Consciousness and Confidence

"Jimmy, I think you should cop a squat down next to me." I suggested, while patting the spot on the bed next to me.

I tried to give off a friendly smile, but by the look I was receiving from Jimmy, I'm sure it came off as nothing more than scary. He backed away a bit and fumbled right into the wall.

"Actually, Ry, I had to help Matt set up for practice." he quivered, not sounding the least bit confident. "You know how your brother gets if we put other things above practice."

"Please, Jim?" I shot him a puppy-dog pout while slowly getting off the bed, ready to pounce if he tried to escape. I sensed fear in his entire stance and once again, he began taking baby steps out of the doorway. "I just have to ask you a few things." I cooed, walking towards him.

My sudden movement towards him jolted him into hyper speed, and before I knew it, he was running right out of my room, screaming "I don't know anything! I don't know anything! I plead the fifth!" I shot out after him, pushing myself to get to him before he got to the stairs. Jimmy was fast, let me tell you that, but I was sure I could get him. A second before he reached his foot to take a step down the staircase, I tackled him to the ground. A large 'oof' was all that was heard.

I crinkled my face into a frown as I looked down at Jimmy. "You're a coward, Jimbo." His breathing was heavy, so all he did was stick his tongue out on me in response. "Watch it, or I'll rip that thing out." It vanished in a second.

I remained pinned to the ground, ontop of Jimmy for a few more seconds without speaking. I was still unsure if I got up, he would remain there or try to run away again. If he ran downstairs I don't think I'd ever be able to get him. Luckily, I didn't have to make a decision.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Matt bellowed, from the bottom of the steps. I looked down at Jimmy as he tried to squirm from out underneath me. This was the second day in a row he was caught in a compromising situation with me, not that I had anything to fear. Jimmy was not my type. Unfortunately my idiot of a brother never seemed to comprehend that.

I rolled my eyes, and moved so that I was now sitting on Jimmy's stomach. "Nothing, Matt. Jeeze, you always jump to conclusions."

"Yeah, nothing I swear!" Jimmy squeaked from beneathe me. I turned my head towards him to give him an unbelievable look.

"You're scared of the both of us!" I accused with a chuckle.

He pushed me off his stomach without effort, and I fell to the floor with a thud. I glared at him as he began to stand up. He dusted off his pants and looked down at me with a frown. "I have every reason to be scared of you and him. You two are god damn terrifying!"

Matt scoffed. "I might be, but that little thing over there can do no harm." He gestured in my direction.

I stood myself up and shoved my brother in the shoulder. "Hey, I just took down this giant in one leap. I'm scary!"

The only response he gave me was a short chuckle; idiot. I huffed and went to grab for Jimmy just as the others appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's up?" Zacky asked looking between the three of us.

From the corner of my eye I noticed both Jimmy and Matt opening their mouths to speak, so I cut them both off with a question. "When did you get here?"

"Who me?" Zacky questioned pointing to himself.

I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. "No the Easter Bunny! Yes, of course you."

He just shrugged his shoulders, taking nothing I said seriously as usual. "A few minutes ago."

"Oh."

Everyone remained standing where they were, no one bothering to make any form of conversation. To tell the truth, it became slightly awkward. Johnny, Zacky, and Brian were just staring up at Jimmy, Matt, and I. We weren't doing anything much different from them. I glanced for a second over at Brian to see him giving Jimmy an unusual look. I turned to see Jimmy giving him back some eye gesture. Instantly, I was reminded why this whole situation happened in the first place. I jumped into action.

First, I grabbed onto Jimmy by the back of the shirt and one wrist, just to make sure he wouldn't leave. All the attention flew to me as Jimmy screeched in shock. I began to laugh to myself.

Between the laughter, I managed to explain a little bit to Matt. "I'm just going to be taking Jimmy here for a minute. He's got something that I desperately need to know, and I can't risk spilling the beans infront of all of you. It's a secret." I added a wink at the end, just because I knew Matt would get grumpy from it.

I was struggling to drag Jimmy down the hallway towards my room. "Why is Jimmy resisting you then?" Matt asked as I tugged harder on Jimmy's collar. He let out a choking noise to signal I was pulling too hard.

"Oh him?" I said, yanking him halfway through the door. "He's just a big baby." And with that, I shut the door and locked it.

I turned back to Jimmy who was now gazing at me, petrified. "Sit." I ordered and miraculously, he obeyed. I took a seat in the computer chair that was near by my bed from earlier when Brian had pulled it over. I stared hard at Jimmy waiting for him to ask why he was there or what I wanted to know. But, I could tell from his lack of sound, he could probably already guess why.

"What do you know, Jim?" I asked, skipping over details.

He casually sat back on my bed and put his hands behind his head in a relaxed position. "I know everything, duh. I'm Jimmy fucking Sullivan."

Alright, I'll admit that his reply got me a little bit agitated, but I wasn't in a very good mood to begin with. "No, seriously Jimmy. What do you know that you're not telling me?" I gave him the look that said I meant business.

He sighed and sat up straight again. "Look, I know about you being frustrated with Brian for not acting like his usual asshole self that you're use to. I have no idea why you have a problem with it but, I know for a fact his really is making an effort to change."

"But, why?!" I questioned, my voice growing stronger in frustration. "Why does he want to be like this now?"

Jimmy didn't relpy but instead got up from the bed, over to me, and pulled me in for a hug. I didn't respond much at first, but eventually I spilt all my emotions out into that hug and felt completely better. Or, well, as good as I could get at the moment.

"I know you don't like not being able to solve your own problems, Ryyan," Jimmy spoke quietly while still embracing me. "but, I know everything's going to work itself out soon enough."

I didn't want to take his response as the final answer and I didn't want to accept that I would have to wait. However, I knew it was true, and I just sighed and nodded into his shoulder.