Brother Time

She carefully parked the car in a narrow slot in an empty parking lot. James sighed and got out of the car, Aaron following his lead. He crossed the parking lot and slipped in between the trees. She watched as they made it to their clearing. Flowers were starting to blossom around the edge of the area. Aaron stood in the dead center; James kept moving, stopping in front of a large, aging oak tree. Crouching down, he shoved the shrub away from the roots of the tree, pulling out a heavy metal box. Aaron sat down, crossing her legs beneath her. James walked back towards her. They sat across from each other as James started pulling things out of the box. She grabbed the sports wrap and started wrapping it around both her hands. When she finished, she handed the roll to James and he did the same.

       Aaron grabbed a mouth guard, popped it in her mouth and jumped to her feet. James stood up too, grabbing the box and moving it safely away. They stood across from each other, hands in front of her face. She waited, weight balanced between both feet. James stepped forward, hands still ready. There were several feet of space between them but Aaron knew that would change as soon as one of them began.

       James started, lunging forward, hitting her hard in the arm. Aaron jumped, throwing her arm up to block and swinging her foot out, catching him right in the stomach. He grunted, bending over in pain. Before she could step back though, he leaped forward and aimed another throw at the side of her face. This time, she couldn’t stop it. His fist smashed into the right side of her jaw, sending her sprawling into the grass. He didn’t help her up. He stood there waiting for her to get back up. Aaron rubbed her jaw, slowly getting to her knees. She stood up, hands ready.

       They fought for what seemed like hours. Her hands hurt and so did the rest of her body. James looked like he’d absorbed every punch without as much as a bruise. He stood above her, unwrapping his hands and rolling it up and placing it back in the box. Aaron lay in the grass, her muscles aching. Slowly she stood up, taking the wrapping off her hands, spitting the mouth guard into the box James held out. He shook his head and grabbed the wrapping from her, folding them up neatly and putting them in the box. Aaron nodded at him, walking away back towards the car.

       James caught up with her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. Up close she could see that her hits had done something. Where his shirt was moved down too much, she could see a slight bruise darkening across his collarbone, disappearing down the front of his shirt. She tried to jerk her arm out of his grip, an effort she should have known wouldn’t work, he was too strong. He pulled her forward. He brought his hand up, fingers tracing lightly over the bruise across her cheekbone. James stopped, fingers catching a stray tear. Aaron shook her head, fighting to get away. James pulled her forward, wrapping her in a hug. His cheek rested gently against the top of her head.

       “Mia sorella, you know I love you, right? You are getting better. How many times a week do you go to class?” He whispered.

       “Four times when I can.” She wrapped her arms around her older brother, leaning her head against his chest. He rubbed the sore spots on her back, still hugging her. Pulling away, she made the way back to her car. She jumped into the driver’s seat, and started the car. When James slid into the seat next to her, she pulled away moving quickly through the streets.

       “Will you come up to the room really quick?” James asked as they pulled into the college. Aaron nodded, parking the car and jumping out. She walked along next to him as they made their way to the dorms. They stepped into the elevator and rode it to his floor.

       Inside his door room was messy, at least half of it was. A perfectly straight line down the middle of the room separated the messy from the clean. The messy side had pants and shirts strewn about in heaps, trash from Chinese takeout hid underneath shirts and under the small dorm bed. The clean side had the bed made, bedding tucked neatly in the frame. The white carpet was showing, on it sat a heavy wooden desk with a lap top resting on top. Aaron knew the clean side belonged to her brother; he’d been meticulous about cleaning his room when he still lived with her and their mom.

       James led her across the room and pulled open a drawer in the desk. Aaron took a seat on the bed and watched him sort through files. The door to his dorm room swung open and a tall stranger walked in, James’ roommate. He was almost as tall as James but a few inches shorter. He had shaggy black hair that framed his slender face. Through his tight red shirt Aaron could see that he was just as muscular as her brother.

       “Hey,” he said to James, not expecting a visitor. His head turned and he caught sight of Aaron.”Oh, hey.” He waved. Aaron smiled and waved. “I’m Jace.” He held out a hand.

       “I’m Aaron,” she said, taking his hand. His long fingers dwarfed hers, wrapping around her hand. “James’s sister.” He nodded, reluctantly releasing her hand. James shook his head and made his way towards them. In his hand was a thick envelope which he handed to Aaron. She jumped up off the bed, and realized how short she really was. James towered over her at 6’9” and Jace, she guessed, was 6’7”, both a lot taller than her at 5’9”. She smiled to herself and took the envelope. She could feel how heavy it was, the seal pressed with papers.

       “What is this?” she asked.

       “A letter. Read it on your birthday,” he sighed. Just then a though popped into her head.

       “James!”

       “What!?” he laughed.

       “Come with us,” she laughed. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Just come with us to Maine.” James stared at her, half confused. “Come on! It’s a little over two weeks in Maine with me AND,” she reasoned, “you’ll be there with me for my birthday.” She laughed, jumping around. James grabbed her arms, holding her to the ground.

       “I can’t Aaron,” he sighed. “I have to help Gale with her computer, I promised her I’d show up tomorrow.”

       “Yeah ‘cause she wants help with her computer,” she scoffed. “Please James, please.”

       “Aaron,” he groaned, sitting down on the bed his head in his hands. He glanced up, looking across the room at Jace who was lying sprawled out on his own bed pretending to read a magazine, upside-down. “Okay, fine. On one condition,” he began when Aaron began jumping around again.”

       “Absolutely anything!” she laughed. James raised an eyebrow and nodded his head towards Jace.

       “He gets to go, too.” Jace’s head shot up, staring at them.

       “Alright,” she laughed. “If you want to.” He shot off the bed, moving to stand in front of her.

       “That’d be great,” he said, hands wrapping around her shoulders pulling her into a hug. Aaron laughed, hugging him back.

       “Do you have a car?” she asked, glancing up at him.

       “Not here,” he sighed. “I have one at my parent’s house.”

       “Where’s that?”

       “California,” he sighed.

       “No problem,” she assured him. “I can pick you guys up tomorrow morning. I’m getting Bethany at six tomorrow, so I can be here around 6:45 or 7:00.”

       “How far away is it?” James asked.

       “Kind of far. Couple of hours, maybe a day,” she thought. “I’ll look up the directions tonight and text you.” Both boys nodded and watched her silently. Aaron gave an awkward smile and sighed. “Okay, well I should get going, I need to finish packing.”

       “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow,” James said, wrapping her in a warm hug, face buried in her hair.

       “Good- bye James,” she said, pulling away. “Oh, bye Jace, it was nice meeting you.” She waved and back out of their room and stepped inside the elevator, waiting for it to take her back down to her car.

       When she was finally back in her room it was nearly 10:30 at night. Groaning, she grabbed a duffel bag from her parent’s room and packed the rest of her stuff. Throwing her three jumbo suitcases and the duffel bag near her door, she flopped down across her bed, legs hanging off the end. She didn’t move again until her alarm woke her up at 5:00 the next morning. 

Author's Note

Inspired by my recent joining of a karate class

Reviews

[Sylvana]

I'm only reviewing so you know I read it. xD I don't have much to say though... eh.. .I love you.