Page 11 of The Handoff

I sighed as I changed the subject, knowing that my inner feelings and thoughts had to be put to the side as I checked-in with where one of us was supposed to be right now. Neither of them were good at keeping to the schedule, and most of the time I felt like the underpaid babysitter, making sure they were at the right place at the right time.

“Did someone call my name?” Daxon called as he opened the door and scratched his head. He was wearing boxers, which once again meant he’d skipped class.

“I swear, sometimes I feel as if I’m your dad rather than your brother. Daxon, it’s the final year. Just get it together. You should be in class. Why is that so difficult for you?”

He was about to say something, but I stopped him by raising my hand.

“Don’t answer the question.”

It was as if he had a rude awakening. “What, today’s Monday?”

I didn’t even bother replying.

“Yes, today’s Monday,” Dane said. “Remember, David couldn’t go to class today. He had to take Mom to work since she hurt her hand and can’t drive.”

I was the only one with a license, so I always did the taxi service and Mom had been injuring herself a lot lately. She refused to go to the doctor, like most of us did whenever we were sick or injured. Sometimes the stress of going to the doc’s and discovering a fat bill afterward wasn’t worth it. Though Mom’s job came with insurance, it didn’t stop her from panicking if it would cover everything.

“Her hand still hurting?” Dane asked.

I nodded.

We stood as if we were frozen in time. All of us were lost in our own thoughts, which was the issue with us—we may be identical, but we all had different priorities. Dane was clearly still thinking about Lisa. I was worried about Mom, and as for Daxon… well, he was on his own musical planet most of the time. Always thinking about a new song or something. He was talented; there was no doubt about that. I was crazy about math and the whole logic of it, and how it was important to the world, but my brothers didn’t get it. They called me a geek whenever I wanted to share a new discovery or a logic problem. They would dismiss me as if I were speaking a language they didn’t understand.

“You seen Lisa?” Dane asked as he broke the silence.

Daxon shook his head, not moving after I’d done and told him to get to class. I wasn’t repeating myself.

“No. I better get out of here. I’m going to be late for class,” he said as his eyes met mine.

I laughed as I watched him break out of his trance, knowing no matter what, my brother was a disaster and he would probably get there too late. He’d missed one for sure, and if he didn’t get his skates on, he’d miss another.

“I’ll take you,” I said as I grabbed the hat that I was wearing earlier and put on my shades. It was the only way to make sure he got to at least one class today. It wasn’t much of a disguise, but there was no way Daxon was going to make any classes today if he got on the bus. He rushed into our room and threw on jeans and a shirt. I glanced at Dane, who was no doubt going back to masturbating, thinking about Lisa. I had to get the fuck out of here. My brothers were really starting to drive me insane.

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