“Mattie!” The call I’ve been dreading for hours now rings out, resounding through the house accompanied with a few sharp knocks at the door. “I left my house key on campus, open up.”
I get up sort of slowly, dragging my feet across the hardwood and I slink over to the door. Of course, I could just not mention it at all, and just not tell my brother that I’ve signed myself over to be shipped to a sketchy, eight-month “experiment” that I know nothing about.
“Hey, Louis. Before I let you in, you’ve gotta promise me something.” My game plan begins to form in my head, and I slowly move my hand to the doorknob.
“What the hell? You don’t have a girl in there, do you? Because I know the bro code, man. I can just drive around for like a half hour so you two can-“
“Uh, yeah, no. No girl.” I begin to fidget a little bit, because I’ve been home alone all day and having people over – let alone a girl – hasn’t so much as crossed my mind. “I just have something sorta important to tell you, and before I unlock the door, you need to promise me you won’t flip out on me. Okay?”
“Matt, is something going on?” Louis’ voice has gotten all serious, and I can almost hear his blood going cold. “You didn’t get a girl pregnant, did you? Because if you did, don’t think I’m not gonna flip out.”
“No, you idiot! It’s nothing about a girl, okay? My God.” I roll my eyes, suddenly feeling considerably less guilty about making such a big decision without talking to Louis first.
“Oh... then what is it?”
“I, uh...” I pause, trying to figure out how to phrase what needs to be said. “Yeah, so I was chosen for an experiment thing in Wyoming. It’s like a government, science-y type deal, and I get fifty-thousand bucks for it. And I’m, uh, doing it. So yeah.”
For several seconds, there is nothing but silence from the other side of the door. I take advantage of this small window of time to make sure that the door is indeed locked, just in case Louis takes this a bit too harshly.
After Louis has turned this over in that little mind of his, he proceeds to repeatedly demand if I am joking. It takes me a few minutes, but after I finally convince him just how serious I am, I can hear the anger I’ve been preparing for begin to seep into his voice.
“Matt!” He bangs on the door, causing it to rattle slightly in its frame. “You’d better open this door right now so I can beat the hell out of you, you stupid idiot!”
“That’s exactly why I’m not going to open it.” I say this a bit smugly, but only because there’s a pretty solid door in between me and him.
“Do you even realize how big of a decision that was?” Actually, yes, I do. Maybe it’s better if I don’t tell him that I took absolutely no time to even consider it. “You didn’t sign anything, did you?”
“Nah, not yet...” I chew the inside of my cheek a bit. “But, uh, thing is... I’m doing it, Louis. We need the money, and it’s only a few months. Um... Sorry.”
“Matt, you can’t though. You need to watch the house while I’m at college, and honestly the whole thing is just really sketchy to me. Seriously, don’t worry about the money. If I just get a second job, we’ll have enough for college by next year. No big deal.”
He’s stopped trying to get the door open, and judging by the fact that his voice is a bit muffled now, I’m guessing that he’s leaning with his back against the door. I unlock the handle, and debate whether or not I should open the door inward so that he falls, just to lighten the mood.
“I don’t want you to work for me. This is what I’m doing, and sorry, but you can’t stop me from doing it.”
The words come out of nowhere, and I feel a slight charge of rebellious energy coursing through my veins as I say them. I can’t let Louis try and balance college and two jobs just for me; it would make me feel like I’d owe him a great piece of the “best years of his life” for the rest of my own.
“Would you stop being so stubborn about this?! I said no.”
He’s gone back to being angry, and I suddenly regret unlocking the door (my last barrier of defense).
“This isn’t about what you say!” I grit my teeth. “Don’t you get it? Fifty-thousand dollars would be enough to save both our asses from debt and everything else. There’s nothing you can do or say that can stop me from doing this, Louis.”
He’s dead silent for a minute, and all I can hear is his breathing. It’s gotten all thick and loud, although I can’t tell if that’s out of blinding fury or not. But I guess if I’m taking this stand against him right now, I kinda have to take that chance. And so, very slowly, I turn the door knob and push the door open.
Immediately, I feel myself being completely smothered in one of Louis’ trademark bear hugs. I tense in surprise at first – A hug was probably the last thing I expected to be greeted with – but after just a second or two, I awkwardly pat his back with my free hand.
“You really aren’t going to change your mind, little bro?” He breaks away, and he’s sort of avoiding looking at me, although I can see his warm brown eyes are suspiciously bright.
“Yeah, no, I’m really not.”
“You’re a good kid, Mattie.” He’s patting my back now, a bit too forcefully actually. He’s dealing with this in the same way he’s always dealt with bad situations; occupying his mind with some sort of vigorous physical activity and hoping no one sees the tears forming in his eyes. “Good kid. I’m proud of you, dude.”
“You’re proud of this, but you weren’t proud of me that one time I built a three-foot tower out of Legos?” I, in turn, fall back on my own safety net. Bad humor. “I’m growing concerned about where your priorities lie, Louis.”
“Ah, just shuddup for once.” He stops patting my back, although I have some concerns that he’s already done his damage to the health of the tissue in my back.
Remarkably, I actually do shut up. Partially because I’ve just remembered the Oreos I have hidden under the blanket. As a gesture, I retrieve them from their hiding place and silently offer them to him. He sort of sniffles and takes a large handful with a grateful nod, stuffing them into his mouth.
“I didn’t know we had Oreos...” He says after a few moments of obnoxiously loud chewing.
“I found them earlier.” I say, a tad spitefully. “I wasn’t going to tell you, but uh, you kinda looked like you could use some Oreos.”
He nods, and we go inside and take our respective places on the sofa. We don’t talk about the experiment, or about money, or anything like that. We just sit, eating Oreos and thinking things over. Because, in a way, I think that this is exactly what siblings are for: being there for you, both when you make sacrifices and stupid mistakes.
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