Big Brother

“Tell me about yourself,” Dennis and I sat in the stands before the Panthers’ game started.

I laughed at how cute he was, “I’m from Columbus, graduated from Notre Dame with my nursing degree, and now I’m here.”

He shook his head, “Not good enough.”

“What do you want, a detailed background of every year of my life?” I laughed.

Dennis nodded, “A pretty girl always has a story.”

“You are so cheesy,” I bumped his good shoulder.

“I’ve learned from two cheesy older brothers.”

“There’s three of you? God help all womankind! The third one has to be normal, right? Erik’s a
little awkward and you’re so cocky, the other one has to be…”

“Alex is lame. Completely and utterly boring.”

I watched Erik and his teammates skate onto the ice and couldn’t help but think he looked good. Erik
might have been slightly awkward personality wise, but he was gorgeous in every sense of the
word. The pictures I had seen online didn’t do him justice. I mean, yes he looked good in all of
them, but in person he was a sight to be seen. Tall, dark, and handsome; every girl’s dream.

“Hey Laney,” Dennis interrupted my thoughts of his brother.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Are you really a hockey fan or were you just giving him hell?”

I shook my head, “I know enough to get me by.”

He nodded and started to explain the game to me more in depth. He was good at dumbing it down
for me, I felt like I actually understood by the end of the first period.

“I’m going to run to the bathroom, you want anything?” I asked Dennis.

“I’m good,” he told me.

You can ditch him if you want, I swear I won’t think less of you

Erik was adorable through text message. We had been talking quite a bit since the first night and it
always made me smile when I saw I had a message from him. He was charming, funny, and
honest; not many people would make a cancer joke to someone they barely knew. It wasn’t that
cancer was something to joke about, it was far from that, but that’s how a lot of people dealt with
things of that magnitude. I’m sure he and his family made a lot of jokes over the years and I had a
feeling his brother was the one who started all the jokes.

He tried to kiss me!

Oh boy, run while you still can! I’ll beat him up after the game for you.

I laughed. Even with him making fun of his brother, I could tell they were close. The cancer had
probably played a big part in that, but even without it I felt like they would be tight. My little brother
and I were pretty close too, so I liked that about them.

I think I’ll let him down gently, I kind of want to stick around to see how this game ends. You guys
are wearing the green jerseys, right?

They were playing Dallas and I thought my joke was funny because the Panthers were losing horribly
and it had only been twenty minutes.

You know, you should probably leave now after that comment…smart ass. Now, what to have you
do to make up for it...

Get your name tattooed on my lower back so everyone thinks you guys have one fan?

Nah, I’ll think of something.

The boys took the ice again and about halfway through the second period they were only down by
one goal. I knew that the defensemen didn’t usually score too often, but I was hoping Erik might get
a goal that night for some reason, maybe give me something to congratulate him on afterwards.

Dennis turned his head to me, “Erik’s a good guy.”

“He seems like he is,” I smiled.

Dennis cleared his throat, “He finds the wrong girls; the clingers, the gold diggers, the dumb ones…”

I chuckled at how adorable this family was when it came to one another.

“You’re not one of those, are you?” he asked.

“As much as I’d like to say no, I’ve never been given the option to be,” I was half joking around
because I had never really been in the position to date a millionaire or someone who was even
remotely famous.

“Well, you’re a nurse, so you’re smart,” Dennis concluded, “You don’t look like a hooker,” he looked
me over, “And you seem too nice to be a gold digger.”

“Though I do like money,” I pointed out, “I don’t think I’d go so far to be a girl who was only with a
guy because of that.”

He nodded, “That’s a plus.”

“Are you playing Cupid?” I teased.

“I’m just saying that Erik deserves a good girl after all this stuff he’s dealt with because of me. If I
could help him find that girl, that would be great.”

“The stuff he dealt with because of you?” I asked.

Dennis sighed, “The whole cancer thing. I mean, it was hard on everyone, but he took it really
hard. He’s the older brother that every kid wants; he was at every appointment he could make it to,
he sat and told me stories, read me the Harry Potter books, and taught me everything I know. Yeah,
Alex was great too, but Erik was so cool about everything. He was the one who started the jokes; it
sounds weird, but it made me feel better when iw as younger and its stuck.”

“He sounds like the best big brother,” I commented, “But I don’t think he looks at it like you put him
through a lot.”

“No?”

I shook my head, “I think he’s proud of you and impressed with everything you’ve done. Denny,
you’re not like other fourteen year olds; you’re kinda a big deal.”

Dennis blushed as he looked back at the ice. I ruffled his hair just as Erik glanced our way. he
threw us a smile before skating off to do his job.