Pull My Strings

I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes at my older brother, "Quinn, we buy the same beer every time, why are you pretending to consider a different brand?"

He looked over at me slowly, "Maybe I want to broaden my beer drinking horizons."

I opened my mouth to reply but didn't see the point, "We need more tea and coffee, come find me when you're done broadening your horizon."

The sole of my Converse squeaked as I turned on my heel and wandered up the aisle. Stuffing my hands into the pockets of my jacket I dragged my feet across the vomit coloured linoleum towards the caffeine aisle and wondered if it was such a good idea to leave Quinn unattended. Picking up Jeph's favorite tea and what can only be described as a small barrel of coffee I slowly made my way through the grocery store.

As I passed the cosmetics aisle I spotted a familiar blonde head and stopped in my tracks. I stuck my head around the display of hair dye I was next to and tried to get a good look at her face, just to be sure.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I jumped and spun to face Quinn, "Huh?"

"What are you doing?" he asked again, slowly.

"Nothing," I said too quickly.

He cocked an eyebrow at me, "Are you hiding from someone?"

"No," I shook my head and dumped the tea and coffee in my arms into the cart between us.

"Why are you being all weird?" he asked.

"I'm not being weird. Now come on, we've still got stuff to get," I tried to usher him in the opposite direction.

He turned the shopping cart around but continued to look at me like I had two heads.

"Stop looking at me like that," I sighed as we strolled away from where Sadie was.

"Stop being a freak then," Quinn argued.

I shook my head at him and turned towards the cereals, "I'm not being a freak."

"Admit it Macy, you've always been the slightly freakier sibling," Quinn said, a smile teasing the corners of his lips.

I grabbed two boxes of cereal and tossed them into the cart, "You can be so mean sometimes."

He scoffed, "Aww Mace, you know I love you," he pulled me towards him, "Please don't tell Jepha to kick my ass."

"Shut up Quinn," I laughed, moving out of his arms and spotting that face again, "Come on, if we leave Bert and Dan alone long enough they'll burn the house down."

"Maybe Jeph'll have showed up to babysit them," he mused.

"Mmm, hopefully," I agreed absentmindedly, nudging him in the direction of the checkout.

"God, is this what happens when the two of you spend more than five minutes apart?" he asked, placing stuff on the belt.

"Huh?" I squinted at him, still keeping an eye out for Sadie.

"You and Jepha," Quinn elaborated.

"Oh, no. I just... uh, I'm just worried what state the house'll be in when we get back. I only plan on cleaning once today."

Quinn nodded as he handed over his credit card to the cashier, "I guess we should go straight home then?"

"Sounds like a plan," I nodded, the sooner we got out of here the better.