charlie narrowed his eyes on Mike. His brother had that look. He hadn’t just come in to see him because of his parent’s fight. He wanted to talk to him about something. Knowing that with Mike you had to wait it out of him, rather than press him about it, Charlie whistled softly and swung a little on his chair, his eyes trailing over the familiar posters in his room.
“So…”
He raised an eyebrow at Mike. “Yeah?” Holy crap did Mikey just blush. Charlie grinned. “What?”
Squirming a little, Mike exhaled like a forty year old with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He couldn’t meet Charlie’s eyes. “Something happened at Sarah’s party on Saturday.”
“Oh really,” Charlie tried to hide his grin. Mike had been invited to a eighth grader’s birthday party over the weekend which was almost unheard of, but she was the big sister of one of the kids in Mike’s class. “And?” thinking he knew exactly what was coming next.
“We played Seven Minutes in Heaven,” he mumbled hurriedly.
He couldn’t help it. Charlie laughed. “Who did you have those heavenly seven minutes with?”
The shy awkwardness melted away as Mike looked up, finally meeting his gaze. He grinned mischievously. “Sarah.”
“Kissing and everything?”
“With tongue.” Mike nodded, his grin taking on a cockiness that cracked Charlie up.
Once he’d stopped laughing so much, Charlie shook his head in amazement. “Score. An older woman, little bro. I’m very proud.”
Having told his big brother and received such accolade for his exploits, Mike straightened his shoulders, his eyes glittering with confidence now. “I think I have a thing for older women.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” He took a moment, thinking something over before he finally asked, “Are you and Ari dating?”
Charlie choked, surprised by the unexpected question. “What makes you ask that?”
“She’s hot.”
Groaning, Charlie covered his eyes in mortification. “Oh man, it’s too weird for my kid brother to be calling girls ‘hot’.”
Mike snorted. “I just said I made out with someone.”