Who Will Fix Me Now?

"Are you ready to meet you little brother?" Xavier turns in his seat and asks me as Tanner pulls up in his driveway. I smile and shrug before getting out of the car after them and follow them to the house.

"Isn't this your first time coming over?" Xavier asks me as Tanner twists the key in the lock.

"No, this is my second."

"Oh."

Tanner gets the door unlocked and holds it open for us. I follow Xavier into the house and sit on the couch next to him. Tanner calls out to someone named Kayden but gets no reply. Tanner shrugs and plops down onto the couch next to me, kicking his shoes off and propping his feet up on the table.

I flinch as I feel something vibrate against my stomach before pulling my phone out of my pocket, smiling a bit when I see that Rachelle finally replied to my text.

Rachelle: hey oli wyd

me: I'm at Tanner's house. We just got back from the mall. What about you?

Rachelle: w josh

me: Oh nice. Well, Tanner needs me to help him do something

Rachelle: yea i will txt u when he leaves

me: Yeah okay, that's fine

Rachelle: awesome bye

me: Bye

I shove my phone back into my pocket and notice Xavier looking at me from the corner of my eye. I look at him and he gives me a concerned look.

"Still not over Josh then?" he asks me. He was reading our conversation, then. I'm not even surprised.

"No," I don't even bother lying about it. He offers a sympathetic smile and leans his head on my shoulder as an awkward side hug.

"Do you want me to beat him up for you?"

"No. You can't really fight anyways."

Xavier giggles a bit at that, making me smile. Just then, the doorbell rings and Xavier jumps up, shouting about Squishy, Tanner calmly following to answer the door, leaving me awkwardly sitting alone on the couch. I hear Xavier chirping about how much he missed his squishy son and I hear Tanner and a somewhat familiar feminine voice exchange a few words before the door closes. Xavier steps in front of me, holding onto a younger boy's hand.

"Squishy, this is your big brother, Grand Master Syko!" Xavier chirps excitedly. I wave at the young boy, who shyly waves back. Xavier tells him to talk to me before disappearing into the kitchen, Tanner going in after him to supervise, leaving me and the boy alone.

"My real name is Kayden," he tells me.

"My real name is Oliver, but I go by Oli."

He nods and doesn't say anything else. I decide to take it upon myself to keep the conversation going so it isn't too awkward.

"How old are you? I'm eighteen."

"I turned nine last month."

"Oh. Happy late birthday!"

He finally looks up at me and offers a toothy smile, "Thanks!"

I nod and smile back at him, then we're left in silence. It isn't awkward this time, and he doesn't look so shy anymore either.

We both flinch when we hear a series of crashes from the kitchen, followed by a loud curse from Xavier, which is followed by a "That's what you get for being a fucking savage!" from Tanner. I know the two of them enough to figure that Xavier wanted something that was up high so he climbed up onto the counter to get it but slipped and fell off the counter and to the floor, bringing a few food items down with him. I roll my eyes and laugh quietly at the mental image.

"They're freakin' weird. I swear to God I hate them both sometimes," Kayden laughs with a fond smile.

"I feel that. Gotta love them though," I agree, and he nods with another giggle.

Tanner tells Xavier to clean the mess he made as he enters the living room, sitting on the couch next to Kayden.

"Are you guys bored?" he asks us.

"Yeah, kinda," I answer.

"What, I'm too boring for you then?" Kayden jokes as if we didn't meet only minutes ago. I smile and shake my head at his question.

"So... All I have are a few games on my iPad," he starts to raise his voice a bit, "since someone spilled fucking Kool-Aid on my Xbox!"

"Don't swear in front of our baby son!" Xavier calls back from the kitchen. Tanner rolls his eyes before looking to us expectantly.

"So, you guys want the iPad?"

I shrug and Kayden nods, so Tanner gets up and disappears upstairs.

Xavier walks in as Tanner is jogging down the stairs, iPad in hand. Xavier's eyes light up when he sees the device.

"Ooh! What are we playing?" Xavier asks as he reaches for it, but Tanner holds it above his head. Tanner's a good bit taller than Xavier, much to his despair.

"I'm letting Oli and Kayden pick," Tanner tells him as he places the iPad in my hands since I'm closer, but I just pass it along to Kayden. "Did you clean your mess?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

They sit back down on the couch, Tanner next to Kayden and Xavier next to me as Kayden opens a game called Uno.

"Yay! This is the best one Tanner has!" Xavier chirps in my ear and I wince at the abrupt noise. Xavier notices and apologizes.

"Who's playing?" Kayden asks. Tanner and Xavier say that they'll play but I decide not too. Xavier asks if we can switch seats so it'll be easier so we switch.

<><><>

The three boys get bored on the iPad after a while and Tanner decides that he'd feed us since it was around six in the afternoon. Xavier makes it very known that he wants pizza so Tanner quickly orders a pizza on his laptop.

"Oli, you're a vegetarian, right?" Tanner asks me as he decides on the toppings.

"No, I'm a vegan."

"There's a difference?"

"Vegetarians don't eat animals. Additionally, vegans also try to avoid any other animal product."

"So... Doesn't that mean you can't eat pizza then?"

"I'm not eating anything."

"We can get you something else, Oli."

"No, thank you. I'm not hungry."

Tanner nods and places the order but Xavier throws me the same look he threw me earlier this morning before we left my house.