Big Brother

“I broke my arm, I’m not dying,” my youngest brother Dennis glared at me.

Dennis was visiting me for a week, alone. He was fourteen, accident prone, and a leukemia survivor. He was barely a teenager, but he was more of a man than I would be. He was diagnosed when he was five and I was twelve. It was a long battle, but it made us all closer and stronger. In a short time, we had grown into that family you would see on TVLand from the 1950s. Yes, we suffered through the turmoil as any family would; there were a lot of tears, arguments, and sleepless nights, but we made it.

I messed up his hair with a smile, “I know.”

“You’re going to get the blame for his,” Dennis laughed.

“I know that too,” I rolled my eyes, just waiting for the phone call I would have to deal with later that night.

“Hi Dennis,” a female voice walked through the door, “I’m Laney, your nurse. Your x-rays don’t look too bad, how did this happen again?”

I looked up, prepared to talk for my little brother, but was stunned into silence. Dennis spoke up on his own, “Playing touch football with my brother and his teammates.”

The petite brunette looked up from the chart in her hand, “Teammates? Tell me you weren’t playing
touch football with some pro athletes.”

“NHLers,” he confirmed with a smug smile.

She raised her eyebrow and then glanced at me, “I’m guessing you’re the next Gretzky?”

“Y…Yes…No…I play for the Panthers,” I stuttered like an idiot.

A cute smile spread on her lips, giving her a dimple on the right side of her face, “Well Dennis, the
doctor told me to get you ready for him to set it,” she started to move around the room.

“He had leukemia when he was little, will this…”

“He will be okay, it’s just a small break. Are you his mother or his brother?”

“This is Erik, my oldest brother. He’s twenty one and acts like my mom sometimes.” Dennis hit me
with his good arm.

She set her hands on her hips, “Never understood why Florida has hockey teams, doesn’t the ice
melt?”

My brother laughed, “No, but it is random. We like coming down to visit him because it’s a lot
warmer than Canada.”

“Where ya from?” she asked.

“Orleans, Ontario,” he answered. This kid was so confident that it bordered on cocky in front of this
girl. I didn’t know if he was trying to pick her up for himself, urge me to talk to her, or just act like
he was cool.

“No clue where that is,” she giggled.

“Where are you from…” he trailed off like a fucking pro.

“Columbus, Ohio,” she made a face as she glanced at me.

I finally got up the nerve to speak, “This is a long way from Columbus.”

She turned all the way to face me, setting down a few things on a tray, “My grandfather wanted to
retire here, so he opened his own practice down here, closer to where he and my grandmother
wanted to be; I was lazy after graduation, didn’t want to job search.”

I folded my arms in front of my chest with a chuckle, “But this is an emergency room.”

“So I pick up extra shifts,” Laney shrugged, “I’m not a millionaire.”

“You follow hockey Laney?” Dennis questioned.

“I did when I was closer to winning teams,” she gave me a side glace, “Being between Pittsburgh
and Chicago, you know, real teams.”

I was shocked, but still thought it was funny, “You’re from Columbus…why didn’t you follow…”

“You know the answer to that question,” she laughed, “They suck.”

That was true, the Columbus Blue Jackets did suck.

“Alright, Laney, did you get everything set up?” a doctor walked in.

He was young, good looking, and eyed her very suspiciously, like he wanted her.

“Sure did Dr. Rios. Careful with this one, his brother plays for the Panthers.”

She had a small smirk on her lips, but her eyes were at a full blown smile.

“Okay Dennis, this is going to hurt, but only for a minute or two,” Dr. Rios explained.

I had a weak stomach when it came to watching others getting fixed up, so I walked out of the room
after making sure my brother would be okay.

“Weak stomach?” Laney walked out to find me leaning over at the waist.

“When it comes to him, yes,” I admitted, “I hate seeing him in pain…he’s been through enough
already.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “He’s obviously strong to have made it this long. How long has he
been in remission?”

I smiled at that, “Nine years.”

“Shit,” she smiled, “He lied.”

“What?” I was shocked that my brother would lie to a stranger about his health.

“Told me that he would love to take a beautiful woman to a hockey game once in his life.”

My jaw hit the ground, “Tell me you did not buy that!”

She nodded, “Totally bought it.”

I started laughing, “It’s not funny, now I’m a pedophile!” she whined.

Dr. Rios walked out of the room, “It’s set, you can go back inside,” he laughed at my expense.

I walked in shaking my head, “You little shit.”

He looked around me to make sure Laney and the doctor were still in the hall, “She’s cute.”

“Take a beautiful woman to a game once in your life, really?”

He shrugged with a sling around his new camouflage cast, “Worked, didn’t it? You know, I’m your
kid brother, shouldn’t you be showing me how to pick up women?”

“What are you going to do with that?” I motioned behind me, still laughing.

“Thought I’d let you take her out after the game on Friday.”

Had to hand it to the kid for thinking of his awkward big brother.

“Don’t drop the ball,” he hissed as Laney walked back into the room.

She was beautiful. She had long, wavy brown hair, a small frame, and big beautiful brown eyes.
She was a lot like the girls I usually met looks wise, but I had a feeling she was completely different
when it came to her personality.

“Any questions?” Laney smiled at my brother.

He shook his head, “None I can’t ask you on Friday.”

She pursed her lips together, “I don’t know how much I’ll be paying attention to you kiddo, there will
be guys my age who look good on the ice.”

“How old are you?”

“Just turned twenty two.”

“So you two are close in age,” he went on, “Erik’s twenty-one.”

“Okay Dennis, time to go,” I interrupted him.

Dennis handed her a slip of paper and thanked her before leaving. I was in awe of this kid.