Living On A Prayer

McKenna let out a yawn as she slowly descended the stairs in her brother’s house. She didn’t hear any noise throughout the house figuring Brian was still asleep. Opening the fridge McKenna’s eyes widened when all she saw was beer in the fridge. Checking the freezer she saw nothing but a bottle of Vodka and Jack Daniels. Quickly closing the doors she went through is cupboards finding nothing edible in his house. She let out a groan figuring Michelle had cleaned out the place after she had left.

Leaving the kitchen McKenna made her way towards the stairs when she saw her brother’s foot hanging off the armrest of the couch. Figuring he fell asleep downstairs, she walked over and observed him. He was still wearing what she figured he had picked her up in. His arm was covering his face while Pinkly was curled underneath his other arm. Shaking her head, McKenna poked Brian’s foot only getting a slight twitch from him.

“Brian wake up!” All her big brother did was mumbled and roll over so his back was to her. Getting frustrated on top of being hungry McKenna went back to the kitchen and smirked.

“Holy shit!” Brian jumped up feeling a stinging sensation on his ass. “What the fuck Kenna?”
His little sister just stood there with her arms crosses, a wooden spoon in one of her hands and a smirk plastered on her face.

“You wouldn’t wake up and you literally have nothing to eat or drink in this house besides booze. There isn’t even food for Pinkly!” He let out a groan dropping his head into his hands.

“Alright get dressed, we’ll go out to eat, then go grocery shopping.”

Brian watched his sister leave the room as he stood up rubbing his sore bottom. The last time someone had used a wooden spoon to wake him up was Suzy when he was in high school. He figured that’s where is sister learned it from. He changed his clothes not bothering to brush his hair instead just threw on a beanie. Looking outside he saw it was a little windy and grabbed his jacket.

“Kenna put a jacket on!”

“’Kay!”

Brian slipped his wallet into this back pocket and grabbed the cars to his BMW. He heard McKenna coming down the stairs so he glanced over and shook his head. Still not believing that his baby sister was a teenager now. He wore a little smirk when he saw she was wearing one of the bands tee shirts under her black and white stripped jacket.

After they had finished their breakfast at IHOP. He and McKenna made their way to Costco. She had convinced him to go there instead of having to go to five different stores. Grabbing his Costco card while his sister got the cart, he smiled at the employee flashing the card. He took the cart from her and followed her through the store to what they needed.

“Oh bubba can we look at the clothes?” Sighing he gave her nod knowing that he was going to end up buying her a few new pieces of clothes. “Look at this jacket!”

“It’s cute, put it in the cart.”

“Aw, look at these little leggings and skirt.” Brian glanced over to see what she was holding up. Holding back the emotions that hit him when he saw the little baby clothes she was showing him. “Oh hi Eloise!”

Brian whipped his head around to see Eloise standing behind them with her son in the seat of the cart. “Hello McKenna and Brian. What brings you guys here?”

“Oh Brian didn’t have anything edible in his house so I dragged him here.”
Eloise looked over at Brian with a raised eyebrow.

“Just got back from tour so I haven’t really had the time . . .”

“Uh huh, well it was nice seeing you two again. Oh McKenna are you coming to church tomorrow?”

Brian frowned as he watched the interaction between his sister and Eloise. Shaking his head, Brian noticed Eloise was walking away. “Church, since when did you start going?”

“Oh it’s for volunteer hours for ASB. I go and help in the nursery so can you take me tomorrow at nine thirty?”

“Sure, now can we get this finished?”

It was safe to say Brian wasn’t in a good mood when he got back home after dealing with the hectic Saturday afternoon Costco crowd. He put everything away while McKenna fed the dog and put away her new jacket and books. He sat down on one of the barstools and just stared at the digital clock on the stove.

“Bubba?” He glanced over to see his little sister standing in the door way. Getting up he went over and pulled her into a hug. “It’ll get easier.”

“How do you know?” He asked as she pulled away and looked up at him.

“Because you just need to have a little faith.”

Her words kept replaying in his head as he glanced across the upstairs hallway to the room that was dubbed her when he first bought the house. Closing his eyes, Brian tried to get to sleep.

“Brian wake up!” McKenna shook him as she glanced at the clock. “Ugh fine, I guess I’ll do this the mean way then.” She muttered as she stomped down the stairs.

“Holy mother of . . .” Brian cursed as he rolled over in his bed holding himself. “Shit,”

“You wouldn’t wake up. Now that you’re up you need to get dressed and take me to the church.” McKenna set down the cup that had the ice in it on his bedside table as she left the room.

Brian let out small whimpering noises as the coldness of the ice cubes kept touching him. Slowly getting out of his bed, Brian winced as he stepped into his bathroom and turned the shower on to hot water. Quickly stripping he jumped in the shower hissing out at the temperature change on his lower half.

After finishing his shower, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt and slipped on his flip flops. Heading downstairs he saw McKenna had made some Eggo waffles for him and coffee.

“Why did you put ice down my pajama pants?”

McKenna just smirked as she put away her dishes. “I could’ve done to you what I did to Brent.”

“And that would be?”

“Well he wouldn’t get up and I didn’t know it but he was sleeping naked.” McKenna let out a shiver while Brian chuckled. “I did the same to him but got more of a high pitched scream out of him.” Brian snorted as he finished his breakfast. “Are you ready ‘cause I need to get to the Church and see what kids I’ll be watching during Sermon.”

Brian nodded just setting his plates in the sink and picked up his dog as they headed to his car. Following the directions she gave him, Brian pulled up in front of Huntington Beach Church of Christ. He noticed a lot of people were standing outside chatting with each other while kids were running around in the empty grass area.

“So am I picking up or will Dad be back for that?”

“Daddy said he’d come get me when services are over.” Brian nodded as he leaned over kissing the side of his little sister’s head. “Bubba, promise me something?”

“Sure,”

“Don’t drink so much anymore when you’re by yourself.”

“I promise.” He said quietly while she smiled and pulled herself out of the car. He watched her as she went up the steps to where he noticed Eloise standing with a group of people. Shaking his head he made his way back home, determined to figure out why he couldn’t remember Eloise Kent.